The Gemara states that it is wrong to recite Shema and then repeat it. The question is asked: But maybe the person’s mind wasn’t focused the first time around, and that is why he is reciting Shema again? What is wrong with that? To this the Gemara retorts, “Is he Hashem’s companion?!” (Rashi: “Will he treat Hashem the way he treats a fellow human being, and not be careful in the way he prays?!”) The Gemara then comments, “If the person didn’t focus his mind the first time around, we hit him with a blacksmith’s hammer until he concentrates!” (Rashi: “We instruct him to have kavanah, but if he makes a habit of not focusing his mind, we hit him.”)
Chazal are stressing the point that Tefilah is no small matter. How could a person not pay attention to what he is saying when he davens? If he would be under threat, if someone would be standing there and holding a hammer over his head, would he still be able to dream away? Tefilah is a most serious concern. Sefer Nefesh Hachayim explains how exalted and wondrous and awesome Tefilah is. You can’t drift off when you are davening. You are not just chatting with a friend. Tefilah stands at the pinnacle of the world!
A similar message emanates from the Three Weeks. The Torah is no small matter. When the Jewish people failed to keep the Torah, a very great Churban resulted.
Why is it so terrible when we fail to observe Torah properly?
Let’s picture the legendary giant Og Melech Habashan. With a single step, he can crush a whole town. Why? Because when you are dealing with somebody big, there are big consequences.
And what happens when we are dealing with Hashem?
When the Jewish people sinned by making the Golden Calf, Hashem said to Moshe:
“Go down, for your people has acted corruptly... and now let Me be, and I will show My anger against them and destroy them.”
The entire Jewish people was sentenced to death. Only the prayer of Moshe brought Hashem to relent. And when the Jewish people sinned with the daughters of Moav, Moshe’s strength ebbed, and again the Jewish people almost perished. Only the merit of Pinchas saved them.
Keeping Torah and mitzvos is not child’s play. It is a very serious business! When Hakadosh Baruch Hu shows His anger, everything can be destroyed with a mere wave of His hand. When this happens, six million perish.
There is a very important message here. We have Pesach, Shavuos, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkos; and we keep them. But in the Three Weeks, the whole issue of Churban Beis Hamikdash comes to teach us the significance of it all. It teaches us that the whole system of Torah and mitzvos is no small matter. It is an extremely serious system, and treating it lightly in any way results in tragedy.
On the other hand, there is another message here: there is a relationship of love between Hashem and the Jewish people. If slighting our Torah observance results in such devastating destruction, this teaches us how profound Hashem’s relationship with the Jewish people is. When we sit for three weeks, and we hear, so to speak, Hashem’s awful crying, we understand how much He cares. We realize how deeply Hashem is connected to the Jewish people. It is a relationship that runs infinitely deep. Hashem cries because He wants us to have this kind of a relationship with Him.
