the twenty-one day period beginning with Shivah Asar B’Tammuz and climaxing with Tisha B’Av. This period is also known as the period of “Bein HaMetzarim,” or “Between the Straits,” a metaphor describing the downfall of Yerushalayim, based on the verse in Megilat Eicha (1:3) “All her enemies caught her between the straits.”
