Reply To: Mourning During the 3 Weeks, Do we Really Mean it?

Re: Mourning the 3 weeks/9 days. Rav David Orlofsky gave a lecture a few years ago in NY during the 3 weeks (it may be online somewhere) and part of his discussion was “how serious are we about mourning the churban”. He said the following tongue in cheek, but it is so true. How much does the aveilus of the three weeks really mean to us when in summer camps on the 10th of Av kids are lined up at the edge of the pool counting down to chatzos or the camp band sets up after breakfast, and then after its big countdown to chatzos starts a concert. Exactly what lesson is learned, other than “its only 3 weeks, we’ll have to survive on sushi and pareve chulent thursday nights”. To paraphrase Rabbi Orlofsky we are basicly saying, hurray, the embers are dying out, lets go have some fun.