1,394. Seeing Jerusalem in Desolation

Hilchos Taaniyos 5:15

After the Temple was destroyed, the Sages decreed that grooms may not wear crowns or any type of jeweled headband. This was based on Ezekiel 21:31, “Remove the miter and take off the crown.” They likewise decreed that brides may not wear crowns of silver or gold but they may wear garlands made of twisted cords.

Hilchos Taaniyos 5:16

If one sees the cities of Judah in a state of desolation, he should recite Isaiah 64:9 – “Your holy cities have become like the wilderness” – and tear his garments. If one sees Jerusalem in a state of desolation, he should recite “Zion is a wilderness” (ibid.). If one sees the Temple in a state of desolation, he should recite the subsequent verse, “Our holy and beautiful House...,” and tear his garments. One is obligated to rip his garments from Tzofim (the name of a place from where one could see Jerusalem). Later, when one reaches the site of the Temple, he tears his clothes a second time. If one saw the site of the Temple first, because he came from the direction of the wilderness, then he tears his clothes for the Temple and he tears a little extra for Jerusalem.