As we are in the midst of the three week period known as Ben HaMetzarim - the twenty-one days from the Seventeenth of Tammuz until the ninth of Av, the day on which we mourn the destruction of the Temple, I thought it would be fitting to consider a selection from the poem "Prayer at the Ruins of Jerusalem" by Ramban (or Nachmanides). Ramban composed this long elegy after visiting the ruins of the Holy City and her Temple. He arrived in Jerusalem on the ninth of Ellul 5027 (1267 C.E.), just four years after he defeated Paulo Christiani at the Barcelona Disputation and was subsequently forced to flee Spain for Israel. Ramban's arrival in Jerusalem marks the historic reestablishment of the Jewish community in Jerusalem which has continued uninterrupted until this day. Ramban concludes his poem with the following stirring words. May the words of this great rabbi and leader of our people become our prayer this Tisha B'Av!

From Your servant's house comes this Moshe ben Nachman
to see Your city and Sanctuary in their ruins,
and when he rent his garment and tunic,
crying and lamenting,
he bowed unto You and made supplications unto You
that he should merit and behold
Your Inner Holiness and Sanctuary,
Your posts and arches rebuilt.

Our eyes shall see Jerusalem a peaceful habitation
And the cities of Judah in their restoration
when Israel will return to their homes
the priests to their Divine Service,
and the Levites to their platform,
as it is said, And the Eternal will create
over the whole habitation of Mount Zion,
and over her assemblies,
a cloud and smoke, [etc.],
and over all the glory shall be a canopy
for the Glory of Your might in Your Sanctuary.
The dwelling shall not be cut off,
and this, Your servant, shall sit in its covert,
and abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

Blessed are Thou, O Eternal, Who hearest prayer.
Amen, and Amen.  Selah, and forever. 

(excerpted from Nachmanides "Prayer at the Ruins of Jerusalem," translated and annotated by Rabbi Dr. Charles B. Chavel (New York: Shilo, 1978), 25.)