Tisha B'Av & The Spies

While we commemorate all sorts of Jewish tragedies on Tisha B’Av, our mourning really stems from one major tragedy: the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. But the Talmudic Sages mention another catastrophe that occurred on the 9th of Av, centuries prior to the destruction of the Temples—the sin of the 12 spies. The Sages seem to suggest that this sin, recorded in the Book of Numbers, is somehow a source of our later suffering. What does the mysterious event of the spies have to do with the destruction of the Temples, and how can it help us unlock the transformative power of Tisha B’Av?