Tehillim 89 – Aryeh – Threefold Chesed of HaShem
- “Ki amarti olam chesed yibaneh” - (The world is built through Chesed).
It is stated in (Yalkut Shimoni, Yirmiyahu, 259):
“The lion came in the month of the lion [Av] and destroyed the lion [the Temple with regard to the altar], so that the lion [G-d] would come in the month of the lion and restore the lion.”
The Hebrew word “Aryeh” (lion) אריה has the numerical value of 216, which is also the gematria of the word “Gevurah” (severity, judgment).
Gevurah is judgment, constriction, and destruction through the diminution of Divine light and energy. Therefore, it is said: “When Av enters, we diminish our joy” (Mishnah Ta’anit 4: 6).
Nevertheless, 216 is also three times 72, which is the numerical value of Chesed (“mercy, kindness”).
Chesed corresponds to the Divine power that “builds” all of reality, as it says: “The world is built through Chesed” (Tehillim 89:3).
Threefold Chesed also corresponds to the building of all three Temples, whose eternal completion will be realized in the Third Temple, may it be built speedily in our days.
(Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, “Gal Einai”).
