Tamuz and Av are months in which we mourn the beginning of the exile and the destruction of the Temple, and we pray for the redemption and for the building of the Third Temple. The spiritual roots of exile came from not looking upon others with benevolence, nor being able to hear good about them. Within this understanding lies the key to redemption: The redemption of our senses of sight and hearing.

According to Sefer Yetzira, a person’s sense of sight corresponds to the month of Tamuz and a person’s sense of hearing corresponds to the month of Av…. The spies went to scout the land on the twenty-ninth of Sivan, so they necessarily went in Tamuz, namely, the month of sight: “They saw the land, and they disheartened the children of Israel” (Numbers 32:9), and the sense of sight was damaged. Then, “they returned from scouting the land at the conclusion of forty days” (Numbers 13:25), in the month of Av, the month of hearing, and they spoke slander against the land, and “the entire congregation raised and sounded their voice and…wept” (Numbers 14:1), because they had listened to the [spies’] words and the sense of hearing was damaged…. Therefore, we pray [in the Tahanun prayer]: “Incline Your ear, My God, and hear; open Your eyes and see” (Daniel 9:18), so that sight and hearing will be corrected. (Rabbi Tzvi Elimelekh Shapira, Benei Yisaskhar, Tamuz–Av 1:3)