Maybe the TIKUN during these three weeks has more to do with treating each other RESPECTFULLY, and realizing that we can learn something SIGNIFICANT from everyone - rather than what we have been practicing up until now! This goes a long way to counteracting the JUSTIFIED anger and hatred aroused when we do the opposite.
I have never heard the theory of Shakespear being Jewish. But I do know that despite being illegal, Jewish merchant families were allowed to live in London during the reign of Elizabeth I. Shakespeare himself was supposed to have business dealings with some of these families. Elizabeth I, in fact, had a Jewish doctor named Roderigo Lopez. Lopez would be framed for plotting to murder Elizabeth. He confessed under torture, and although the Queen herself did not believe the charges, Lopez' enemies stirred up so much anti-Semitism among the people, that even she could not move to save Lopez. Lopez would be brutally executed. Shakespeare may have based his character of Shylock (Merchant of Venice) on Lopez.
Your suggestion that the COHEN GADOL'S prayers should produce the desired result - but we know that what we desire is not always for our best. Since we cannot fathom the mind of G-D, then how do we know that what was prayed for, is actually good?:
There is a debate among the Chakhamim whether the Kohanim are the shalichim (emissaries) of Hashem or of the people. They conclude that the Kohanim are Hashem’s emissaries. Perhaps this applies to their prayers as well as their blessings and every other part of their ‘Avodah. There is a famous Gemara in which Rabbi Yishma’el, who was the Kohen Haggadol, reports to the Rabbanim to content of Hashem’s own “prayer” (to Himself, of course): “May it be My will before Me, that My attribute of mercy should prevail over My attribute of justice.”
Of course Hashem is infinitely above His emissaries, but He has set things up in such a way that the blessings of a Kohen are in general positive, powerful, and effectual.
Rashi on the haftorah that we lein on the first shabbos of the 3 weeks. Perik alef,posik yud bais. Rashi says that almonds grow in 21 days, the same as between shivaasar b'tamus and tisha b'av. Tisha B'av the day that Moshach is born is a moed,and is not counted in the 22 days.
