Here we are a week after Tisha Be'av and as another Tisha Be'av goes by without the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash we feel dissapointed and discouraged. We wonder why are we still in Galut and when will this bitter exile end. I heard an interesting insight that addresses our concern. In addition to fasting on Tisha Be'av because the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed, we also are fasting for the destruction of our hearts. We know that the reason for the destruction of the second Beit Hamikdash resulted from the sin of baseless hatred and it is the reason that we are still in exile today. So during the time of the destruction as a result of baseless hatred the sensitivity and caring for a fellow jew was "destroyed" in our hearts. The destruction of the Beit Hamikash is a refrence to what happened in our own hearts. Now that we know this is there anything we can do to change this? Fortunately, there is and each of us can rectify for this sin in our own lives. We have the power to end this exile and speed up the redmption process. We need to all look into our lives and see where we can improve. This way if we each are doing our part we will hasten the redemption.
In addition, in the haftarot following Tisha Be'av Hashem comforts us and promises that even though we will be in exile we should not lose hope because one day we He will return us to Eretz Yisrael with joy. As it says in this weeks haftara for parshat Ekev "For Hashem shall comfort all her ruins. He shall make her wilderness like the garden of Eden and her wasteland like a garden of Hashem; joy and gladness shall be found there, thanksgiving and the sound of music." May we all merit to see this prophecy fulfilled! Amen!!!
These questions have been in the back of my mind the past 3 weeks. I think I may have an answer, but I'd like your opinions.
In truth, we're never completely happy without the Beis Hamikdash. We even commemorate it at biggest simchas with the breaking of a plate. We're always lacking. But at the same time, we can't be in constant mourning. We have to "ivdu et Hashem besimcha" (serve Hashem in happiness) and count all our blessings. The 3 weeks are there to make us stop our lives and remember why we're here and where we're going. If we never have a period of time to reflect upon the matter it would be even more distant than it already is from us. We're missing closeness with G-d and we don't even know what we're missing!
But once we explore this and understand a little bit more, we'll know why we're sad. And then we can be happy, because we know it's not all gloom. We know there's hope.
Now, can somebody pass me the shnitzel?
Another Tisha Beav has passed and we are once again looking for consolation. The temple is still not rebuilt. We still have a lot of reasons to mourn.
At the end of the afternoon prayer service of Tisha Beav, some sfardi Jews include verses which speak of the future redemption in order to start the process of consolation of the Jewish Nation as we realize the temple is still not rebuilt. I think the idea behind this tradition is very deep and important:
At this point, at the end of our mourning period, we remember what the "Tachlit" is, what our ultimate destination will be. We remember how incredible the description of this time by the prophets truly is. We regain hope by remembering that the end will be incredibly joyous.
But what about now? Ok, the future will be joyous, but what about now?
I think we can get an incredible amount of consolation by understanding that all the sufferings we are going through right now are the things which will ultimately lead to this Goal. Our time is the time of the tahalich, the process. This process is necessary in order to get to the goal. Once we realize this, then we can better assimilate all the hardships which come up during this process.
In our generation, in which the Jewish Nation has returned to its land to rebuild it, this connection becomes so much more obvious. All our hardships are simple part of the troubles which lead to the completion of our redemption which started in 1948. All those hardships are just like birthpangs which ultimately lead to the birth of a child - our hardships will lead to the birth of the most incredible period of time.
As we end this time of mourning, we must remember what we are striving towards, and we must remember that the current process, the current path we are taking, is one which leads towards this incredible goal.
This realization will not only help us emotionaly cope with the hardships of the current process, but, also, hopefully enable us to better utlise our strength towards the unfolding of our ultimate redemption.
May it come very soon.
How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! (Meguilat Eicha)
As Tisha B’Av approaches, I would like to think that Am Israel is stopping to catch its breath, on both national and individual levels, to take the time to attempt to rectify the sins that caused the destruction of the Bet HaMikdash and the Exile it still finds itself in today. We are told that the Bet HaMikdash was destroyed due to Sinat Chinam, “Baseless hatred,” and it is therefore logical to conclude that we must counteract that sin with Ahavat Chinam, “Baseless love.” Instead of having cold interpersonal relationships unless there is a motive to act nicely to one’s fellow, one should have kind interpersonal relationships unless there is truly a reason why this is impossible.
Nowadays, Am Israel is considered to be in Chevlei Mashiach, the days that are leading up to the imminent (respectively, on the timeline starting from creation) arrival of Mashiach, IY”H. However, the question must be raised, and addressed, as to why in this generation is there so much kfira, so much abandoning of G-d and religion and moral and ethical values. Today, Jews are attacked on universal levels, from both within and without. Why is this happening now?
The Galut we find ourselves in now is considered punishment for our ill deeds. However, our understanding of punishment is clearly flawed. We view punishment as something bad that happens to us in the event of our misbehaving. This clearly cannot be. For example, HaShem appears to Avraham Avinu and tells him that his children shall inherit the Land of Israel (Canaan), and Avraham responds by saying: Bame eda ki erashena? Show me a sign that shall prove that they will inherit the land. The Maharal MiPrague boils down the root of Avraham’s response to a lack of Emunah. As a result of this lack of Emunah, this flaw in Avraham’s character, his children are sentenced to 210 years as slaves. But, his children did nothing wrong! It was Avraham who displayed a startling lack of Emunah!
We must look at the situation in this light: Avraham displays his lack of Emunah, and HaShem says that Emunah is a key character trait needed in order to inherit the Land of Israel. Because Avraham has demonstrated a lack of faith, his descendants are brought down to Egypt, and the effort it will take for them to come up out of Egypt will fix the problem of the lack of Emunah. Meaning, a situation where one must go down in order to come up.
That is punishment: being put into a situation where the effort involved in coming out of that situation will repair the lack, the flaws, that landed you there.
In Rav Kook’s philosophy, there was a concept called Sod HaNesira, which, when coupled with the above views on punishment, should help us understand certain issues of the time we find ourselves in.
When HaShem created man, he first created Adam and Chava as one being, and then separated them. It cannot be due to loneliness on the part of man, for surely HaShem would have foreseen this! We must dig deeper to understand the profound idea here.
The best way to understand the idea is through examples. Thank G-d, we have the ability to eat. It is such a natural thing to us, one of the basic keys to our physical survival. Yet, to the sickly man who, for months and months could not eat and was forced to get his nutrients through tubes hooked up to his body, and can finally again eat, now healed, eating is an amazing thing, something not taken for granted. And, I cared very little about my bedroom, until I put in the hours (literally!) it took to clean it up. Until I cleaned my room, I cared nothing for it. Until the sick man couldn’t eat, he thought nothing of the matter. Until one has worked for something, or invested emotions in something, his connection to that thing is very little. After he has done so, his connection grows immeasurably.
This is Sod HaNesira- breaking away, or being taken away from something, for the sake of connecting with it on a higher, more active level, a level of greater awareness. HaShem, in his infinite wisdom, separated Adam and Chava physically, so that they could connect to one another spiritually, which is a much greater connection. Be separated from something, have something otherwise a given be taken away from you, and the effort required to reconnect with that thing will create a stronger, higher, connection between you and it.
That is why, according to Rav Kook, the generation preceding Mashiach is steeped so greatly in kfira. In order to build a nation deserving of redemption, we must have Emunah, a connection to each other and to our national and religious roots. If we had had that connection naturally, what worth would it have had? Because of all the kfira, we are forced to toil greatly to make these connections, so in the end they will be stronger ones, ones with greater merit in them. Only through this level of connection to its faith will Am Israel merit redemption.
And, of course, only by being punished, by being thrown into Galut, will we have the opportunity to rectify our Sinat Chinam, and fix the flaws within us so that we will merit to see the day where we will dance together through the streets of Yerushalayim, in loving brotherhood, to the rebuilt Bet HaMikdash, bimhera biyamenu.
I look out my window as Hashem's nature plays its part. The sun is low. The leaves are waving. The sky is pleasant. The clouds are following an Easterly wind. Flowers sway to it. The occasional shout of a child echoes. Everything is so calm. You'd never think there's anything wrong or missing in the world. This is just life and people are living it.
This time of mourning in the Jewish calendar is quite difficult for me. Most people know me as a natural optimist. I constantly grapple to find the right way to mourn the loss of our temple. One thing is especially hard for me to grapple with, and I hope some of you can provide me with some insights in the comments section.
During the 3 weeks of Ben Hametzarim, we mourn the destruction of our temple. Yet, during those three week, we are also hopeful that it will once be rebuilt.
The Gemara in Makkot 24b relates a famous story:
Again it happened that Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria, Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Akiva went up to Jerusalem. When they reached Mt. Scopus, they tore their garments. When they reached the Temple Mount, they saw a fox emerging from the place of the Holy of Holies. The others started weeping; Rabbi Akiva laughed.
Said they to him: "Why are you laughing?"
Said he to them: "Why are you weeping?"
Said they to him: "A place [so holy] that it is said of it, 'the stranger that approaches it shall die,' and now foxes traverse it, and we shouldn't weep?"
Said he to them: "That is why I laugh. For it is written, 'I shall have bear witness for Me faithful witnesses--Uriah the Priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.' Now what is the connection between Uriah and Zechariah? Uriah was [in the time of] the First Temple, and Zechariah was [in the time of] the Second Temple! But the Torah makes Zachariah's prophecy dependent upon Uriah's prophecy. With Uriah, it is written: 'Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed as a field; [Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the Temple Mount like the high places of a forest.]' With Zachariah it is written, 'Old men and women shall yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem.'
"As long as Uriah's prophecy had not been fulfilled, I feared that Zechariah's prophecy may not be fulfilled either. But now that Uriah's prophecy has been fulfilled, it is certain that Zechariah's prophecy will be fulfilled."
With these words they replied to him: "Akiva, you have consoled us! Akiva, you have consoled us!"
Are we not, during the three weeks, taking the approach of the other sages? (An approach which has been proven to be inappropriate)
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Thoughts on the three weeks 5768
At 5:20 am I blurrily awoke to my buzzing phone, confused why anyone would be texting me at such an ungodly hour. The text read:
"Attack in J'lm: Pales rams tractor into bus and cars b/4 being shot. 1 dead 30 wounded."
The text was courtesy of a Young Israel initiative, called SMSSderot. Whenever a kassam is shot into sderot, an alarm sounds, and the people have about 15 to find safety before the rocket hits. In an effort to raise empathy and understanding, the YI program sends a text message whenever there is such an attack, and people commit to either do an act of chessed or say a perek of thilim within the 15 seconds in which they receive the text. (This is a really wonderful initiative which I encourage EVERYONE to sign up for. Hashem promises us "imo ani btzara." At the very least, we should similarly strive to stand by our fellow Jews while they daily risk our lives. Check out the website and sign up at http://www.youngisrael.org/content/sms_subscribe.cfm)
Sadly, I had come accustomed to seeing texts of rocket fire, and in my tired state I hardly absorbed what had happened. I said a quick perek, and crawled back into bed. Waking up that morning, I vaguely remembered receiving a text and quickly logged onto the Jerusalem Post. I was horrified to read the headlines. What sort of world have we devolved into, where tools that are supposed to be used to construct and build are being used for destruction of life. Ironically, the psukim of Yishaya and Micah came to mind, the prophecies which speak of taking weapons and beating them into farm tools. How far this dream feels when essentially our enemy is doing the opposite! If hakamat hamidina is really hitchalta degeula, why does it seem like we're working in reverse, rather than progressing?
In fact though, this too was foreseen by our nevim. In sefer Yoel, the prophet proclaims
"Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say 'I am strong'."
Yoel 4:10
The first perek of Yoel speak about how am Yisrael has gone astray, and details extensively how we will be held accountable. It speaks about seeing our country lie fallow, and animals devouring whatever does grow. We will see enemies come and capture it, and wreak havoc upon our nation. They will sell our children into captivity for profit, and maliciously massacre our people. We will distraughtly question- why do we deserve this? Why are we being punished so?
In the second perek we finally recognize we've sinned. Hashem instructs us- instead of ripping your clothing in mourning, "rend your heart," internalize how you've stumbled and call out. These prayers Hashem will listen to, more so than the karbonot that were being brought
In the third and fourth perek comes the nechama. There will be the day that all the nations will be judged, and Hashem will have pity on his people and rescue us. On this judgment day, Hashem will challenge the nations to rise up against us- to recruit all their warriors to come wage war, to grab everything they have to fight- to the point that they will take their plowing shares and pruning hooks and create weapons from them. However, am Yisrael has nothing to fear! Because on that day Hashem will avenge our suffering and take nikama on those nations that come to fight against us, laying our once powerful enemies desolate and destroyed. In this awful war, am Yisrael will be raised and redeemed and the geula will really take place. We will return to our homes and our land for eternity- as Hashem promises in the last pasuk of the safer:
"But Judah shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation." Joel 4:20
These awful attacks that we are currently enduring must just be another step along the steady climb to the geula. The analogy I've continuously referenced from Rav Aviner on Shir Hashirim, is the tzvi which is on its climb up the mountain. As it climbs it occasionally disappears from our line of vision, or must take a dip alongside of the mountain- but it always on its climb upwards! So too sometimes it appears that we are falling backwards into this endless exile, but no! The geula is constantly on a climb upwards, we just can't always see it. We are always moving our way up!
But if we want to facilitate these nevuot, we must also do our part. We must recognize what we've done wrong and make an effort to change. We are told, that in every generation that the Beit Hamikdash is not rebuilt, it's because we are just as responsible as the generation in which it was destroyed, because we are still doing the same sins as that generation. As the gmara in Yoma famously expounds, the second Beit Hamikdash was destroyed while Jews were actively involved in learning Torah and mitzvot, but sinned in that they had Sinnat Chinam- baseless hatred of their fellow Jew.
Can we deny that that exists in our society today? Forget about speaking about the charadi/secular divide- it exits within our own circles! What is sinaat chinam? Essentially, it doesn't have to be hatred as much as it's apathy. Failing to reach out and help your fellow Jew is essentially sinat chinam, because if you really cared for them you would go out of your way to help. The netziv writes that murder was prevalent in the period of bayit sheni. If so, why does the gmara attribute the destruction to the sin of sinaat chinam? Jews saw other of their bretheren observing the mitzvoth in a different manner, or perhaps relying on a leniency and immediately they judged them as baytusim and rebels and in their zealotry would kill them. If there was really ahavat achim, that would hardly be their first reaction. They would have reached out and tried to set them back on the right path! They would have seen a brother in need of some help, and do what they could to help. That's what ahavat chinam is! Helping a Jew because he is one of you, and you love him, and will do whatever you can to help. Even if they appear to be doing wrong, and unworthy of the help, we should reach out to them out of the love for your fellow Jew.
With the sad return of Eldad Regev and Uri Goldwasser this past week, I witnessed beautifully how am Yisrael can unite together. For the past 2 years, we've prayed and cried together for their return, two boys who were essentially strangers to us. Yet daily we prayed because they were Jews, and thus one of us, and as they looked out for our safety while they were out in the field, so too we found ourselves looking out for their safety while in our batai knisiyot.
Chaval that it takes such a national tragedy to unite us! Why is it that we only come together in tears- why do we have to let it ever come to the point of tragedy! Why are we not reaching out to our fellow Jews on a daily basis?
I pose to you all the challenge that I pose to myself over the next three weeks leading up to Tisha b'Av. Let's try to bring a little ahavat chinam into this world, let's try to take those steps that will allow us to celebrate in the construction of the Beit Hamikdash instead of mourning over its destruction. This project does not take much effort, just one act each day that you may not have otherwise thought to do. As simple as picking up your phone and calling a grandparent, sharing your leftovers with some neighbors, inviting an extra guest to your shabbos meal or helping one of your unemployed friends network by putting him in touch with someone you know in their field. How about taking a moment to think about the wonderful single friends you have, and that really great guy/or girl that may have not worked for you, but would be a great match for them. There are countless options, so many ways we can help set ourselves back on the right path. Chazal tell us- "bderech shaadam rotzel lalech bo molichin oso," on the path that man wants to take, G-d will help guide him along it. We just have to turn on our blinkers and switch lanes; Hashem will help us then speed along the highway.
We all know of the famous gmara, makkot 24B:
Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria, Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Akiva were going up to Jerusalem. When they reached Mount Scopus, they tore their clothes. Approaching the Temple Mount, they saw a fox run out of the area of the Holy of Holies. As they began to weep, Rabbi Akiva laughed. "Why are you laughing?" the others asked. "Why are you crying?" he retorted.
They responded, "When foxes run in the place where only the High Priest could enter on Yom Kippur, shouldn't we cry?"
"That is why I laughed," he answered. "I know two prophesies. The first, of the prophet Micah saying, 'Because of you, Zion will be a plowed field. Jerusalem a ruin, and the Temple Mount a forest.' The second of Zechariah saying, 'Old men and women will yet rejoice in the streets of Jerusalem.' Until I saw the first prophesy fulfilled, I feared the second would never happen. Now that I have seen the first prophesy come true, I know the second will also."
The other's answered, "Akiva, you have comforted us! Akiva, you have comforted us!"
We see in the headlines of the news before us today the building tools being transformed into weapons. Like Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria and Rabbi Yehoshua we cry out in anguish. Look at the destruction that is falling upon our people! But like Rabbi Akiva, we must recognize that the nevuot that Hashem are being realized before us. As Hashem promised that they'd come to destroy us, so too the other half of the nevuah, where He holds them accountable for their actions and takes judgment against then, and forgives us and redeems us shall certainly comes true. Our role is to prepare ourselves, to correct our ways, so that we can hastily pass through this dip of the mountain on our climb to the precipice and the geula shilama.
It is my hope that IYH very soon we will see our tools returned to their proper purposes and the nevuot of Yishaya and Micha realized.
"They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3
Wishing everyone a meaningful three weeks and bsorot tovot for all of am Yisrael very soon.
The 'Three Weeks' is one of the most difficult times in the year for me. Ashkenazi custom is not to listen to music, among other joyous activities, during the days between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av. This is because these three weeks are a period of mourning; the Talmud describes many national tragedies that happened on both of these days, which are designated as fast days, including critical stages of the destruction of the Temple, the Beit HaMikdash. The entire period is one of sadness, and one that has been reincarnated again and again over the generations as a time of Jewish tragedy -- may there be no more! I, as a musician, find it very hard to leave my instrument aside and to minimize my music listening during these weeks.
I'm now living in Israel, and I must say that the Land is alive; there is a feeling of aliveness that is tangible in everything, and that pervades everything and every person. This sadness of mourning, too, is definitely tangible to me. While there are not many more things as joyful to me as to walk down Ben Yehuda street in central Yerushalayim, and to see Jewish men and women, boys and girls, rejoicing and celebrating life in Israel with Jewish music, my joy and pride is overshadowed with sadness and discomfort during these three weeks.
Have we forgotten that we need to be sad in this time? Have we forgotten what we need to be sad about, what we need to remember? Is the fact that the Beit HaMikdash is still in ruins, more than 2000 years after its destruction, a fact of life to be accepted as a given? What is a healthy balance between rejoicing in life, especially life as a Jew in Israel, and grieving for the destruction of G-d's House on earth, and for our continued distancing from Him?
A living contradiction; a junction of opposites. How can you laugh and cry at the same time? How can you pray for the rebuilding of Yerushalayim, while thanking G-d for its continual rebuilding in our days? And... must we resolve these existential difficulties, or is it okay to live with them?
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