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Let's not let the inspiration from Tisha B'av fade.



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miami85




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 22 2019, 3:09 pm
I watched/listened to a number of shiurim this past tisha b'av and many had the same message--galus is almost over, lets show HaShem we're ready.

Because, in reality, are we ready? If Moshiach would come today, would we really be celebrating? Or would we be thinking of the plans we'd made last week? Would we be looking forward to that vacation?

I'm not trying to chas v'shalom trying to minimize anyone's pain and suffering, but I'm trying to encourage you to think of the day when there WON'T BE ANY.

B"H we are used to living. We're used to success. When someone has a baby, we're USED to the mazel tov. I read a statistic that 100 years ago, 1 of a 100 women died in childbirth, it was a "natural" outcome, it was part of the experience. If r"l that would happen there would be an outrage, it would be a law suit--today, it's not normal.

B"H we are used to going on vacation, going to amusement parks, swimming, boating, airplane. But we've been exposed to the tragedies that have occurred this summer and while it feels "not normal." We're just used to having a good time.

B"H for doctors and modern medicine. We don't have to live in fear of plague, polio, or even measles. But we have young people dying left and right from cancer, as much as there are people who are "cured", too many families that have missing family members.

Then there are natural disasters, B"H I haven't lived in a place that has been affected by a natural disaster, though earlier this summer there was a tornado a mere 2 miles from my house. But many of us have beautiful houses, we're used to it.

Rosh Chodesh Elul is NEXT WEEK. This week daven Shabbos mevorchim. Let's once and for-all-time sake show Hashem that WE ARE READY. Put aside petty differences. Think as you bentch licht tomorrow night, is my dispute, my attitude, my feelings on this matter worth all of the above? Is my neighbor in the hospital's suffering worth it? The woman on my tehillim list for a shidduch? My other neighbor who needs parnassa? Tomorrow night when you bentch licht think of this year Elul, put down the grudge, put down the animosity, open your heart, get yourself ready for the day when we won't be crying tears of sadness when we bentch licht. Make your "new year's resolution" as we head towards Rosh Hashana to be DANCING next year on Tisha B'av!

Feel free to share this as you see fit.
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amother
Blonde


 

Post Thu, Aug 22 2019, 3:22 pm
miami85 wrote:
I watched/listened to a number of shiurim this past tisha b'av and many had the same message--galus is almost over, lets show HaShem we're ready.

Because, in reality, are we ready? If Moshiach would come today, would we really be celebrating? Or would we be thinking of the plans we'd made last week? Would we be looking forward to that vacation?

I'm not trying to chas v'shalom trying to minimize anyone's pain and suffering, but I'm trying to encourage you to think of the day when there WON'T BE ANY.

B"H we are used to living. We're used to success. When someone has a baby, we're USED to the mazel tov. I read a statistic that 100 years ago, 1 of a 100 women died in childbirth, it was a "natural" outcome, it was part of the experience. If r"l that would happen there would be an outrage, it would be a law suit--today, it's not normal.

B"H we are used to going on vacation, going to amusement parks, swimming, boating, airplane. But we've been exposed to the tragedies that have occurred this summer and while it feels "not normal." We're just used to having a good time.

B"H for doctors and modern medicine. We don't have to live in fear of plague, polio, or even measles. But we have young people dying left and right from cancer, as much as there are people who are "cured", too many families that have missing family members.

Then there are natural disasters, B"H I haven't lived in a place that has been affected by a natural disaster, though earlier this summer there was a tornado a mere 2 miles from my house. But many of us have beautiful houses, we're used to it.

Rosh Chodesh Elul is NEXT WEEK. This week daven Shabbos mevorchim. Let's once and for-all-time sake show Hashem that WE ARE READY. Put aside petty differences. Think as you bentch licht tomorrow night, is my dispute, my attitude, my feelings on this matter worth all of the above? Is my neighbor in the hospital's suffering worth it? The woman on my tehillim list for a shidduch? My other neighbor who needs parnassa? Tomorrow night when you bentch licht think of this year Elul, put down the grudge, put down the animosity, open your heart, get yourself ready for the day when we won't be crying tears of sadness when we bentch licht. Make your "new year's resolution" as we head towards Rosh Hashana to be DANCING next year on Tisha B'av!

Feel free to share this as you see fit.
[u]



Beautiful message.

I've always heard this idea about showing hashem we are ready. Only then will he bring moshiach. If I'm being honest, I admit I'm skeptical. There wasn't a single generation in the past 2500 years that finally did enough to bring moshiach? I think it's always good to improve ourselves and be kind to one another. Let's get rid of machlokes and help each other. Will this bring moshiach? The torah literally doesn't mention moshiach. How do we know what exactly will bring him? I have a feeling someone will say, "it says it somewhere". Well, no generation prior to us did enough. I really don't know if we know the code to bring moshiach.
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PinkFridge




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 22 2019, 3:30 pm
I think this is a fantastic thread.

But.

I don't quite relate to the "it's so cushy in galus" line. Yes, we can take a note from Dr. Twerski, who points out how incredibly blessed our generation is with medical advances, running water, electricity, appliances, all sorts of convenience. Yes, we take for granted that infant mortality is so blessedly uncommon. But don't we all have kavana when we say"vehaser mimenus yagon va'anacha" and "venas yagon va'anacha"?

Here are some inspiring lines I've heard/read:

We don't necessarily need to feel guilty over not living in EY but we should feel deprived - Rabbi Shay Schachter
We are metza'er and do'eg over the churban all year but year round we whisper it. On Tisha B'Av we shout it - possibly the book When We Weep, possibly essay by Rabbi Zev Leff. I'll see if I can track it down
Think how would I feel if someone said this to me - Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation program
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PinkFridge




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 22 2019, 3:34 pm
amother [ Blonde ] wrote:
[u]



Beautiful message.

I've always heard this idea about showing hashem we are ready. Only then will he bring moshiach. If I'm being honest, I admit I'm skeptical. There wasn't a single generation in the past 2500 years that finally did enough to bring moshiach? I think it's always good to improve ourselves and be kind to one another. Let's get rid of machlokes and help each other. Will this bring moshiach? The torah literally doesn't mention moshiach. How do we know what exactly will bring him? I have a feeling someone will say, "it says it somewhere". Well, no generation prior to us did enough. I really don't know if we know the code to bring moshiach.


Think of a big cup of tears. (I remember reading a story in one of the magazines along these lines.) Or a big beautiful building just missing a few bricks.

Maybe this week, today, now, the last tears shed will fill the cup, or mitzvos will complete the building.

I decided I have to work on my bitachon. I have to really believe that Moshiach can come now instead of saying, really, we're ready? We're good enough? Because do you think that the Chofetz Chaim didn't look around and see how far his generation had to go? He spoke and wrote sefarim and knew what people needed to work on. So if the Chofetz Chaim could still believe so clearly, then I can try too.
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amother
Blonde


 

Post Thu, Aug 22 2019, 4:16 pm
PinkFridge wrote:
Think of a big cup of tears. (I remember reading a story in one of the magazines along these lines.) Or a big beautiful building just missing a few bricks.

Maybe this week, today, now, the last tears shed will fill the cup, or mitzvos will complete the building.

I decided I have to work on my bitachon. I have to really believe that Moshiach can come now instead of saying, really, we're ready? We're good enough? Because do you think that the Chofetz Chaim didn't look around and see how far his generation had to go? He spoke and wrote sefarim and knew what people needed to work on. So if the Chofetz Chaim could still believe so clearly, then I can try too.



How do we know it's like a cup of tears or a beautiful building missing bricks? If these examples are true then the concept of doing more mitzvos to bring moshiach is great. Maybe we are destined to be in galus a certain amount of time and them moshiach will come. Who do we know we can effect his arrival time? Considering he hasn't come all these years, it's logical to assume we can't impact his arrival time.
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miami85




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 22 2019, 5:34 pm
amother [ Blonde ] wrote:
[u]



Beautiful message.

I've always heard this idea about showing hashem we are ready. Only then will he bring moshiach. If I'm being honest, I admit I'm skeptical. There wasn't a single generation in the past 2500 years that finally did enough to bring moshiach? I think it's always good to improve ourselves and be kind to one another. Let's get rid of machlokes and help each other. Will this bring moshiach? The torah literally doesn't mention moshiach. How do we know what exactly will bring him? I have a feeling someone will say, "it says it somewhere". Well, no generation prior to us did enough. I really don't know if we know the code to bring moshiach.


So I thought of this and a few things I would share 1)B"H we have come a long way from 20 years ago when the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation started their campaign to quell the lashon hara that was plaguing our society. Now their focus is less about lashon hara--not that it has disappeared and yes there are still areas to improve but I think that if we focus on the ahavas yisroel aspect I think we'll make huge in roads in that regard. 2)The gedolim all acknowledge based on current events and what the medrashim say about the times before moshiach and there's evidence more than ever before that we are almost there. Perhaps that explains all the tragedies as we need just a "few more tears" to fill that cup. 3)I learned somewhere that I'm forgetting at the moment, but it said that moshiach will not come before every neshama has met its tikun. Think of all the gedolim that HAVE come in the last 2000 years and have brought about all the Torah learning that we have today, but that we are also in the "Age of chutzpa" and it seems we're "scraping the bottom of the barrel" which makes me believe that we are almost there.

I was reading R' Wein's history book of post churban rishon and all of the terrible generations that led up to the 2nd churban and I thought, there were literally WARRING factions. Jews killing Jews, sections of Jews that were opening defying the Torah and "proving" that Torah isn't true. While yes there are minority groups that are anti-Torah, they aren't killing people. There are SO many thousands of Jews actively involved in learning Torah in Lakewood, Brooklyn, E"Y. Yes there are differences of opinions, levels of chumrah, levels of observance. But reading R' Wein's book we, in my humble opinon, do not have nearly the levels of open heresy that were seen over the past 2000 that there used to be. You are right, we do not have a clear blueprint for what WILL bring Moshiach, but we are supposed to learn from why the beis hamikdash was destroyed for how to rebuild it. The first time it was the "big 3" sins, and then during the events of Purim, "Kiyimu v'kiblu" klal yisroel reaccepted the Torah, and several years later the galus was over. We learned what the final events were that led up to the 2nd churban was the events of kamtza/bar kamtza of how they didn't treat each other with respect that led to the destruction and we're still there. Chazal have indicated that this is our tikun.

We are supposed to take the current events and learn from them, What does Hashem want from us right now?" and I've been seeing all these articles about agunos and what is being done to try to help them. It says that while a man has to give a get "willingly" we may "force them into submission" by beating if necessary until a man says "rotze ani"--its not that we may beat him INTO submission, but that we are making the alternative less desireable. We are forceing him to do what he really wanted to do in the first place.

In Eicha and the Kinnos, which I really delved into this past Tisha b'av, it repeatedly describes Yerushalayim and Shomron as an "unfaithful wife". Perhaps all the tragedies this summer are us being that "stubborn husband" and Hashem is trying to force us to do what we want to do anyway. Perhaps that's what is happening, Hashem is making all of these tragedies, the political nuttiness, the unrest in the Middle East so that we will want to return!

I know myself, that I've watched the Tisha B'av videos and have been inspired and I think, how can we have another tisha b'av? But then the fast ends, we eat, we have our Shabbos Nachamu plans, and we start thinking of back to school and yom tov and we're back to "life as usual", but if we can "Beat ourselves into submission" and force ourselves to what we REALLY and TRULY want--not so much "parnassa", "yeshua", "refuah" this Rosh Hashana, but lets focus on what we REALLY want--Moshiach already! Eicha ends with "Hasheveynu aylecha v'nashuva"--bring us to you and we will return.
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PinkFridge




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 22 2019, 10:21 pm
amother [ Blonde ] wrote:
How do we know it's like a cup of tears or a beautiful building missing bricks? If these examples are true then the concept of doing more mitzvos to bring moshiach is great. Maybe we are destined to be in galus a certain amount of time and them moshiach will come. Who do we know we can effect his arrival time? Considering he hasn't come all these years, it's logical to assume we can't impact his arrival time.


But what we do still has impact.
Rabbi Reisman talks about a very important yesod, a pattern in history with the Batei Mikdash. We have Dovid Hamelech, whose words in Veyevarech Dovid are so poignant. He invested so much and yet he was not going to be the one to build the BHMK.
We have the people in galus Bavel who returned 18 years early to rebuild the BHMK and were then stopped.

But they DID build the BHMK. They built the inner BHMK by investing it with their hearts and souls. Others built the physical BHMK.

We too are building the inner BHMK. And we need to keep on doing it until the time will come when Hashem Himself will send down the physical building.

ETA: I forgot an important word: disappointment. Dovid Hamelech, those who returned from Bavel...can you imagine their disappointment? But what if they would have known how invaluable their contribution was?
We need to remind ourselves that this is our contribution too.


Last edited by PinkFridge on Fri, Aug 23 2019, 11:34 am; edited 1 time in total
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miami85




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 23 2019, 10:57 am
amother [ Blonde ] wrote:
How do we know it's like a cup of tears or a beautiful building missing bricks? If these examples are true then the concept of doing more mitzvos to bring moshiach is great. Maybe we are destined to be in galus a certain amount of time and them moshiach will come. Who do we know we can effect his arrival time? Considering he hasn't come all these years, it's logical to assume we can't impact his arrival time.


All the speakers were acknowledging that we are in those "ikvesa d'mishicha"--the birth pangs of moshiach. The times leading up to Moshiach are described as a turbulent time, a time of rampant "chutzpah" Which we see everywhere--we are the ODD generation! Life is hard. But how many of us say "Ani maamin...b'chol yom sheyavo" with real belief? I myself can be a skeptic sometimes, but I'm trying to convince myself that if we can be less focused on "MY mitzvos" and more about the caring about others. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are about my relationship with HaShem, saying "sorry" I touched muktza, or I did borer on Shabbos, but that's what teshuva is for we can learn the halachos, we can repair that but Yom Kippur does not inherently attone for bein adam l'chavero sins which based on chazal is the necessary tikkun for rebuilding the beis hamikdash. Thus, I think, I believe that we need to really wake up and feel that is my honor, is my point, is my grudge, really worth it? If it would bring Moshiach NOW wouldn't it all be worth it?
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