Heard something meaningful for Tisha B'Av? Post it here

avrahamama

Wed, Jul 29 2020, 10:11 pm

Rav Avigdor Miller on Tisha

Q:
How do I take advantage of Tisha B’Av?
A:
Now, we have to listen to the advice of a great man, Shlomo HaMelech. In Koheles he’s giving us advice. לכל זמן – There’s a time for everything. Now, when you hear that on Chol Hamoed Sukkos, you just want to be yotzei the reading of the megillah and that’s all. But you should listen well to these words of this wise man.
Listen to the words – “There’s a time for everything.” Now, if you look there, he says that among the times there’s also עת למות – there’s a time to die. What does that mean? You’re going to choose a time to die? What does it mean there’s a time to die? You’re going to choose a good time to die? No, that’s not the pshat. It means, there’s always a time, an opportunity, to accomplish something – even when you’re dying. Even as you die, Hashem is giving you an opportunity to accomplish in this world.

La’kol, for every kind of perfection of character, there’s a zman – there’s a time. We need so many things to sandpaper us to make us smooth and easy to deal with. To make us good-natured, calm and happy, we need many things. So Hashem sends things upon you.

There are so many different times during the year and each one is an opportunity for perfection of the mind – each one of them accomplishes a different kind of perfection on you. It’s up to you, however, to know that when the time comes you have to make use of it.
Tisha B’Av you have to know is a time to sit down on the ground and weep. Not to look at the clock and see how many hours is it until supper time – no. You have to weep on Tisha B’Av. Weeping on Tisha B’Av is a shleimus, a perfection of character. I won’t go into that now – it’s a very big subject. Weeping on Tisha B’Av is a great shleimus. לַאֲבֵלֵי צִיּוֹן לָתֵת לָהֶם פְּאֵר תחת אפר – the more eifer, the more you put ashes on you, the more pe’er you’re going to get, the more perfection of character. The more you mourn, the more your character will be perfect. פאר תחת אפר. You get perfection of character if you mourn for the Beis Hamikdash.

We have to understand what the loss of the Beis Hamikdash means to us. Now, when I say Beis Hamikdash, I mean all that goes with it. The loss of the Sanhedrin in the lishkas hagazis is a tremendous irreparable loss. We have to realize also the loss of all the great personalities we had in the days of old. We don’t have the great teachers, the pathfinders, the guides, that we had in the days of old. That’s something to weep over.

We have to mourn for the loss of nevuah. Ahh, the prophets, the nevi’im! What a great gift that was, when the Shechina was shoreh b’Yisroel and the nevi’im spoke words of truth. It hurt very much, but they revealed to the people the core of the problems. The truth hurt, but that’s how people got better. It was the word of Hashem that enlightened the eyes of the people. And when the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, nevuah ceased and we lost that great opportunity.
By the way, you don’t have to wait until Tisha B’Av. If you’re an ambitious man, so sometimes, let’s say your wife went to a wedding, she’s coming home late at night – nobody’s home, so you take off your shoes, sit down on the floor and say tikkun chatzos. You never said tikkun chatzos once in your life?! Ah – it’s a pity! Sit down and mourn for the churban Beis Hamikdash. Never once? It’s in a siddur. When I was a boy, I said tikkun chatzos many times.
Sit down on the ground and try to weep for the churban Beis Hamikdash. In case you can’t do the whole thing, try it for one minute. Sit down for a minute before you go to sleep, on the floor. Sit down and mourn for the churban Beis Hamikdash. It’s a perfection. You never did it?! You sit down in the middle of the year – not on Tisha B’Av – in the middle of the year sit down on the ground and mourn for the churban Beis Hamikdash. “Only tzaddikim do that,” you’ll say. No! You don’t have to be a tzaddik! It’s expected of us that we should mourn for the churban Beis Hamikdash.

We lost the Beis Hamikdash. Is that nothing to you? All the time we’re saying והשב את העבודה – all day long we’re asking Hashem, “Please bring back the service in the Beis Hamikdash,” so it means you’re sorry you don’t have a Beis Hamikdash. יהי רצון מלפניך השם אלקינו שיבנה בית המקדש במהרה בימינו. You say that, don’t you? So once in a while sit down on the floor at night. The best time is chatzos, but otherwise pick anytime. In the daytime, you can do it too. If you can, the best time is chatzos. Let’s say nobody’s home right now, or everyone is sleeping, and it’s chatzos, you should grab the opportunity – sit down and mourn for the Beis Hamikdash one minute. You want to say the whole thing? תבוא עליכם ברכה.

But of all the times of the year, Tisha B’Av is the time to mourn. עת לבכות – There’s a time to mourn. That’s Tisha B’Av. You have to mourn on Tisha B’Av.
TAPE # E-213

avrahamama

Thu, Jul 30 2020, 1:29 pm

Imagine it's the year 2033. Covid has changed America forever. People have not gathered in large groups for 13 years. All children go to school online. All parties are on Zoom. It has been this way for 13 years. Now imagine that you're the parent of a bar-mitzvah boy. Your son has been preparing for a year to read the Torah to his friends and family over Zoom. The day arrives, you turn on Zoom, and he does his thing. Everyone is clapping and singing, congratulations are offered. Toasts are made. Your son, the bar mitzvah boy, is beaming. You've never seen him so happy. Nothing takes away from his joy on this day. And why shouldn't he jubilant? He has never known anything else. He was raised in a Covid world, where everything is done online. He's been looking forward to his Zoom bar-mitzvah for years. This is how it's done. He has no memory of the world before Covid. But you, his parent, while proud and celebratory, find yourself hiding in the bathroom on this day, more than once, and quietly weeping for what once was. You cry not only because your son cannot have a 'normal' bar-mitzvah (your normal, not his), but also because your son does not even know that he is missing anything. So far removed is he from that reality, that he acts as if everything is as it should be; only you know that something is very wrong. The tragedy of the day is not that your son cannot have a real bar mitzvah. The tragedy is that he doesn't even know what that is.

Guess what? We are that boy. We were raised in the diaspora; we never had the Temple, the sacrifices, prophecy, the feeling of God's presence, never kept all the laws related to the land of Israel, etc. We go about our business as if this is Judaism, as if this is how it's supposed to be, as if this is how it's always been and how it always will be. But, the truth is, we've been in lockdown for 2000 years. For 2000 years our Judaism and our God has had to wear a mask. For 2000 years we have been socially distanced from Hashem. We are that happy bar-mitzvah boy who celebrates as if this is all there is; but, really, we have no idea what good is. We have no idea what God is.

Of course, I'm exaggerating a bit to make a point. We do know more than that boy in the story. Part of the genius of the Jewish people--and a key to our survival--is our memory. We remember what we never even experienced. We even have memories of the future. (That's right! Through learning the Prophets, the future becomes a memory.) We have never become complacent. We have never forgotten that there is so much more than this. How have we done this? Through education, rituals, mitzvot, and through our prayers, which are filled with references to the Temple, the Redemption, and the yearning for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Am Yisrael is amazing. We've managed to live our lives in lockdown, but we never let ourselves accept lockdown. We never settled for lockdown. Every day we prayed for more. Every day we prayed for a return to normal. We rejoice. We make lavish bar-mitzvahs. But, always, in the midst of our joy, we remember Jerusalem. We never let ourselves forget that there is more than this. Only Am Yisrael can do this. Only Am Yisrael can dance in prison and still strive to get out of prison. We will do it, b'ezrat Hashem; because we know that this is not the way it's supposed to be.

May Am Yisrael be freed from its 2000-year lockdown soon in our days

amother

Brown

Thu, Jul 30 2020, 3:43 pm

Notes from a shiur by Rav yitzchak Berkovits a few years ago.

Tisha B'Av in Yerushalayim is different. It's a different Galus: we're here, not "b'sof maarav" (far away), yet in the Makom HaChurban.
This mixed feeling is represented by the Kosel- the dancing and the Kriy'ah. There's the joy and excitement that we're there, whereas our ancestors couldn't be, and at the same time, it is the place of Churban.

What's the right way to commemorate Tisha B'Av? What should we be feeling?

Some people read Holocaust books or Kinnos. That's all history.
WHAT'S THE CHURBAN TODAY? What is the Churban altogether? Is it about Jewish suffering? No- but that's part of it.

David, in Tehillim, says: "Oorah, Lamah Sishan" (Awaken, why do You sleep") and "Keili, Lamah Azavtani" (Hashem, why have You left me").
To David Hamelech, in his relationship with Hashem, what hurt him MOST (when surrounded by enemies) was "Hashem, why did You turn Your back?
The DISTANCE was really bothering him.

In Shemoneh Esrei we say, "Barcheinu Avinu... B'Or Panecha"- Hashem should bless us... With a smile. Because "B'Or Panecha, Nasata Lanu"- with the smile Hashem gives us all the good things- "Toras Chaim, Ahavas Chessed..." They are expressions of His happiness and love for us.

The Tochacha of Hashem is His Hester Panim (hiddenness). The Gemara states, "Woe is to the sons who were sent away from their father's table."

Another Gemara says that an enemy is Pasul to be a judge in a case.
What is an enemy?
The Halacha is- an enemy is someone you try not to speak to for thirty days.

For OVER 2000 YEARS we haven't had Nevuah- HASHEM HASN'T SPOKEN TO US. He's chosen not to talk to us.
That is what we lament.

Every Tzarah is an expression of a lack of the relationship. We cry about Jewish suffering, and not about its underlying reason.

Eretz Yisrael nowadays is beautiful and prosperous. Yiddishkeit is alive and well in many places. BUT we're missing Giluy Shechinah (the Shechinah's revelation). There is so much Hester Panim.

The Ikkar is that the Shechinah- clarity- is missing. There is no Nevuah; we don't know what will be.
That is the essence of Churban.
We're not missing the Bais Hamikdash's structure; it's the Giluy Shechinah that were missing- the lack of closeness.

Before Tisha B'Av, we should think about what we're missing.

Yerushalayim is thriving... The definition of poverty has changed... Yet it's so painful how so many people today deny the Shechinah- because It's in hiding. There is a different value system, so strife is inevitable.

B'Acharis Hayamim (in the End of Days), Hashem's existence will be so clear. All issues will be gone- people will be one patient, generous, etc. because of the clarity.

All Tzaros are symptoms. The Ikkar is that the Shechinah is in hiding, and that Hashem is not speaking to us.

THE YEARNING FOR HASHEM MUST BE FELT AND EXPRESSED ON TISHA B'AV.

After Av comes Elul. Pain can create an emotional energy to get us to do great things.

(Like how the most meaningful Simchas have been preceded by something sad.)

Then we can get the energy to make real change.

The real Hakdamah (introduction) to Elul is Av.