- Once, on the afternoon before Tisha B'Av, the Chasam Sofer would neither study Torah nor write responsa. He simply closed himself in a room.
One of his disciples, Reb Moshe, could not restrain his curiosity and he quietly opened the door of the room. He saw the Chasam Sofer weeping bitterly over the destruction of the Temple, his tears falling into a glass in front of him.
At the meal before the fast, the Chasam Sofer drank from the tears collected in the glass, in fulfillment of the verse (Psalms 80:6): "You fed them with the bread of tears, and gave them tears to drink in great measure."
We must feel the pain of exile if we have any hope of reversing it. Like orphans who never knew their parents, we risk going about our daily lives insensitive to the lack of a healthy spiritual world. On Tisha B'Av, we strive to understand what the loss of the Temple means - and how we can connect with our destiny, our struggle, our mission and our identity as a people.
When the Jewish People were slaves in Egypt, the redemption did not come about until they cried out to G-d (see Exodus 3:7). So too, the future redemption will follow the same pattern: When the Jewish People cry out to the Almighty, He will hear their cry and redeem them.
The Talmud (Brachot 32b) teaches that when the Temple was destroyed, all the Gates of Heaven were closed - except for one. That is the Gate of Tears. This Tisha B'Av, we must remember that the tears we shed for the destruction are precisely those tears which bring about redemption.
thanks to Rabbi Aryeh Leib Nivin
there is another aproach : happiness even in the 9 days. when we make siyumim of a masechta that brings joy. when we learn the laws of the temple that brings joy because we know without any doubt that is going to be rebuilt now. even on 9 of menachem av , we should be anxously waiting for moshiach even more than other times.happiness brakes ALL barriers
ReplyDeleteincluding and davka the barrier of exile
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, I think that this is an extremely important point. I would say that the "happiness" is reflected in the story of Rabbi Akiva when he laughed after the destruction when he saw the wolves walking along the grounds of the temple as he knew that it would be rebuilt. It is the place of knowing that Hashem destroyed the temple so that we would not have to destroy us- as he promised to never break that bond with us. It is the image of the keruvim facing eachother when the temple was being detroyed.. (see my old post on this). I have shed so many tears over the Beit Hamikdash, and was becoming quite effected on a physical level by over identifying with the pain of the Am, that recently I have been trying to hold the place of just seeing Hashem and his plan towards redemption being the center of it all. To say I don't have to stay in the pain (like Rabbi Akiva) as I can see the purpose if the plan unfolding. If we can hold this consciousness then we are also holding to future. We are seeing with "eyes of Moshiach" like Rabbi Akiva. Perhaps stage one is identifying with the pain and plight of the Am and out Tikkun, and the next stage is realizing that behind all of the "tragedies" is Hashem's rectifying work to bring the whole world to Knowledge of Him and the final Geulah Shleimah. Blessings, Devora
ReplyDeleteThank you. Yes, forgiveness is a central theme to all all healing. Forgiveness of others, self, and G-d. A wonderful healing method that centers on this is called The Journey by Brandon Bayes. For good basic information on Judaism to get started a great place to start is Aish.com. or chabad.org Blessings to you on your journey!!
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