Sorrow and Temple

B"H

The American Israeli litvishe Rabbi Pinchas Winston gave an interesting lecture on the subject "Ge'ulah (Redemption) and Tisha Be'AV".

Tomorrow night, right after Shabbat ends, Jews all over the world are starting the Jewish mourning day of Tisha Be'Av. Not only should we mourn for the two destroyed Temples but also learn from the mistakes of the generations in those days. Rabbi Pinchas Winston, however, raised the question if really ALL Jews in the Diaspora mourn for the two Temples.

Not that we mourn for two destroyed buildings but rather for the Shechinah (G - d's presents) who is not too obvious anymore. G - d withdrew His presents without letting us all alone. Or in other words, He is still here but just more far away and thus, not so visible anymore. G - d had promised the Jews that He would never leave them, now matter what. This promise is eternally valid although the church loves to claim something else. When Meshiach arrives, everything goes back to its previous state. The Shechinah is fully coming back, the Third Temple will be build and the Cohanim (priests) are going to do the sacrifices again. A king from the House of David is appointed and all nations are going to believe in ONE G - d.

Especially in Jerusalem, thousands of people are going to gather at the Kotel (Western Wall) tomorrow night. They even bring their own blankets and sleep there or just pray the traditional Kinot (mourning prayers). The Rebbe of the Chassidut Slonim Jerusalem, Rabbi Shmuel Bozorowsky, asks the question why it says that Meshiach will be born on Tisha Be'Av.
His answer: Because on Tisha Be'Av, the Jews become most aware of their loss of the Temple and this is the time when they most desire the Meshiach to come.

But do the Diaspora Jews really await Meshiach ? Haven't we Israelis already got used to our daily lives in this country ? Who could imagine the change Meshiach would bring ? Why don't follow Diaspora Jews not the biblical commandment of living in Israel ? Don't they feel too comfortable abroad and fail due to their own laziness ? Why don't they recognize the Yikun (soul rectification) Jews have been striving for more than 2000 years ?
Generally, Tisha Be'Av is the day when the spies came back from Canaan and reported Moshe and Bnei Israel what they had seen in the Promised Land. Not only that but they added their own opinions and thus spoke "Lashon HaRah – idle talk" about the Land of Israel. Many Israelites started to cry, as they believed what the spies said and lost all their trust in G – d. As a punishment, G – d gave them a real reason to cry which was the destruction of both Temples. They are called "Meraglim – spies" in Hebrew. Where in the Torah was the word mentioned the word before ?
When his brothers came down to Egypt, Yosef accused them of being "Meraglim".

"You, my brothers, sold me into slavery and if you don't do a Tikun for it, real spies are about to come in the future and will cause a serious disaster".

Those were the spies in the desert and until today, we are facing the consequences. The Temples are destroyed and we are still awaiting Meshiach who is going to build the Third Temple.
Yosef's intention was that his brothers should find out by themselves who he really was. He asked all those private questions but they didn't become suspicious at all. The brothers, on the other hand, thought that they had done the right thing by getting rid of Yosef. They considered him as the evil in the family just like Ishmael and Esav and thought that by getting rid of him, they are doing G – d's will. The moment Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, they realized that they had been wrong the whole time. The brothers were silent and suddenly saw that they did anything but G – d's will. The same is going to happen to us on the Day of Judgment after Meshiach's arrival. G – d is going to show us how wrong we sometimes were at times when we were so sure about doing the right thing.

One opinion is that we have to live in Israel in order to cause a Tikun and bring about Meshiach. However, I have to make it very clear here that I am talking about the RIGHT Meshiach and not the false one called Mr. J. C. !!!

You are welcomed to disagree or agree with me but it would be a great idea if this Tisha Be'Av every Jew is going to ask himself if he really desires Meshiach and what he does in order to bring the Ge'ulah closer.

Shabbat Shalom to all readers and have an easy fast (Zom Kal) !!!