Tisha B'Av: Restoring Unity of the People - Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz

[Music] did not exist during the bayen and M even during the bayen we areel over theban of the basion this is very clear from all of the kenos many many kenos as we looked at this morning talk specifically about the Corbin bias re and you might say why do I think about that because the answer is I lost something that I never got back why is it important to know whether we're mourning over the bias Shen or the bias because thei tells us any generation in which the Bas mik is not rebuilt is as guilty as the very generation of the Corban theban BAS mikash was not simply something that happened because of those AOS and we don't have enough of a to get it back rather the USI is telling us if we would not be guilty of the very same a that were we would have the so if it'sa that kazal tell us that the first B mikash was destroyed because of the worst ofos of and the second B was because of thei is telling me it is not only that we still have the a of which is the very very but since we are over the first as well we must still have the a of AAR G that raises a question I understand that we still live in a world that is plagued with polarization with hatred with animosity with coldness with indifference one doesn't even have to be M on this although one should be M because we need to hear it and internalize it over and over again how the period and the dissension and the m and the coldness and the indifference is so powerful and overwhelming that it keeps us in aulas for almost 2,000 years so on one hand we need to hear the message we need to internalize the message we need to understand the message but on some level it's a pet message we see it it's obvious but to say that we still have we're not that bad we don't bow down to idols St most of us at least haven't murdered anybody gilas in what sense do we have any Shas at all to the AIS of the first Corbin so there are many many different answers and approaches to this how we correlate our matv even to the AAS of the first corbon and not just the second corbon one approach is that kazal say that spiritually many AAS that we don't regard as so serious are connected to the serious a say for example if a person is angry that is equal to say that is considered humiliating somebody public there's another by that is as the bat writes because when you're angry and you're frustrated you're not accepting the fact that God is in charge of the world G sayur AA thoughts stimuli media that incit sexual Temptation are as bad as the AA itself so even if literally I don't stick a knife in a person's heart have I been even if literally I don't bow down to an idol do I have any anger in not accepting theem or do I Elevate money or professionalism or success or C to be the new Idol that I worship self idolization so in a very literal way if we understand kaz's correlation we are indeed even if not in the most literal way possible that is one simple answer second answer you know Theo the author of The besides being godor theor and by the way he was a four-year-old child on the Tish of that the Jews left Spain were expelled from Spain the abarbanel who was the Zak of the door was at the head of the procession and the young child who who become r K the M was towards the end of the procession with his mother buto was also a very great mobo it's brought down that he used to go to here the Aral the arizal was much much younger but every time he went to the arel he fell asleep and the Aral said it was nigar in Shay that it's not your C that you should learn from me but thef himself was a great Mako and he he had a Mal that he would learn from called a MAG a private and he even gave us a diary of his encounters with this Angel mag you can actually read his discussions with the Malik and in the mag he tells a story that one time he was over a difficult and he worked very very hard till he finally had aot in it and he his walking in the side streets of spatz we've been there you know what it's like he happens to over hear a shoe maker who is learning that very same sugya with his seven-year-old son well you don't want to ease drop but you know obviously it interested Ry what they would say about the suia and the shoemaker's son the seven-year-old asked his father the very Kasha that have been bothering of YF Kyra so y k now is very very interesting and the father is annoyed and the father says to his son I knew this was too difficult for you you're asking such simple questions that are obvious theat is such and such exactly what it took the Bas y the godor two weeks to figure out so rier of Kyra was totally demoralized because apparently if this was so pet that the father has a Tina and a seven-year-old for not getting theot what a did he have that he couldn't see it so he has someone to ask he asked the Mal what is my a what is what is my why was it not to understand an obvious truth in the tah that's so P that kids are supposed to understand it and the Malik told him it was exactly the Opposites the Kish that you had was something that was very deep and very wondrous and the world was not deserving of it and it was an aspect of connection to Hashem that this Earth was not yet Roy for but through your Yia through your amus through your m nees you brought it down into this physical Earth and once it was brought down into this physical environment anybody could get it even a child this is what is recorded this is the phenomenon where often a person who's learning could be M right you could be M that's kind of the highest compliment your to a or later or that doesn't mean I don't want to burst anybody's bubble that doesn't mean we learn as well as but they brought these into the worlds they then become accessible on a rational level this makes no sense at all rasf Ciro didn't write what he learned he didn't teach it he didn't communicate it what do you mean you brought it into the world you didn't tell anybody it remained in your mind in your heart but the answer is that is the nature of Rus that is the nature of kadus that when we sit by ourselves nobody knows what we're doing you're sitting in the B Med you're staging you're learning you're ding you're serving Hashem and people say on the outside world sometimes what are you accomplishing what are you doing for the world you're not a teacher you're not a rabbi you're not even doing that but a y has to know that every time we do Mitzvah we serve Hashem we learn Tyra we're bringing kadus into the world that changes the world that elevates the world that makes it a different type of existence used to say that the learning of the b r has had some type of effect on the SAS in Paris that if in Roden they were learning 14 hours like an atom bomb you have ground zero and then progressively weaker radiation but it goes very very far that may be in Paris they're not going to learn 12 hours but the SAS will be a little better than it would be this is the kayak of Tyra the kayak of R it's a reality that changes the world but what does that mean that means if you look at a world and a world is decadent and a world is corrupt and a world is Muka in Tuma that even if we're not guilty of any of that it must be that the kadia that we could have created was not as great to dispel that so if we go back to the question how are we guilty the answer is even even if we're not guilty of if we live in a world living in a world that's M living in a world that's living in a world of so it depends there aren't that many openly idolatrous cultures although there are but as the V said when the took away the of idolatry it was replaced by the for money and materialism and that too is a form of and if we live in a world of it is a Simmon to us that the Kad that we could have generated was not generated to the same degree that it could have been because if kadha can dispel the Tuma then when there is Tuma by definition the kadha was not strong enough enough and in that sense we still have a to the world can be changed by the isolated activity of the person that is thein says definition of anus has many definitions there are many ways you can be an Aus but one of those ways is a quite surprising way a could keep its a could put on filling every day could keep K and chabas but if his attitude is what do the rabbis do for meaning in a more General sense what is people who are sitting and learning Torah what are they accomplishing for the world the gar says that is AIC corsus because one is denying the to change existence and that is how we have takes it in a slightly different way and says this is the third answer our great a to be sure but they are symptoms of deeper spiritual flaws and even if we don't exhibit the symptomology we still have the underlying root causes and he connects it to the three destroyers of spiritual life and payo says that's Kina TAA kav jealousy excessive lust for the material and the sensual and covo the need for Honor self agisent ego gratification they are there might they take a person out of this world they destroy his for sure and they destroy his ability to accomplish anything significant in this world and r s says very simply that the extreme expression of jealousy is one is so jealous one is enraged that one kills the extreme expression OFA is gas and then finally he says that the idea of K is a because when man makes himself the measure of what is the Supreme value my covod my ego my honor instead of recognizing that all honor belongs to Hashem that is a form of a that is self worship so R saduk says when we connect ourselves to the Avent we are not automatically referring to the specific a but the character flaws of K and each person each of us on this day must make our own because remember that the of being over the is not simply the of crying over the past but it's resolving in whatever way we can to be as I mentioned earlier to be the mikdash does not mean to physically build a mikdash Rashi says the third mikdash is the rambam says the third mikdash is going to be built by mashia there is a that says we should build the base of mik and that brings mashia and that is the SM of the Temple Mount groups but all I can say is we don't follow that and the have actually said by and large not to follow that view so our job is not to physically build a mikash but what we do is we make a mikash for the aisher in our heart and our soul dwells within us and therefore says the same way when you make a building the first thing you have to do is get rid of the junk on the building site get rid of the garbage and the junk the first step to building a mikash a dwelling place for the aisher in our heart and in our soul is to work on the mid of Kina to try to uproot it to try to improve it to try to get rid of all of those things that are Maya and every time we do that as well as working on which is the bayen what we're doing is we are adding a brick in the celestial B and when enough of those bricks are added in the Heavenly bik we are then to the coming down the bik is symbolic of the ofes being with us when destroyed the bias he was very proud of what he did he boasted he says I have defeated God I have driven God from his house and the almighty responded you did not drive me from my house I did not live there anymore when am Israel was no longer Z to be a repository of the I left the mikdash when you destroyed the mikdash you destroyed a house you destroyed a building fancy buildings can be destroyed the one who really destroyed the mikdash was us we destroyed the mikdash and we rebuild the mikdash by bringing aish baru back into our heart back into our soul and precisely this awareness of loss is going to be the impetus towards bignan everyone knows the famous gamorra that the son hedin mashia is born on the nth of and the maral explains that it does not necessarily refer to the actual birthday of mashia mash the person his birthday could be any day of the year but rather it means that the spiritual power that will bring mashiach into the world the spiritual kak that brings GAA is the depth of the yearning and the sense of need that we have and therefore the magnitude of Tish brings the kayak of Gul in the world where often mentions Rutter's wonderful statements that the one thing rautner said he missed about when he came to was he missed the yearning to be an arous because he was an arous and that's a humorous remark but it's a remark that has a profound truth sometimes as the as the expression in English goes absence makes the heart grow fer that on most y toim we celebrate the closeness we have with the rebon but there are times in which we have to focus on the distance we have from the rebish of how far we are but paradoxically in experiencing the distance in feeling how far we are that creates a yearning and that yearning creates a closeness and it's on both sides because just as we are Mish to be connected with it's even more so that is M connected with us and therefore there is a paradox that in the awareness of distance there is enormous closeness and burning love and the maral says that is the kak that brings mashiach into the world if you want it he will come it will come it all depends on the rut Zone that we have and the ruton comes from the sense of how much we needes how much we need G what our lives are like without a mik but as I said going back to what I said earlier ARA starts off with cleaning out the garbage cleaning up the building site to be masak the K of a c in this sense I want to switch gears a little bit but it will ultimately be connected with the idea that it turns out that in the seeds of itself or in the phenomenon of Corban are the seeds out of which Redemption comes one way this is so is by the process of Yearning that creates love but we see this throughout it is a recurring pattern just as a plant or a grain cannot grow until the seed disintegrates it is the nature of all new creation that there be kind of a s disintegration and disappearing of the old and that is why in the very framework of creation it was built in a pattern of Gus we find over and over again that within theban there are the seeds and intimations of redemption let me give you quickly just three examples of this part of it I mentioned in the kenos this morning when Yakov ainu is running away from ASA and Yakov ainu is very very frightened he is impoverished he's leaving his father and mother he's leaving ER Israel he's going to the spiritually corrosive environment of L his life is threatened talk about between a frying pan and a fire ASV wants to kill him bodily love he fears will destroy him spiritually and in the middle of the day the sun sets and it becomes totally dark and yov is hopeless and helpless and feels that there is no way he will ever be out of his sorrow and Hashem comes to him in the Glorious dream of reassurance now what's interesting is that on one level yaka ainu could see this as a totally bad sign in the middle of the day the sun sets isn't God giving me a message my life is total darkness and defeat there is no right that is left what a message what a downer what a negative is giving him at that moment this is before he had the dream and yet say the was actually a message of comfort although it's not clear if yakob understood it as such at the time we read in this morning's para when you have children and grandchildren and they will have dwelt in the land a very long time and they will turn to Idols I am testifying you will be utterly destroyed Rashi brings a medish that says the gatria of anant is 852 years had the Jewish people been in ER Israel 852 years and worshiped idols the PK would have said they would have been wiped out right away as it were exiled us two years before that point we were actually in ER Israel 850 years we know this because it was 440 years from the time we entered the land until the bignan B mikash and the first mikdash was omade 410 years 450 and 410 uh I'm sorry uh 440 and 4 410 is 850 and the medra says Hashem exiled us two years earlier than he should have in order that the part of the PK that says we will be utterly destroyed would not be fulfilled and kazal say the medish that Hashem caused the sun to set earlier than it should have was a remise that the Gus of Darkness will be two years early so superficially you think it's bad you think God is cruel you think that Hashem is punishing us even more than we deserve because we should have had 852 years as Vos shantam and instead he did it early but it all turns out that that earlier Gus was L because that prevented the necessity of a my hair in the Gus itself is T the of redemption the K of GA in this connection let me say there's another thing that happened when the sun set prematurely and that is this is before yakov's dream he didn't have the dream till afterwards Yakov was M didak did yov did harvest the sun set yov said I will be asks a very good C we know that there in the that theing of the of is a it is optional it is not a so f if ab's prayer is an obligation and y's prayer is an obligation yobu the choicest the greatest of the of us the only one of the of us that was Z that all of his children are part of clausel why should Yakov vinu's prayer be inferior to that of the prayer of abam and Y how can you say Yakov did my and AR is s says very beautiful and moving thought that we can actually internalize in all of ouros every day every even though it's the same word same Shimon is designed to elicit a different mood in how we connect to our kesak which ideally should be DAV kin as the sun comes up is a prayer of Hope and gratitude it's a new day a new opportunity this is the mid of ab ainu who perceived hashem's kindness in the world who saw many of the Ream's promises fulfilled in AB who was respected who was well regarded who was M thousands and thousands of people who was Z to a son when he was 100 years old and even the so-called bad son Ismael did Chua in the lifetime of abrah ainu and did not become a Russ till afteru died at least openly so was well positioned to see the god of kindness the god of the god of RA and that's the prayer of shakas where every morning there is a new morning that is filled with hope and therefore Shak is the prayer of Joy the prayer of Hope the prayer of gratitude is now granted we D but Min is often DAV before hopefully but with the lengthening Shadows of the evening on one never left AR but he began to feel the night coming on remember the 400 years of Exile begin with the birth of Y he was given the message even by the local Philistines that pish him this isn't his land doesn't belong there is the prayer of panic a person turns to Hashem and sayses I still have your bras but I feel and I fear they're slipping away let me hold on to it that's the me the the fear the trepidation the worry the concern that maybe I won't be to hold it on so Shak is the prayer of gratitude is the prayer of of panic in fact even in terms of time frame is a panicky prayer but in you often have to you're in the middle of the train station the bus station You Know M has a window that's a small window and you get you know you have to worry about this before there were cell phones all the phone booths in Port Authority in New York always had religious people ding M uh through their phone calls to the rebon what is myev myv is not the prayer of gratitude for the light of Hashem that's apparent and it's not even the panic I have your Bros but I'm so afraid myev is when you hit rock bottom it's dark this was Yakov vinu's life remember he didn't have the dream till after he dim at this point Yakov ainu feels bere of anything that could sustain him his physical life is in danger his spiritual life life is in danger he doesn't have a wife he doesn't have a child he doesn't have possessions he doesn't know what the next day is going to be it's like the the situation of a Jew in a concentration camp so sok says Shak prayer of gratitude Min prayer of panic MV is the prayer of amuna amuna says that even if I don't see the light even if I don't don't see where when this tunnel is going to end I am M that everything AES does is going to be good and it's good even right now not just to believe in the light at the end of the tunnel but to see within the itself the of Hashem anduk says going back to the question the reason myv is optional is not because it's less but rather it's the other way around anything that's a can be expected of every 13-year-old boy so to be grateful for the good in your life yeah a child should know that to pray to Hashem when you're in trouble know that too but to reach the level where even in darkness I perceive the goodness and light of Hashem that is a high madrea the optionality so to speak of arvit does not stem from it's being inferior but it's something to which we Aspire that we're not always able to become right this is the idea of the morning of Tish the Aus of Tish to see in the darkness the seeds of the Redemption just as in was a remes to the two years before vant that on one level looked like a me it looked like an on it looked like a shre rejection by hasem and yet that very rejection was the key to how we even survived because had we been in erel 852 years there would have been no hatah in a related matter we know that one week after Tish the seventh day from Tish we have a very festive day a day that's called the 15th of of to be of the M says there were no days in Isel that were as happy and joyous as Y and and the gar Inus asks we understand why Yer is such a happy day which is interesting sometimes in the Jewish World they don't look at it as a happy day but it's a happy day a day day of forgiveness a Day of Reconciliation the day of M it's p yeah you're not eating you're standing up that's fine but there's no day as happy as yum Kipper but what is so great about the 15th of why is the 15th of such a day of so the garan Tinus gives no fewer than six reasons why is a day of the first reason it gives is that in the 40th year in the desert that is when the mayay midb the people who were supposed to die in the desert because of the moradin they stopped dying now the gamar doesn't really explain it Rashi brings a medish and a USI and it's a very very medish Yi basically says this every Arab Tish the whole generation of the midor no matter what their age is if they were from 20 on onwards they would dig a Graves and they would sleep in those Graves they would experience death and everybody who reached the age of 60 did not get up the next morning so everybody had to go through the experience but the people who reached age 60 did not uh they died they did not get up everyone else got up and that was repeated year after year after year after year to commemorate that first Tish above night when they cried the not trusting and having a inem the 40th year the remaining people most of them were already dead but the remaining 15,000 on the average dug their grave they didn't die what happened so they thought perhaps we made a mistake in thees maybe it's not the ninth above maybe it's the eighth above so they kept on sleeping in the grave the next day the day after the day after by the time it got to the 15th of a they saw full moon so they knew that the ninth of a must have passed and now it's a very very Shi because according to thei it turns out that 15,000 people who should have died did not die the last year even though the Tyrus made it that yua and KH were the only men who survived okay I'm not going to be Mas there indeed there's a lot of Dion in thisi the USI taka says again from the B you don't know the B doesn't Clearly say it in fact tysus has another when the B says uh they the people they stopped dying that means they did die the last Tish they sat Shiva and then on the 15th of you know they were able to be that spoke to them again but according to thei there was no death on that last ti so that became that Sim that's reason number one reason number two is that it mentions that in the days of the 10 tribes from IR Menat he put up guards he put up Golden calves and he put up guards so that the Jews from the 10 tribes northern kingdom would not visit the basam mikdash but the last of the 10 tribe Kings HOSA Ben aah removed the guards and said whoever wants to go to the Bas of mikdash go ahead go to the bikash and had a that that was on the 15th of and that's a big because people could serve Hashem to serve Hashem that's a gavala thing the gar andus as the obvious Kasha he did such a good thing and then they get destroyed that's when comes and destroys them for this should be thear gives us uh very important warning it says yeah he said anybody wants to go can go but but nobody went meaning all the years they didn't go they had an excuse we can't we can't the arm is not letting us go when you have the opportunity and you don't use it on one hand it's to have an opportunity but it's an it's a responsibility I have to say know in this day and age there are so many enhanced opportunities for learning Tyra that earlier Generations didn't have whether it's translations we hope to get people Beyond translations but whatever it is you might call it crutches you might call it things that assist you things that can help you tremendous thing but you know when opportunities exist there are responsibilities to use them so that's the second reason the third reason is that it mentions that the B you'll recall uh were told when they Inherited property they were not allowed to marry any men from a tribe other than their tribe because there was a fear that property would go from one tribe to another tribe and that was not proper they were from the tribe of masas they were commanded they could only marry men from manasha they cannot marry men from another tribe less the property go to their husbands or their children and that would be taking lands from One Tribe to another tribe it was understood however that this this was only a temporary until was divided and at some time after the it was permitted for all of theim to intermar and that was on the 15th of so it's that's why it became a day of and then there's a second the gar says which is the fourth reason and the uh the second instruction was in the Pisha when there was a great war against the tribe of bamin and Benyamin was almost decimated and people took a solemn oath they would not allow their child their daughter to marry a bamit and a tribe almost became extinct when they finally M allowing B that became a right so so far we have four reasons the midb stopped HOSA Ben this is before the Corbin basing took away the guards that prevented people going to the mikash we have the uh a woman who inherits property could marry a man from another tribe shavid binyamin was readmitted into CL Israel and the uh Fifth and the sixth reason is betar was destroyed in the Bara Revolt around 60 years after theban on Tish as well but the Romans did not allow the bodies to be buried for 3 years to break the rebellious Spirit of the Jews finally after 3 years there was a miracle the bodies did not disintegrate or decompose or purify so the emperor finally said bury them and that's why we added that ining that hasem is good that the bodies didn't spoil and they were buried and the m is we were given permission to bury the haruga betar on the 15th of AF so that's three years and one week after the destruction of betar because betar was destroyed on the ninth of this is three years later on the 15th of of we could bury and the final reason is an ecological reason and that is the 15th avav was the last day that we completed wood cutting for the basa mikdash because after the 15th of the summer gets a little uh the days get a little shorter and as a result the wood wood is a little bit moist it is not as dry as it would be and it is not as suitable for the m so every time they completed the wood cutting that was a Sim of the 15th that we have enough wood for the coming year six reasons why the 15th of is a yum why is that so important the reason why it's so important is let us remember that there are five Soros on Tish there are five reasons why Tish is a day ofan and a day of and what I want you to see is that each tragedy of Tish the abisher gave us a corresponding after we sat Shiva on the seventh day of Shiva he gives us a for that tragedy tragedy number one of Tish was the of the Moran who spoke and as a result it was that was the G but on the 15th of 40 years later that gazer was an took it away the bias was because primarily because of the of AAR that was the first of the three well but on the 15th although this is before the but looking at it in a cosmic way that is when the of were removed and the yiden could go and worship hem in the bik so the T for the a that caused the was muken through allowing people to worship the was because of but we see two examples this is why you got have six two examples of breaking down barriers barriers when one Jew cannot connect to another Jew but be have a woman who Inherited property could marry every Jew shavit B was welcomed back it's the that helps us overcome the sin by creating on the 9th of a betar was destroyed and on the 15th of a 3 years later the har were and the final tragedy that is recorded is y was plowed over with sulfur and salt destroying its fertility in fact the Yi has a beautiful lesson the Yi says ER is so nervy so arrogant as it were that in spite of everything that was done to it it's still able to produce it's quite amazing that itself is but it only produces for us doesn't produce for anybody else and thei L is and yet if the ninth of part of our tragedy is the destruction of the to be on the 15th of we celebrated that the abish gave us the ability to have the so the point basically is that side by side with the Aus and theban and the tragedy the ab says beel but then you have to get up from Shiva so to speak the 15th of is getting up from shba and each s the gives you everyone knows the famous gar in Mak Mak where the are walking with Raba by the and they see a sh a fox that comes out of the K and the crya laughs and the say to RAB why are you laughing and he says to them why are you crying and he said and they say to him that the H was the holiest place in the world where if a noning goes in he's and now and Raba said for that I laugh because until I saw how the Prophecies of Destruction were mum in such a literal way I wasn't sure that the Prophecies of gula would be fulfilled in such a literal way but from thean itself I could be margish that there will be a a g and therefore R's kak was to see in the darkness of in the Hester Pim of gas in what looks like Hashem rejecting you he saw in that the hidden light that would bring G in the world in many ways I say is bringing out the hidden light of Tish and bringing out in an open revealed revealed way it's is famous for it some say it the name of other people but all who mourn over so we always translate it as will Merit and will see its Joy but grammatically that's not the case z is not a future tense it does not say Z says he who Mourns over y sees it now in theban you see the Bion how is that how do I see the Bion in theb so they say this thought when the brothers tried to tell Yakov that YF was killed and they brought him a cinus that was dipped in blood so it says refused to be comforted and Rashi brings from K that although the if God forbid a person suffers a bereavement with the passage of time the pain is less intense and you're able to go on that's a that we're able to go on that we don't get destroyed by grief that's only when the person is dead when the person's alive even if you don't know that they're alive you're not going to be able to be Mak and because is only on a not on a that's what Rashi says that's why yob could not be now why didn't yob realize that J was alive because of that that that's another but but was not so says the like this the happened so many years ago and of course we could add another 250 years to theam CER why don't we get over it why do we still have a Tish why do we sit on the ground why are we saying K if GAA is dead then we would get over it we would be maab but if we're not that must mean it's still alive therefore you're still margish in the very fact that you're Mar you see in that alone the and that's why should be the very last 10th of that would be Aus as the says these days will become days of but as I said earlier the G will come commensurate and in proportion to how much we yearn for it how much we feel we need it and how much effort we put in to making our heart and our soul a place of the may help us to live our lives that way and in that way we and all of Israel and the whole [Music] world