T'sha B'Av
Hey guys its friday mornin and im here to share with yall my words of wisdom.. so here they go.we all know that tonight is tisha bav, no dont worry we arent really fasting tonight it was pushed off till sunday but there is still koach in the day. i was listening to one of the tapes that are put out by the CHofetz Chaim heritage foundation and there speaker said something really powerful. he was talking abt the power of tears. if u go back you'll remember that the reason that tisha bav was originally set aside as a day of morning by Hashem was bcz we cried for no reason... so Hashem decided to give us a reason to cry and boy have we had reasons you dont need a history lesson from me to remind you of all the torture and suffering we've endured, both as a klal and as yichidim.
so what is the antidote, how do we fix what our ancestors messed up so many yrs ago, and just as a by the way we know that no child is punished for something his father did unless he himself is guilty of the same mistake,so the fact that we are still suffering and mourning must be a constant reprimand to us that we are still doing something wrong, its in our hands to fix that which is so badly broken. so .. nu.. how do we fix it, well we could join all the miss america contestants and say "world peace"dont take my sarcasm the wrong way i think that world peace is a great idea adn im a big supporter, but somehow btwn the politicians that are running the world and the meglomaniacs not far behind world peace doesnt seem like such a distinct possibility in the near future, call me a pessimist, i call myself a realist.
so really though what are we supposed to be doing to fix the catastrophies that are falling around us constantly? Cry! yup crying is the best medication, i believe it is the zohar that says that each tear that is shed is turned into a stone that is put in the wall of the Beit Hamikdash, now before you think that im regressing to my preschool days when they tell you "bring in your mitzva notes bcz each mitzva puts another brick on the beit hamikdash"(you can imagine your teacher saying it right now cant you!) let me tell you how real the concept is, to the point that the reason we dont fast on shabbat is that since a natural reaction to tisha bav is crying which is thereby building which is assur to do on shabbat hence we push off the fast to sunday. now i dont know abt ya'll but for me its alwys a challenge on tisha bav, i know that im supposed to be sad and taht it is such a day of mourning for us as a klal but its hard for me to summon up the emotions on demand.
as i was listening to this tape (yes, tapes still exist) the speaker said that we are divided into 2 groups a. mourners of tzion b. not morners of tzion. so which category do you fall into? yes we all are uipse t that mashiach isnt here, yes we wish he would come right now, but how much does it permeate my daily life? how much does it really bother me that im here with my airconditioning, my own room and bathroom, that im here with my own car to go wherever i need to go... do we let it change our lives , or do we just go on with our lives, when we visit the aish site and watch the wall with longing but still happy that im here at home with internet(the would never let in israel) bu tthen we cont. so how do we become avlei tzion? he gave a few tips but this one i think is the most powerful... once a day make it a consience effort to think abt yerushalayim, what it once was a thriving metropolis of jewish life with a melech ben dovid ruling the pple as we brought karbanois daily and we had neviim telling is what are tafkid was and we all as a klal wanted to grow and become closer to Hashem.
now revert back to 2008.5768 and what is the first thing that comes to your mind-after teh kotel of course- the corruption, the sadness that permeates every corner. not that pple look sad they look happy that they have been liberated from the shackles of their judaism, they can look like the rest of the world, they even speak english(albeit heavily accented) the government that is more jew hating then most of the germnas in wwII. so what is our response to this, if we think abt this daily when you are driving home from school or work, turn off your ipod(i know i cant believe i just said that) and for even five mins a day think of Eretz Yisrael that moshe fought so hard to try to get into and the State of Israel that wouldnt admit to being anything jewish more than the haggling vendors in the shuk.so the choice is ours, how do we want to see ourselves: as avlein tzion or not?
so back to the crying... we all cry not on demand nessisarily but we cry if something hurts, physically or emotionally. we cry sometimes for valid reasons and more usual we cry for some absolutley nonsense reason taht we try to convince ourselves is worthy though deep down we know taht it really isnt worth it. we are pple we have emotions and sometimes they are out of control (though n/t really is) so nxt time you cry instead of retreating into your pillow and ben nd jerrys, retreat to the safety of your tehilim or siddur, use your emotions to talk to HAshem beg HIm to bring the geula, for refuah shelaima, for guidance for anything, your tears are powerful dont let them go to waste!
so what is the antidote, how do we fix what our ancestors messed up so many yrs ago, and just as a by the way we know that no child is punished for something his father did unless he himself is guilty of the same mistake,so the fact that we are still suffering and mourning must be a constant reprimand to us that we are still doing something wrong, its in our hands to fix that which is so badly broken. so .. nu.. how do we fix it, well we could join all the miss america contestants and say "world peace"dont take my sarcasm the wrong way i think that world peace is a great idea adn im a big supporter, but somehow btwn the politicians that are running the world and the meglomaniacs not far behind world peace doesnt seem like such a distinct possibility in the near future, call me a pessimist, i call myself a realist.
so really though what are we supposed to be doing to fix the catastrophies that are falling around us constantly? Cry! yup crying is the best medication, i believe it is the zohar that says that each tear that is shed is turned into a stone that is put in the wall of the Beit Hamikdash, now before you think that im regressing to my preschool days when they tell you "bring in your mitzva notes bcz each mitzva puts another brick on the beit hamikdash"(you can imagine your teacher saying it right now cant you!) let me tell you how real the concept is, to the point that the reason we dont fast on shabbat is that since a natural reaction to tisha bav is crying which is thereby building which is assur to do on shabbat hence we push off the fast to sunday. now i dont know abt ya'll but for me its alwys a challenge on tisha bav, i know that im supposed to be sad and taht it is such a day of mourning for us as a klal but its hard for me to summon up the emotions on demand.
as i was listening to this tape (yes, tapes still exist) the speaker said that we are divided into 2 groups a. mourners of tzion b. not morners of tzion. so which category do you fall into? yes we all are uipse t that mashiach isnt here, yes we wish he would come right now, but how much does it permeate my daily life? how much does it really bother me that im here with my airconditioning, my own room and bathroom, that im here with my own car to go wherever i need to go... do we let it change our lives , or do we just go on with our lives, when we visit the aish site and watch the wall with longing but still happy that im here at home with internet(the would never let in israel) bu tthen we cont. so how do we become avlei tzion? he gave a few tips but this one i think is the most powerful... once a day make it a consience effort to think abt yerushalayim, what it once was a thriving metropolis of jewish life with a melech ben dovid ruling the pple as we brought karbanois daily and we had neviim telling is what are tafkid was and we all as a klal wanted to grow and become closer to Hashem.
now revert back to 2008.5768 and what is the first thing that comes to your mind-after teh kotel of course- the corruption, the sadness that permeates every corner. not that pple look sad they look happy that they have been liberated from the shackles of their judaism, they can look like the rest of the world, they even speak english(albeit heavily accented) the government that is more jew hating then most of the germnas in wwII. so what is our response to this, if we think abt this daily when you are driving home from school or work, turn off your ipod(i know i cant believe i just said that) and for even five mins a day think of Eretz Yisrael that moshe fought so hard to try to get into and the State of Israel that wouldnt admit to being anything jewish more than the haggling vendors in the shuk.so the choice is ours, how do we want to see ourselves: as avlein tzion or not?
so back to the crying... we all cry not on demand nessisarily but we cry if something hurts, physically or emotionally. we cry sometimes for valid reasons and more usual we cry for some absolutley nonsense reason taht we try to convince ourselves is worthy though deep down we know taht it really isnt worth it. we are pple we have emotions and sometimes they are out of control (though n/t really is) so nxt time you cry instead of retreating into your pillow and ben nd jerrys, retreat to the safety of your tehilim or siddur, use your emotions to talk to HAshem beg HIm to bring the geula, for refuah shelaima, for guidance for anything, your tears are powerful dont let them go to waste!
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