tisha bav 5769- rav moshe weinberger

7/28/2019 Tisha Bav 5769- Rav Moshe Weinberger

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It says in the 24th kinaal churban beis hamikdash ki huras vchi hudah Over the

destruction of the temple that was torn down and trampled upon espod bkol shanavshana mispad chadash I shall lament with a new eulogy every year. Al hakodesh val

hamikdash.

Every year we must say a new hesped. Sometimes we are distracted during the year but

there is a new hesped. Since last our connection to the past has grown

weaker.

Medrash Aicha1

tells us in the generation ofRebbe, 100 years after the churban, it was

needed for the chachmaim to darshan about the churban. The tears weren't naturally

flowing.Hespedhas the same letters as hefsed, to lose something precious. Its

understood that once we don't feel the hefsedthe hespedis dimmed.

What is the meaning of the ? Hashem wants us this to say a new hesped,

not last years. What is the avodah?

In the kinos we see that interwoven in the story of the churban and the national desolation

are the very personal and intimate suffering of the individuals. By wefocus on each one . There is aKinah ofYirmuyahu crying about Yosheyahu. Zecharya

was murdered. There is a terrible story of the son and daughter of ' . They

were taken captive. Their masters made a plan to marry them off and to take their

children as slaves. The entire night each one stayed in a corner and cried I am theson/daughter of I should marry a servant? They cried all night. The next

morning they recognized each other, fell on each other and cried until they died.

: , . ': ,: ,

: , , ., . ? : ?

+' + : . ,.

Another story on the kinos is told of children jumping off a boat on the way to Rome to

avoid being desecrated. Mothers were eating the flesh of their children. There are manyindividual stories woven into the churban habyis.

Rabbi Soloveitchik brings the medrash of ' going to a far away place to raisemoney for the fight against Rome.

2

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1Couldnt locate the medrash

2Rav Soloveitchik embellishes this medrashon page 266 of The lord is Righteous in all of his ways. In

the actual medrash there is no mention as to why he traveled there. The fund raising idea is speculation on

the part of the Ruv.


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is not only crying over the past or even the present but the uncertainty of the

future. Story of a boy right before his afruf diagnosed with cancer. There is a story of girlin who fell in a manhole. Life can change in an instant.Hashem wants us to feel

that pain, vulnerability. That is life without nevuah, mashiach without connection to

Hashem. He wants us to feel thepachadof the children of ' theKohenGadol. We all have that issue of thepachad, vulnerability. Theshifcha could be on thecomputer, in the street, in our brains.

Why did Sarah Imeinu die? Many Jewish women survive the kmat, almost death? ManyPeople survive the close calls of life. The Aish Kodeshexplains that Sarah Imeinu died to

make a statement. She gave up her life to show Hashem that Jews can't live through

suffering like this. Even if we make it through another day (The Aish Kodesh said this in

the ghetto )and survive, after all his pain, there are pieces of his strength of his mind andsprit that have been broken. Not just by theshchitah but by the kimat. ,

? What is the difference if we are completely broken or partially broken? We

always tell ourselves as long as its not us. But Hashem says I don't want you to be likethe people who ' spoke to. I want you to feel their pain.

A MISSED OPPORTUNITY

The Torah portion reads, Gd spoke to Moses, saying, "Send out men for yourself toexplore the Canaanite territory that I am about to give to the Israelites." Leviticus

13:1

Moses sent important people of high standing as spies and charged them with amission of finding out the best and easiest way to conquer the land of Israel. But

they misled the Israelites and said that the land was impossible to conquer because

they used their intellect to arrive at this conclusion instead of relying on Moses, theleader of the generation, who knew the land was conquerable. Based on a teaching

of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Reb Zev Kitzes came to his Rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov, to ask for a brocha (blessing)before setting out for a trip to Eretz Israel (Land of Israel).

After giving him a brocha for a successful trip, the Baal Shem Tov cautioned, "RebZev, just a word of advice, carefully consider how you answer a question posed toyou."

Reb Zev put the words of advice from his Rebbe in his mind and started off on thearduous journey to Eretz Israel. After weeks of travel by carriage, he boarded a sail

boat and continued the journey. Several weeks at sea passed and the boat stoppedfor a short time at an island. Reb Zev, along with the other passengers, disembarkedto purchase supplies for the remainder of the trip. He lost track of time and when he

returned to where the boat had docked, it had already sailed away.

Reb Zev was very worried that he'd never be able to return to his home and family.He started to wander around the island looking for some signs of civilization. Finally

he found a path that led to a small house. " Boruch Hashem (Thank Gd)," he toldhimself.


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He knocked at the front door and it was opened by an old man with white hair and a

long white beard. "Shalom Aleichem (peace be to you), Aleichem Shalom," theygreeted each other. Reb Zev told the old man his tale of woe about how he had been

left by the boat and his fate of being stuck for the rest of his life on this island.

"Don't worry Reb Zev," said the old man in a comforting voice. "Be my guest forShabbos and next week there will be other boats that will stop and take you to your

destination."

Reb Zev felt relieved and had a very uplifting Shabbos with his host.

Sure enough, the next week a boat docked at the island.

While the host walked with Reb Zev to the boat, he asked, "How are the Jews in yourland doing? What's going on with them?"

Reb Zev was rushing to board the boat and didn't pay any attention to how he

answered the question. He automatically replied, "Boruch Hashem, Gd does not

forsake His children." Then he boarded the boat and it sailed away.

Several days later, Reb Zev suddenly thought that maybe the question of the oldman was the very one that the Baal Shem Tov had warned him to consider carefullybefore answering. "Why didn't I remember the Rebbe's warning?" he thought. "Why

didn't I tell him about the suffering and hardships that the Jews were experiencing in

Poland and Russia?" These thoughts bothered him so much that he finally decided toreturn and tell the Baal Shem Tov what happened without completing his trip toEretz Israel.

Just as Reb Zev was entering his Rebbe's study, the Baal Shem Tov sadly greetedhim with, "Every day Avraham Aveinu (our father Abraham) stands before Gd and

asks about the welfare of his children. Gd always reassures him that he will notabandon them. Recently Gd said to Avraham, 'Reb Zev is traveling to Eretz Israel.Ask him about his fellow Jews. He'll tell you.'

"But you misled Avraham Aveinu," said the Baal Shem Tov sadly. "Had you describedour suffering and hardship to him, you could have brought the Moshiach."

And so it was.

Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from astory in Sipurei Tzadikim'"4

Inseferabout Bobov there is story on page 104 about R Yisroel Brief. When he was a

child he was at Rav Benzions wedding in 1899. Thatshabbos by the chasunah ofshevabrachos all of the descendants of theDivrei chaim came. All the descendants ofSanz

came5. At that chasuna there were 10000 chasidim. It was a bad time because there were

gezeiros. On Motsai Shabbos there was big sheva brachos but it was slightly irregular.All the tzadikim were at the dais. The Chasidim lined up with kvitels untill Sunday

4Story was taken fromhttp://www.baalshemtov.com/Times/5768_Shelach.html#article2

5I am very unclear of all the names. I can use help here
http://www.baalshemtov.com/Times/5768_Shelach.html#article2http://www.baalshemtov.com/Times/5768_Shelach.html#article2http://www.baalshemtov.com/Times/5768_Shelach.html#article2http://www.baalshemtov.com/Times/5768_Shelach.html#article2


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morning. There were lines of many people to give to the tzadikin your lane. The tears

were going up to shamayim. R Yisroel was in the line to go to Reb Motel Hornosteipel

atapproximately 4 am. There was a pile of kvitlach. Suddenly the Ruv said to thegabbaino more. R Motel ripped open the bekeshe amd shirt, bared his chest and heart. They

were all shocked. The Ruv spoke and cried. Hashem take a look at my heart. I cant go on

and he couldnt stop crying. After a while he regained himself to continue.

Ouravodah on is to pull out our shirts. Look at hearts when we hear oftzaros.

We are not sayingBaruch Hashem. There is a . If you look at our hearts you can

see through the coating.

tisha bav 5769- rav moshe weinberger

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