The Ninth of Av. A day of mourning. A day commemorating the destruction of the Temple. A day of contemplation.
Think. What did we do so badly that we are, today, spread out all over the world, nearly 2,000 years after the destruction of the Temple, and that we have not yet completely returned to our homeland?
The ARI writes that there are sparks of holiness spread out across the entire world. Our misdeeds have caused these sparks to be in exile. But it also means that there is good all over the world. Therefore, every mitzvah and good deed that a person does helps rectify the sparks. This is a major cause of our being dispersed around the globe. For our good deeds are necessary to elevate those sparks.
How can we know this? That HaShem wants us and yearns for us to do good?
The Talmud teaches that the nations entered the Temple early on Tisha B’Av and caused much destruction there. On Tisha B’Av in the afternoon, they had enough and then set fire to the Temple. It burned most of the night of Tisha B’Av and mostly on the 10th of Av. So let’s examine the customs of Tisha B’Av.
On the night of Tisha B’Av, we mourn. We do not wear leather shoes, we sit on the floor, minimal lights are illuminated and we are enjoined from greeting others with peace. The same is repeated in the morning of Tisha B’Av, and we do not wear tallit and tefillin.
Now comes the afternoon of Tisha B’Av, the time when the Temple was set on fire. What are our customs? We arise and sit on chairs. We wear tallit and tefillin. In other words, we are shedding some of our mourning. But this was the actual time of the destruction. Shouldn’t the customs of night and day be reversed?
But, as the ARI teaches, the entire day of Tisha B’Av, the Attribute of Justice demanded the destruction of the Jews because of their wicked deeds. The entire time, the heavenly prosecutors sought the end of the Jewish nation. But God decided otherwise. He agreed instead to the destruction of the Temple; this way, the Jewish Nation would survive!
HaShem loves us! He wants us! He is just waiting for us to want Him!
May HaShem send the Redemption now, in our lives, Amen.
