The Special Mourning of This Tisha B’Av

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

We are in the midst of mourning. We do not have the Beis Hamikdash, and we mourn its loss, along with the exiles we suffered over the millennia. For each of these exiles, we mourn the many persecutions our nation endured. All this stems from the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash.

However, Rav Aharon Kotler notes that the main point of our mourning is the loss of our closeness to Hashem. The Beis Hamikdash was the main place in the world for gaining closeness to Hashem, and when we lost it, we lost this closeness.

In the times of the Beis Hamikdash, Hashem’s presence was palpable. There were perpetual miracles (Avos 5:5), there were Nevi’im and later there was ruach hakodesh. Awareness of Hashem was much more pervasive. When a Jew entered the Beis Hamikdash, he felt intensely that Hashem was there with him. Since the churban, we live in a state of “hester” – Hashem’s presence is “hidden.”

When we take in the present state of Klal Yisrael, we see the effects of this hester. How many Jews have abandoned Judaism? How many were never exposed to Torah? How many Torah-observant Jews don’t feel closeness to Hashem, and therefore engage in activities that are inappropriate for them? Even those who remain focused and have their Torah values in place find it harder to feel closeness to Hashem. This is the reason why we must mourn.

But more than simply mourning, how can we regain Hashem’s closeness?

Rav Kotler notes that when we practice the customs of mourning and feel pain because of them – this pain connects us to the Beis Hamikdash. It shows that within us the Beis Hamikdash is still alive, and we tap into the reality of the generation that experienced it directly. This is the way to regain closeness to Hashem. Also, our very desire to have the Beis Hamikdash and Hashem’s closeness – this too brings us closer to Him.

Rav Kotler adds that at this time, we should make efforts to get closer to Hashem through Torah study. The sages (Brachos 8a) say that since the time of the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, Hashem has only the four amos of halacha in this world. The sages are teaching us that when a person learns Torah, Hashem is with him in a way that hearkens back to His presence at the time of the Beis Hamikdash. This is the closeness we want.

Indeed, the sages say (Nedarim 81b) that the churban was the result of people not saying the blessings on Torah study beforehand. Failing to say the berachos, the Ran explains, showed that they did not sufficiently value the Torah they were learning. If so, we can correct this flaw in ourselves, by adding in quality and quantity to our learning, and valuing what we learn.

We should take this idea to heart as we approach bein hazemanim, particularly since this zman has been so compromised due to the coronavirus. We, who have been kept away from our beloved beis medrash, should resolve that during bein hazemanim, we will continue to cling to Torah study, and make everything else secondary to it. If matters come up, instead of postponing or canceling our learning seder, we must look into all other possible arrangements in order to maintain our seder. If need be, to postpone or cancel other matters.

As we begin a learning seder, we should consider what the Nefesh Hachaim (4:6) says, that Torah is the words of Hashem, and learning it means clinging to Him. This is what we are yearning for, what we are mourning over, so let’s use the opportunity to learn Torah and regain this closeness!

Lastly, this should be a time of strengthening our tefillos. In the Mikdash, there were two ways to become closer to Hashem- korbanos and tefilla, as the Navi states, that Hashem’s house “should be a house of prayer for all nations” (Yishaya 56:7).

Today we do not have the korbanos, but the sages say that tefilla is in place of korbanos (Brachos 26b). We should put special efforts in our tefilla to get closer to Hashem. At the time of the Beis Hamikdash, one felt he was literally standing before Hashem, and when he prayed there, he knew that he was talking and Hashem was listening. Today it’s harder. Still, we should try to concentrate and put intent in the words and feel we are standing before our loving father, and He can give us all we need – we just have to ask for it.

Rabbeinu Peretz (Pesachim 54b) states that Tisha B’av is a time to make our tefilla so intense that we feel ourselves at the level we actually were in the Beis Hamikdash, literally feeling Hashem’s presence right before us.

Indeed, we should feel the mourning of Tisha B’av this year more than ever before. If in the past, we were praying inside our shul or beis medrash, which Chazal (Megila 29a) call a Mikdash m’at (miniature beis Hamikdash), then all the more so this year, when we must pray to be able to fully return to our shuls and batei medrash! These buildings, and the yeshivos, kollelim, chavrusos and shiurim that go on within them – they are our Mikdash m’at! We must daven to receive them back as well, without masks, limitations or mandatory distancing. We need the Beis Hamikdash and our Mikdash m’at to get closer to Hashem!

May our closeness to Hashem be like in the times of the Beis Mikdash!