B"H
THOUGHTS FOR THE NINE DAYS
Dear Friends:
How can we cry for the Bais ha Mikdosh?
Isn't that the idea?
Shouldn't we FEEL it?
Maybe this is our problem! We're not crying! We don't feel it! Wouldn't we be different people if we cried for the Bais ha Mikdosh? Wouldn't we succeed in rebuilding the Bais ha Mikdosh if we could cry for it?
"Angels of tears, bring in our tears before the King, who is reconciled by tears." [1]
But we are hardened people, too tough to cry. We are influenced by two thousand years of absorbing the values of the surrounding nations. We are tough; we are hard!
"Guardian of the Holy Nation, protect the remnant of the holy people; let not the holy nation be destroyed.... Be gracious to us, G-d ... amid rage, remember to be merciful! For He knew our nature, He remembers that we are dust...." [2]
The question is: how do we generate the tears?
"The Gate of Tears is always open." [3]
I would like to suggest something, my friends. Just a suggestion, but perhaps it will help. I believe that it has helped me.
Every day we say the following words: "These are the precepts whose fruits a person enjoys in this world, but whose principal remains intact for him in the World to Come...." The eighth item on that list is, "iyun tefilla ...absorption in prayer." [4]
I personally have searched for an environment in which to pray where each word of tefilla is treated like a lifesaving device, because that is exactly what it is. Each word of prayer is a defibrillator, a resuscitator, an emergency room, a Hatzola ambulance! Without prayer, we are (apologies for my bluntness) DEAD!
The Mishna Berurah writes, "During prayer ...one must merely have in mind the meaning of the words..." [5] In other words, one should try to understand exactly what one is saying to G-d, so that one's communication with the Ribono shel Olam can be completely articulate.
I have great difficulty concentrating. I am sensitive to every noise in the shul and my brain wants to wander to every alien thought. But prayer is called "avoda b'lev," [6] literally "labor of the heart." It IS labor. It is rewarding labor if we speak to G-d, but it takes, at least in my case, tremendous effort at concentration. So I pray very slowly. I try not to leave a single word in the Shemoneh Esreh until I know the meaning of that word. Sometimes this means that I take an extremely long time. But sometimes, when I am doing this, the force of these words becomes tremendous!
For example, imagine you are saying, "Blessed are You, G-d, Who restores His Shechina to Zion." You are thinking about those words, and suddenly it hits you exactly what you are asking for, the Holy City of Jerusalem filled with the Presence of G-d! Think about that! If the Presence of G-d filled Jerusalem, the entire world would be perfect! There would be no more impurity in the world! Israel would be united in joyful service of G-d and we would all live in the Holy Land in peace! All the nations would venerate us as G-d's closest children instead of spitting on us! The entire world would be healed!
And do you know what happens? When I get to the end of the Shemoneh Esreh, if I have succeeded somewhat in trying to understand each word, I suddenly realize that my eyes are filled with tears! Those holy words themselves have opened the Gate of Tears! I didn't do it, but the words of Tefillah did it!
Probably people think I am a little crazy to say such a long Shemoneh Esreh, but I really don't care. If I am able to cry while I speak to G-d, then I believe that those words of prayer may have reached toward the Holy Throne! After all, we do believe that G-d "hears prayer!"
Do you understand that? He really hears prayer!
My friends, we have "Magen Avraham," the same shield that defended our Father Abraham! We have to know that these words of prayer are REAL! When I first went to Israel some thirty-five years ago Rabbi Avraham ha Levi Jungreis ZT"L told me, "Remember, even in English, the words have meaning: 'Israel IS REAL!"'
PRAYER IS REAL! Each word is literally more powerful than all the combined weapons in the world! G-d created the world with words and He gave us words of infinite power with which to RE-CREATE the world! "Some with chariots and some with horses, but we - in the Name of our G-d we call out... Hashem save! May the King answer us on the day we call." [7]
My friends, I believe the Torah is telling us that, if we call out to G-d with mighty concentration and pray with "all our heart and with all our soul," concentrating deeply on the meaning of every word and knowing that we are speaking to the Master of the Universe, He will answer us and speedily reveal Moshiach ben Dovid and the Bais ha Mikdosh! If we shed tears, then He will dry all our tears and bring us back in glory to our Holy Land and to an eternal era of Peace and Sanctity and the Final End of our Exile.
May we see it this year!
Roy S. Neuberger
