B"H
THOUGHTS FOR THE SEASON OF NECHAMA
Dear Friends:
We have lived through Tisha B'Av.
I don't mean the fast. That is in itself a challenge, but we have lived through the EVENTS of Tisha B'Av!
We have survived the destruction of our perfect Bais Hamikdosh and the most resplendent culture that ever existed in the history of the world.
We have survived the destruction of the Bayis Shaini, the Second Bais Hamikdosh, and our forcible and violent expulsion into the polluted, poisonous world in which we live today.
We have survived two thousand years of exile among those nations, and unending, vicious verbal and physical attacks by those who surround and hate us.
We have even survived earlier shocks which, in retrospect, seem un-survivable:
We survived being exiled from the Garden of Eden at the beginning of time.
We survived the destruction of the entire world at the time of Noah.
We have survived Ishmael.
We have survived Esau.
How on earth did we survive?
I would like to quote from WORLDSTORM, my second book, in which I discuss the earliest shock in the long and agonizing history of mankind:
"How could Adam and Eve live with the burden they had created? How, I ask, did they live? For quickly they knew. Quickly they sought clothing because suddenly their innocence wasn't good enough. Before their rebellion they had nothing to hide because they had no guilt. But now no amount of clothing could cover their sin and guilt. Where could they run to escape G-d? There was nowhere to run; it is G-d 's world.
Can you imagine their burden on that day, the hot tears flowing as their feet walked out of that perfect world and passed the angel guarding the entrance through which no man has ever returned? Can you imagine what rested upon their shoulders: the guilt of thousands of future generations of their own children, the accumulated tragedies of every individual ever to exist in the future world. How could they bear it? How could anyone bear the responsibility for such untold suffering?
The truly amazing thing is that they did bear it. Their greatness is shown perhaps more by the way they bore their exile than by their actions inside the Garden. Adam and Eve did not commit suicide. That same Adam and Eve - who were paid measure for measure when their own son, Cain, rebelled against them and murdered his brother - walked onward through life. They did not give up! They lived to become the parents of yet another son, Seth, who carried the knowledge of G-d onward to the next generation and through whom the hope of the world was to survive.
"A righteous man can fall seven times and rise, but the wicked shall stumble upon evil." [1] An evil man is defeated by his sin.
A righteous man will not give up. Despite the deepest of calamities, the righteous man keeps moving forward, acknowledging his inadequacies and asking G-d to heal him, fighting depression. He asks G-d for strength and moves on, knowing His Creator is watching over him. He will not disappoint his G-d."
Now, my friends, we have passed through the fire of the Three Weeks and Tisha B'Av. Our test is not over by any means. Now, perhaps, it becomes more difficult, but I would like to inquire what enabled us to pass that test.
I have a suggestion. There is a line in Megilas Eichah, which we read on Tisha B'Av, which perhaps gives a clue. This line is so deep, so hard-hitting, that I feel as if someone were slapping me when I hear it each year.
"Let him put his mouth to the dust - there may yet be hope." [2]
Let us put our mouths to the dust, my friends.
If we do so, there may yet be hope.
My friends, let us put our mouths to the dust! We are dealing here with life and death issues! Our very hope for life consists of understanding that we have come so low! Thank you America for the beautiful life you have given us up to now, but let's not be fooled by the material veneer to which we are addicted! I happened to see an article in our local paper this week about the possible closing of the "beloved" Starbucks!
BELOVED STARBUCKS!
Is that where we are, my friends? When we LOVE STARBUCKS we are in serious trouble!
"Let him put his mouth to the dust - there may yet be hope"
My friends, we must understand that the very civilization in which we have lived for two thousand years is tottering on its foundations. Much more than Starbucks is in danger. The entire world of Esau, which began with the rise of the civilization of Rome thousands of years ago and of which the Western World is now the culmination, is nearing its demise. I am not advocating it; I am simply reporting the facts.
What did we read in the Torah on Tisha B'Av?
" G-d will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where G-d will lead you. There you worship gods, the handiwork of man, of wood [the Western World] and stone [the Moslem world], which do not see, do not hear, do not eat, and do not smell. From there you will seek your G-d , and YOU WILL FIND HIM IF YOU SEARCH WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND ALL YOUR SOUL... WHEN YOU ARE IN DISTRESS AND ALL THESE THINGS HAVE BEFALLEN YOU - AT THE END OF DAYS - YOU SHALL RETURN UNTO G-D, YOUR G-D AND HEARKEN TO HIS VOICE!" [3]
"WHEN YOUR ARE IN DISTRESS."
Those words are crucial.
NOT WHEN YOU ARE IN LOVE WITH STARBUCKS, but when you are in distress!
If you are in love with Starbucks, you cannot be in distress!
We read on Tisha B'Av: "Although I have fallen, I shall arise, and G-d shall assist me!" [4]
"Let him put his mouth to the dust - there may yet be hope"
That is the key, my friends: "although I have fallen." We cannot arise unless we know we have fallen. May G-d lift us up to AND BEYOND our previous glory. May we soon see that resplendent and eternal Bais Hamikdosh, the Kohanim in their glory, the Leviim in their perfection, Am Yisroel as One Family serving G-d together in our spacious and glorious Holy Land, a world of peace, a world of unity under the shechinah, the Wings of the Divine Presence, a world in which we recognize the Presence of G-d and the entire world recognizes our role as His Priestly Nation. May we soon see the day when the Name of our Father in Heaven is honored and glorified throughout the world, when " G-d is One and His Name is One." [5]
With blessings for a speedy redemption,
Roy S. Neuberger
© Copyright 2008 by Roy S. Neuberger
