The Geulah Will Come! - uplifting thoughts from today's Hakhel email

The daily learning of this sefer is L'Zacher Nishmas Sorah Breina A'H bas Ezriel Shalom Sarah Klein 6 Av 5772 Special Note One: We continue with additional thoughts on one’s ‘giving a Shiur’ (at least to oneself) on Leil Tisha B’Av--what to reflect upon on Tisha B’Av--and what to change in a meaningful way so that, if it must come, this is the final Tisha B’Av in Galus. Part II 1. It is easy to improperly reflect on Tisha B’Av. One may mistakenly think that his actions today are no different than the actions he has undertaken since before his Bar Mitzvah, and not really different than his grandfather’s actions in Europe or Syria, or his great-great-grandfather’s actions in Poland, Turkey, Italy or Eretz Yisrael. The experience of Tisha B’Av should not be one of Yei’ush--despair, combined with a feeling of hypocrisy--knowing that one will eat on Sunday night, have Shabbos Nachamu in a week and hopefully take a few vacation days before September. No, Tisha B’Av is quite to the contrary a time for us to revitalize our Achakeh Lo--our anticipation, our outstretched hope, our true yearning that the Moshiach really finally does come, and mankind reaches its final goal. It is one of the most basic tenets of Torah belief, as told and retold by our Nevi’im, that the Geulah will come. As to why the Moshiach did not come in the times of Rav and Shmuel, in the times of Ravina and Rav Ashi, or those of Rashi, the Rambam, the Ramban, the Bais Yosef, the Gra, Rebbi Akiva Eiger, the Belzer Rebbe, the Ben Ish Chai or any of the outstandingly great Gedolei HaDor we have had in the past, it is simply not something we can understand at this moment. Furthermore, for all of those who thought that it would be the Chofetz Chaim, the Chazon Ish, the Baba Sali, the Steipeler, HaRav Shach, or HaRav Elyashiv that would lead us to Moshiach, this is also, devastatingly, not the reality now. Nevertheless, we must intensely believe, and intensely demonstrate, that we know that the Geulah will come. We must bring home to ourselves that it is not another Tisha B’Av because it was so last year, the year before, or a hundred years before. It is another Tisha B’Av because in the stretch between Tisha B’Av 5771 and 5772, we simply did not put enough bricks on the wall. The absolute truth is that it may literally be his one extra hour of Torah study, or her one act of Chesed that brings us over the top. The Alter of Kelm teaches that one of the greatest lessons of Tisha B’Av is rooted in the Sefer Nefesh HaChaim: The stabbing of the Paroches by Titus after he and his soldiers had come into the Bais HaMikdash and defiled it in any way they thought possible was, in fact, deemed by Hashem to be a meaningless act, with no effect in the Heavens whatsoever. Indeed, as Chazal teach, the Heavens cried out at the time of the destruction: “[What have you done--nothing!] You have burned a burnt building.” Each one of us, on the other hand, can make the Heavens shake with a deed of kindness, an act of goodness, a sincere prayer, and meaningful Teshuvah. It is up to us, each and every day until the Geulah arrives. There is hope, there is a future, there is an end. All of the sad Tisha B’Avs will vanish into past history, hopefully sooner than later. We all chant together at the end of Megillas Eicha (5:21): “Hashiveinu Hashem Eilecha VeNashuva Chadeish Yameinu KiKedem--bring us back to You Hashem, and we shall return, renew our days as of old.” When we can achieve this point--not only will Eicha be at an end--but so will this bitter Galus, and the sweet Geulah will begin!