In order to understand even more about Tisha BeAv and the mourning period for Am Yisrael, let’s look at the Gemara’s reasoning of the Churban (the destruction of the Second Beit HaMikdash). In Masechet Gittin 55b the story goes as follows: One of the reasons for the destruction is because of what happened between Kamtzah and Bar Kamtzah.
One person’s friend was Kamtzah, and his enemy was Bar Kamtzah. This person made a festive dinner party. He told his servant: go invite Kamtzah, my friend, to join my dinner party. The servant left and instead invited Bar Kamtzah.
The party host came to the meal and saw Bar Kamtzah, his enemy, sitting down enjoying the meal. He came to him and whispered in his ear: “Oh so nice to have my enemy here, what are you doing here? Get up and leave!” Not to be publicly embarrassed, Bar Kamtzah responded: “But I just arrived, let me stay and I will pay you for all that I ate and all that I drank.” The host answered “No.” Then Bar Kamtzah pleaded: “I’ll pay you for half the meal’s expenses.” “No!” “I’ll pay you for the entire meal, anything to keep me from being embarrassed!” “NO!”
The host took him by the arm, lifted him out of his seat in front of everyone in the party, including many Chachaim (Religious leaders of the generation), and kicked him out of the house.
Bar Kamtzah said in his heart (thought): Because the Chachamim sat on the table and did not rebuke the host, it seems like they agree with the host, therefore I am going to go to the Kingdom (Rome) and tell the Emperor about the troubles the Jews are causing for Rome. Bar Kamtzah with his rage towards the community went all the way to the emporer and told him: The Jews are causing a stur in your empire and want to revolt. The Emporer asked: Who said so? Bar Kamtzah said: Send the Jews a Korban (sacrifice) and see if they accept it as proof.The Emporer gave Bar Kamtzah a healthy and strong Korban (An Egel, baby calf, to remind Am Yisrael of Chet Ha’Egel) to give to the Yehudim in his name. On the way back to Yerushalayim, Bar Kamtzah made a blemish in the animal’s upper lip (symbolizing Lashon Hara) and some say the eyelids, in order for the Yehudim in Yerushalayim to reject the Korban because they are not allowed to sacrifice such an animal.
After the Rabbanim discussed what to do because this rejection can cause a huge problem with the emperor, they said: If we sacrifice this animal, people will think its okay to sacrifice a blemished animal on the Mizbeach (alter). If we kill Bar Kamtzah, people will think that one who creates a blemish on an animal that is already appointed as a Korban deserves death, so they simply let Bar Kamtzah go. The story continues for many pages in the Gemara until we reach the actual burning of the Beit HaMikdash on Tisha BeAv.
As a Summary, the Gemara on 57a teaches us a lesson for every generation until the end of generations: Rabi Elazar says, come and see how big the strength of embarrassment is, meaning look how stringent the act of embarrassing a single Jew is. Because of this, Hashem used Bar Kamtzah as a messenger to destroy the Beit HaMikdash and burned the Heichal (Kodesh HaKodashm, Holy of Holies > Holiest part of the Mikdash).
B’H May we be constantly working on our Middot, and more importantly fine tuning our love for one another.
SHABBAT SHALOM!
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