For the Refua Shlema of Mordechai Tzvi ben Sara & Moshe ben Mazal.
Hope all of Am Yisrael (wherever its still Tisha BeAv) is having a REAL Tzom Mo’il (meaningful fast) and at his/her own pace is doing Tshuva and trying to get closer to Hashem. A friend from Yeshiva told me about this Midrash:
In Midrash Echa (the Midrash on the Megllah we read this morning and last night) there is a story that explains the seriousness of Tisha BeAv and mainly what happened after the Second Beit HaMikdash was destroyed. Here is ONE story out of thousands that shows what a bad time it was for Am Yisrael.
It goes as follows:
The Roman Emperor (may his bones be erased from the ground) who destroyed the Second Beit HaMikdash filled three large Roman ships with small boys and girls to send them to “Houses of Embarassment.” These houses held prostitutes and little boys to send them to same-sex relations and prostitution in general. The children knew where they were going. The boys asked if the girls wanted this type of judgment (if they wanted to live this way), they answered right away ‘NO’. They told themselves, if the female who was created in order to fulfill nature’s way by having relations with a male does not want to live the life that the emperor gives for them, HOW MUCH MORE SO do we need to reject this life that he wants to give to us! They did a certain calculation that the only thing they can do is commit suicide and jump into the ocean floor. They thought: Even though we are giving our lives for Kiddush Hashem (to show how holy one needs to be, even if it means killing themselves), there is a chance we might NOT ‘get up’ in the Tchiyat HaMetim (when Hashem will give life to the dead, After Mashiach’s time)? Hashem immediately filled their hearts with a Pasuk from Tehillim which taught that anyone who sacrifices his/her life for Kiddush Hashem where the situation calls for it, gets up in Tchiyat HaMetim (it doesn’t matter if they are buried or not).
The first group re-taught themselves a Pasuk in Tehillim that explains the reality that the enemy (emperor) ONLY wants them to convert out of Yahadut (Judaism), so they jumped off the ship and gave their lives.
The second group re-taught themselves another Pasuk from Tehillim that explains Kiddush Hashem (from the same Perek that the first group learned from- Perek Mem Dalet -44), so they jumped off the ship and gave their lives.
The third group re-taught themselves a third Pasuk from Tehillim that explains the reality that they are jumping off the ship to their deaths in order to fulfill a Mitzvah, and because they are commanded to do so.
On this the Shchina (Divine Presence, Hashem) cries and says: On these I cry, meaning on these boys and girls who give up their lives for the Kdusha of Shamayim, to show the world what it means to have a Neshama and be Jewish. Until here.
What is the foundation of Tisha BeAv? To give part of ourselves, our hearts and our minds, to Hashem. To tell Him: I AM YOUR CHILD, I AM YOUR SON/DAUGHTER, AND I CARE THAT YOU SACRIFICED THE BEIT HAMIKDASH, YOUR HOME, INSTEAD OF KILLING MY NATION! We deserved death at the time and complete annihilation! HASHEM’S MERCY ON US IS INDESCRIBABLE. People today barely give up their subway seat for another person, lehavdeel Hashem gave up His ‘home’ just so we can continue to exist!
Judaism=Think. Just think how much we have and REALLY how much we deserve.
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