July 23, 2024

Preventing Spiritual Erosion: Lessons from the Three Weeks of Mourning and Jewish History (Rebroadcast)

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Season 7

Is your spiritual foundation as strong as it could be? Discover the profound lessons of the three weeks between Shiva Asar Betamuz and Tisha B'Av, a period of deep reflection and mourning in the Jewish calendar. Our exploration delves into the Mishnah in Taanis, recounting five pivotal calamities that befell the Jewish people, from Moshe breaking the Luchos to the desecration of the Beis Hamikdash with an idol. We draw on the Book of Rabbi Glatstein and the wisdom of Rabbi Yaakov Etlinger to uncover how these events represent a sequential spiritual decline and what we can do to prevent it.

Join us as we unravel the intricate tapestry of Jewish history and spirituality, emphasizing the critical role of Torah study and commitment to Jewish values. Learn how seemingly minor lapses in devotion can lead to significant spiritual erosion and why steadfast dedication to the Torah is paramount. We explore how the Torah uniquely binds the Jewish nation and how maintaining this bond is essential for preserving our heritage. Please tune in for a reflective and inspiring discussion on rebuilding our faith and fortifying our communities in these trying times.

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Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com



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Today begins the three weeks.

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It is Shiva Asar Betamos, the beginning of the Ben Hamitzarim, the time between streets, a stint of time on the Jewish calendar marked for remembrance and mourning, bookended by Shiva Asar Betamos and the eventual Tisha of the 9th of Av.

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And perhaps, the same way that a doctor is less concerned about his patient's runny nose because he's more focused about the cause of it, the root illness and bacteria, the infection in his patient's body, perhaps it would follow that while we are mourning what we have lost, we should also focus on the seba, the sins that caused this destruction, so that we can seek to rectify it.

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Because, after all, it is our job to rebuild the base hamigdash through tiket abidus, halacha toira and avayt as Hashem.

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So we begin in unraveling this puzzle for the cause of the destruction from a Mishnah in Mesech de Tainis that tells us that on Sheva Oser Betamah, five calamities and tragedies befell the Jewish people.

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Number one Moshe broke the luchos.

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Number two the karban hatomib ceased to be brought.

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Number three the walls of Yerushalayim were breached.

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Number four a posthumous burned Ezra's famous Sefer Torah.

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Number five an idol was placed inside the base Hamikdash.

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And I found in Rabbi Gladstein's great work on the three weeks, an unbelievable anointing of the'oyim dikivart from the great orichlaner Rabbi Yaakov Etlinger, the Baal Minchashai, the Baal Bikurei.

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Yaakov the Baal Orichlaner and interestingly enough, this 19th century ge'oin was one of the rabbeim of Rav Shams and Rav Folh Hirsch.

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Now he tells us that the five events here are not in a random order, but they are actually documentation of the sequence of the descent of a Jewish person, of a Jewish community and of Klau Yisrael.

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God forbid that.

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It starts where a person will break his luchos.

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It begins with a slacking off in one's steadfast devotion to Torah study breaking the luchos.

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Luchos represent Torah.

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Eh, I can miss today's dafiyomi.

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I don't need to learn be'ion.

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Eventually that leads to a batol hatomid.

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And now there is no more davening.

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I don't need to go for a minyan, I can daven in the office.

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I'll put tefillin on at home.

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I don't like their nusach, I'll go here.

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There's.

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There's no more tefillah.

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Then it turns into breaching the walls.

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You are now without any sort of guardians on your walls and things enter just pouring into your house, into your body, into the community.

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It's not a wonder why you select other sort of gross, putrid foods, because ultimately one is bereft of spirituality.

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His walls have been broken.

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Forth, a posthumous.

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He then burns the Torah, because ultimately, one is bereft of spirituality.

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His walls have been broken.

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Fourth, a posthumous.

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He then burns the Torah openly, where now there's nothing left of this Jewish person.

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The community, even Lulav, even Hanukkah, even the Pesach Seder are now gone.

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It's been burned.

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And now, lastly, god forbid, there is nothing, because there is a tzelem, there is an idol inside of the Beis Hamikdash.

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Your Judaism, your Yahadus, has been replaced by an idol.

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Your children marry non-Jews.

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There's nothing to be shown for your Yiddish Tragedy.

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And it all could have been prevented if a person would have stayed strong in his Torah learning, if he would have stayed in that tafiyomi, he would have stayed in his iyon, if he would have stuck to his kovata item.

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La toira Rapsadjagon tells us that the nation of the Jewish people are not a nation that is bound together by the same ideals and the same logic and the same morals.

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But no, ein hauma elapopet Torah.

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We're only a nation because of the Torah.

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Commit to your sidarim, set yourself up chavrusas, stay true to Torah study, because after that things unravel rather quickly and eventually, god forbid, it ends in an idol being placed in the base of Hamikdash.