FEEL THE BURN: Tisha B'av, The Nine Days, Closeness & Coziness with Hashem

Ask even the wisest of all American historians for the exact date that the British burned down the US Capitol in the war of 1812, and I don't imagine they'd be able to tell you the exact date. Ask them, ask anyone. Ask the most wise and enlightened scholars for the day that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, and I don't know if they'd be able to tell you the answer. But ask when you walk into any first grade or preschool classroom at Chloros, the Globe. Ask any preschool Jewish child when was Hashem's house destroyed? He will tell you. Well, the base Hamikdushes both of them were destroyed on Tisha, the of the ninth of Av. It is so baked into our Jewish society, it is so critical that we get a feeling for what we had, how great it was, and now how bereft, how empty we are. And perhaps in that spot is where we will feel a bit of connection to what we have lost, how different things are to really be. Misabil al-Khurbun, biased this year, rabiruchim tells us that if you read Rashi critically, by the story of the accidental murderer, the unpremeditated manslaughter, the man who must flee to the Aramaiclut, what is the reason that he's sent away to hide in the Aramaiclut? It's very interesting. We spoke about this. Listen to what Rashi says Leave, go to the Aramaiclut until the Kohen Gaddal dies. Why? Because you try to shorten the lives of people and the Kohen Gaddal tries to lengthen the lives of people. Therefore, ain't no kid die. It is not fitting, it is not proper, shi'ehe, it's not proper that you should be in front of the Kohen Gaddal, not even in the same proximity. The Kohen Gaddal can't even see you, so you're banished, unbelievable. It's not to save this accidental murderer from the Goel Hadam. No, he can't even be in the proximity of Kedusha. There's something called Kirov and Rihuk, closeness and distance, and Rabiruchim told us that. We know, we say in Eichal that the Kor'a'alay, mo'ilishbor b'achoroy, that they abished her. He calls this a meeting, a gathering, a vaad. Tisha be'ov is a holiday. It's a coming together of lishbor b'achoroy. It's a holiday of distancing. It's a longing for Hashem, hashem longing for his people and wanting the house to be there so we could come together again. This guy, this individual, must be banned and she can't have proximity. What the Be'isamigda stood for was a house of Kirov, of intimacy, of connection, of Deveikus. It was all there for us to be in such closeness with Hashem. It's really a deep concept if you think about where the Gamara tells us that you'll find Hashem's Shechina very, very tangibly. The Gamara says, not when you're learning or doing a mitzvah, but if you're in the Dalit, amo'chel Halacha, in the 8 square cubic feet around of Halacha, study there, in that proximity, in that Kirov, that closeness, hashem, there's where you're gonna find the Shechina. It's unbelievable. The Levites weren't even given a portion in the land. They got to be these certain cities that would just be Vahayuliah Leviem, very, very close to the Be'isamigda's, because the Levites were always to be living with the Almighty in the super sacred, sacrosanct style of life. And the Medjers tells us Vahayuliah Leviem means just be close. I want you near. It's a deep concept. Get a very, very subtly simple concept. In Yiddishkite it's about coming closer. The word Tishuva come near, get close, get cozy. And the Be'isamigda's was the utmost and paramount example of closeness with Hashem. In the same way, one isn't Zoha because of some other happenings or sins that one must be sent to, or a Miklut, so too. Gullus, so too we were sent away because of the sins. A bit of self-centeredness. Therefore. We lost the close intimacy with Hashem Kirov is what we need be dovek, come close to the Tyra, be ailo regal to your Nitesedrchavrusa, move closer to towns of Torah, move closer in with your Rebbe, move closer in with all of the people in the Kedushah. That is basic and simple Kirov, because that is what we are so badly missing.