Divrei Bein HaMeitzarim (The Three Weeks)
One long exile
The Gemara (Menachos 53b) brings a conversation between Hashem and Avraham Avinu. On Tisha b”Av, Avraham entered the Bais HaMikdash and pleaded for mercy upon klal Yisroel. HaShem answered that the impending churban was inevitable. The Midrash (Eichah Rabbah 1:20) contains the same incident, yet adds: “[Hashem] traveled with him [Avraham] for lengths and shortnesses.” What does this cryptic addition tell us?
Rabbi Yonason Eybeshitz zt”l explains in Yaaros Dvash (1:73): “The nations of the world laugh at us, saying, ‘In the times of your first temple, when the sinners were many, you suffered an exile of merely seventy years. At the time of the second temple’s destruction, however, nearly all of you were loyally observant – yet your exile still has not ended!’ We have many verses from Tanach (e.g. Devarim 28:36 and Yirmiyahu 1:11-14) which point to the truth: our ancestor’s return to Eretz Yisroel from Bavel/Paras was intended by Hashem as a temporary sojourn, and the long exile of today was actually decreed upon us after churban bayis rishon, not sheni!
“Some scoffers persist: ‘Logically, immediate descendants should be more liable for their ancestors’ misdeeds than distant ones. If so, why should your forefathers enjoy over four hundred years of life in Eretz Yisroel; and you now have to pay for the errors of bayis rishon? Hashem should have had one exile, then bring you back forever?!?”
Rabbi Eybeshitz explains: The nations do not understand chasdei Hashem. The Jewish people’s spiritual level had plunged in the last years of bayis rishon; the churban and the galus in Bavel/Paras had accelerated the trend; and even the revival of Purim had not returned us to our pristine greatness. For example, when Ezra and other leaders returned to Eretz Yisroel, they confronted a massive ignorance of basic mitzvos, such as succah, shmiras Shabbos, and chasunos akum. If matters had taken their course, Torah would have been forgotten, chas veshalom.
Yet Hashem had promised us that we would never forget the Torah. Therefore, He brought us out of Bavel after seventy years -- enough time for the original thousand members of the charash u’masgir, (sages exiled before the churban) to transmit their wisdom to the future members of the anshei knesses hagedolah, who in turn catalyzed a veritable golden age of Torah. Our ancestors during bayis sheni were a nation wildly in love with the Torah and the rabbis, its transmitters. Even Josephus, who wrote his “histories” to flatter his Roman patrons, admitted that “[The rabbis] have such a power over the multitude, that when they say anything against the king or the high priest [who often were Tzadukim], they are immediately believed.” (Antiquities Xlll:10:5, as translated by Rabbi Avigdor Miller zt”l) Torah was our sole national pastime; for example, the disagreements between Bais Hillel and Bais Shammai were not confined to the beis midrash; they consumed the entire nation.
When Hashem saw that the Torah had become so embedded in our neshamos that it could never be forgotten, He brought us back into exile, in order to atone for the old sins of bayis rishon. We see the success of this approach today; the dawn of our twentieth century of exile has witnessed a rapid reflowering of Torah. Several decades ago, national siyumim for Daf Yomi used to be held in Bais Yaakov auditoriums; now, multiple stadiums are required.
Thus the “lengths and shortnesses” found in the Midrash refer to HaShem’s explanation of this process -- long and short exiles -- to Avraham, who had feared that galus would cause an extinction of Torah.
Rabbi Eybeshitz also points out (in Yaari im Divshi 3:3:8) that this midrash also refutes a common mistake. Some might think that because we live in galus edomi (which started with churban bayis sheni) we have “passed” the previous tests. All we have to do is get rid of the sinas chinam and – ta daaa! – Moshiach! If so, why did Chazal preserve so many tochachos from and kinos about bayis rishon? That tekufah was not meant to be tossed into the dustbin of ancient history; rather, the very same issues that confronted our ancestors still square off against us today.
The first challenge comes from somehow understanding those times on their own terms – kings, prophets, and a lust for idols – even when they are foreign to today’s world. Kings, for example, are held in special contempt by our rabidly anti-monarchical society. Our ancestors, however, could relate to fearing a king. HaRav Yaakov Weinberg, zt”l, once said that on Rosh HaShanah in Russia, when the chazzan called out, “HaMelech!” everyone thought of the Czar, and trembled. (My great-grandmother’s machzor includes a lengthy prayer which among other things calls for the A-mighty to “bless, guard, watch over, aid, raise up, make great, and uphold” the Czar, his wife, his mother, and his son.)
Chazal have given us guideposts. The Gemara in Yuma (9b) lists the causes for churban bayis rishon: “idol-worship, immorality, and murder.” Like Shabbos, Nezikin, and other areas of Torah, these are avos, and they have toldos; for example, one could also read them as “workaholism, lack of shmiras einayim, and abusing others.” The Gemara also chastises that generation “for not blessing the Torah first.” On this statement, the Kotzker Rebbe explains: Torah is “first,” and action is “last.” They should have gone from Torah to action -- first to last. Instead, they made Torah “first and last,” i.e. a theoretical study, not instructions for life. Therefore, “the land was lost.” Today’s sages perceive this danger; the Ben Ish Chai once stepped into a busy bais midrash and dryly commented: “The Torah here goes up to the rafters.” His students were flattered until they realized his true message: “up to the rafters,” and not outside.
A Time of Love
The Gemara states (Yuma
54b]: “When the [Babylonian] enemy entered the Temple, they saw the kruvim
embracing each other. They took them out to the marketplace [to show them off]
and said, “These Jews, whose blessing is a blessing, and whose curse is a curse,
should engage in such things?!?” This gemara seems to contradict what it says in
Baba Basra (99a): “When Israel did HaShem’s will, the kruvim faced each other;
but when Israel did not do His will, the kruvim turned away and faced the
Temple.” At the moment we were punished for not doing His will, the kruvim acted
like we were at our best?
HaRav Shalom Noah Berezovski, zt”l, the Slonimer Rav and the author of Nesivos Shalom, asks and then adds to this question. He brings a midrash which says, “There is no greater holiday for Israel than the day the Temple was destroyed.” A day that we sit alone on the floor; hungry, sweaty, and unkempt; moaning one horrible dirge after the next – what sort of holiday is this?
The key to understanding
the Three Weeks, says the Slonimer, is expressed in this week’s haftarah, when
Yeshayah brings the word of HaShem: “Children have I raised and exalted, but
they have rebelled against Me. . . .Evil offspring! Destructive children! They
have forsaken HaShem; they have angered the Holy One of Israel, and have turned
their back [to Him] (1:2-4). Within these harsh words lies a tremendous yesod:
Even if the Jewish people will rebel against HaShem; even if we will become evil
and destructive; even if we will utterly abandon Him – we are His beloved
children, and will always be His beloved children, no matter what. Just as a
doctor who must operate upon his own child feels an overwhelming rachmanus at
the moment of incision; so also, when HaShem must punish the Jewish people, He
does so with a heart that aches with love for us.
(Perhaps one reason that Hashem sometimes gives us troublesome children is so that we can experience this phenomenon ourselves. Parents never give up on children; rather, despite all adversities, they stand right behind their offspring. Likewise, even at the moment of yet another atrocity against us, Hashem is “right behind” us, not perceived, but always there.)
When Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers entered and demolished Bayis Rishon, the emunah of the Jewish people was rocked like never before. Heathens were now trodding in the kodesh hakodashim, where only a cohen gadol had dared to enter. Chazal tell us that many asked, “Has Hashem left us? Are we still a chosen people? Do our mitzvos mean anything anymore?” Yet, at the exact moment of the final humiliation, when we were forced to watch the enemy displaying our precious kruvim and to listen to a torrent of sarcastic verbal abuse, we saw the truth: “They are embracing! Hashem is with us, He will always be our G-d, and we will always be His nation!”
In fact, Hashem is closer to us now than when we are at our height. When we do His will, the kruvim face each other, but from a distance. At the churban and onwards, they are embracing. Further, this embrace serves as a cornerstone for the entire Torah itself. Yiyush shelo m’daas, smicha b’yom tov, kiddushin b’milvah, and all other sugyas of Shas have meaning only if HaShem Elokeinu, now and forever.
The deep simchah stemming from this concept has carried us through eons of exile and has made Tisha b’Av a true holiday: a time to reflect upon and rejuvenate our relationship with our Father, our King, Who will never abandon us. The Babylonians never knew that their clumsy attempt to break us, would actually catapult us through history.