These are the words Moshe told all of the Jews… (Devarim 1:1)

In this week’s parsha, Moshe reviews certain devastating historical events that occurred during the Jew’s 40 years in the desert.

Every nation has sad events. In about one month, Americans will remember the events from 10 years ago when the Towers in NYC and the Pentagon were attacked. Americans will wear red, white, and blue while waving the stars and stripes. 9/11/11 will be a day full of love for this nation, but the next day will come and life will go on.

In Judaism, when we remember past events, we try not only to remember them. Almost 2,000 years ago, our Temple was destroyed and this bitter exile began. Next Tuesday, the 9th of Av, Jews around the world will be fasting to remember the terrible events that have occurred on this day. The commentators explain why we have fast days like Tisha B’Av. Although they remember past events and sins of our forefathers, the fasts are not only about historical events. It is to remind us we are still living in exile and we are still committing sins. Fast days are not just days that we “get through” and then get back to normal life. They are days to think of repenting and changing ourselves. When the day is over, we should be different people.

As we know, the Second Temple was destroyed because of Sinas Chinam, which is baseless hatred. To bring about the redemption, we should do the opposite of Sinas Chinam, which is loving all Jews just because they are Jews.

A few weeks ago, we all cried when we heard the story of Leiby Kletzky, a nine year old boy who was taken from this world. I cannot explain why it happened, but there is a lesson we can learn from it. Hundreds and thousands of Jews stopped what they were doing on that afternoon and went searching for this boy. Those outside of New York went to their shuls and prayed for the boy. It did not matter what category a Jew associated himself with, all Jews around the world came together to try to help this boy who was lost. What a lesson!

One of the lessons of Tisha B’Av we should learn is that we are all missing our Home; we are all lost. Just like everyone did everything possible for one boy who was lost just because he was Jewish, we should do everything possible for our fellow brothers and sisters who are without our Home. We should love every Jew just because he or she is a Jew.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
please send any comments or questions to: [email protected]
to see previous Divrei Simcha on the Parsha, please go to www.divreisimcha.com OR www.chesedclub.com > Torah Study