Memories
It is brought in the sefer Galus V’Nechama of Rav Shimshon Pincus that the Rema writes in the Sefer Toras HaOlah that after the Churban, Plato the Greek philosopher, met Yirmiyahu and Yirmiyahu was crying. Plato asked Yirmiyahu two questions. First, why was the great wise man of the Jews crying over a building made of bricks and stones? Secondly, why was he crying over the past? What happened cannot be changed.
Yirmiyahu told Plato, the wisest man among the nations, to ask him any questions he had in philosophy that he did not have any answer to. Plato asked many hard questions and Yirmiyahu answered all of them to Plato’s great satisfaction. The Rema writes that at this point Plato did not know if he speaking with a human being or a Malach. Yirmiyahu then explained to Plato that all his wisdom came from the “bricks and stones” called the Bais HaMikdash and therefore he cries. Regarding his second question of why he cries over something that already happened, Yirmiyahu said that this question he won’t answer, because even if he did, Plato would not understand.
The fact that the Hashem, the almighty Creator of the universe, can have a meaningful and intimate relationship with a mere mortal is not something that even Plato can understand. That He yearns for our tears is something not even worthwhile to try and explain, even to the wisest of all men.
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One Tisha B’Av, as Napoleon was walking through the streets of Paris, he heard bitter wailing coming from inside a building. When he walked in he saw a group of Jews sitting on the floor saying kinos and crying. He asked them, “Why are you crying.” They answered that, “Jerusalem was overrun and the Temple destroyed.” Napoleon thought for a minute and then told the Jews, “Do not to worry. It is just an untrue rumor. I know for a fact that all is quiet in the Middle East.”
The group then explained to him that they are mourning an event that took place 1600 years earlier. As astounded Napoleon replied, “If you are still crying 16 centuries later, I have no doubt that one day your temple will be rebuilt.”
Napoleon’s comments give logical spin to the Gemara’s statement “Kol Hamishabel Al Yerushalayim Zocheh V’Roeh B’Nechamasa”. He who mourns Yerushalayim will merit seeing it rebuilt. If the determination and connection are still there after the long bitter galus, we will certainly merit building the Bais HaMikdash once again. However warns the gemara, if the 2000 year long river of tears runs dry, we will be cut off and can never navigate our way back home.
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Many Holocaust survivors did not write their story for many years because no ink and no words can describe the agony and anguish of what they went through. Committing it to words cheapens the experience and the emotions. Only with the dulling of the senses over years did it become possible to put pen to paper. Even then, it did not do their story justice. Only the obligation to not let their suffering die with them, but to pass it along to the next generation, compelled them to take up the task. Better that only a small fragment of the pain be remembered, than have it be totally forgotten.

Even with the hundreds of books that we have read, we still do not have an inkling of an idea of the sheer terror, humiliation, pain, and suffering that the writer faced in the story that he tells. No matter how hard we try, we cannot put ourselves in the ghetto or in the concentration camp and make the terror real or palpable. Although only one or two generations removed, and despite living with actual survivors in a world that has not changed all that much, we still cannot go back and fathom life in the valley of death. If you weren’t there you can’t understand.

Even more so, we cannot understand the life that was, in the holy shtetl, where Yiras Shamayim was palpable and something you could feel in the air. Tisha B’Av was Tisha B’Av and Elul was Elul. Similarly, the joy of Succos and Pesach were deeper and more heartfelt than what passes for celebration today.

On Tisha B’Av, as we mourn for the Bais HaMikdash, we are accused of doing a very lousy job. Where are our tears? Where is our sorrow? Do we miss the Bais HaMikdash? If we weren’t there, we can’t understand! Even with parents and grandparents who were eye witnesses, we cannot begin to fathom a lost world that existed merely decades ago, so how can we shed real hot tears over the glory of the Shechina and its churban that took place two thousand years ago? We are so numb from pain and have been paralyzed for so long that when told we can have anything we want, we ask the ultimate Giver to scratch our back rather than restore our senses.

On this Tisha B’Av we ask Hashem, “Hashiveinu Hashem Eilecha V’Nashuva”, give us a taste, give us a glimpse of your Shechina. “Chadesh Yameinu K’Kedem”, we beg You to take us back in time, a time of innocence and purity. Show us the beauty of what we lost so that we can return. Until then, we can sit on the floor and sadly say Kinos, crying about the itch on our back, but the copious tears over our real loss will not flow from the depth our soul. We don’t comprehend a world with a Bais HaMikdash, where the Shechina dwells. We can only cry. SheYibaneh Bais HaMikdash Bimheira BiYameinu.

This week is B’Zchus: Those who will cry today and dance tomorrow.
Distributed by the Chevre Marbitz Torah D’NMB

Created By Rov Allen Sherman