One of my co-workers was telling me a story this past week about a business trip he once took when he worked for a different company. He worked for an electronics company that made very expensive devices and attended a conference full of people that could buy these types of things. He saw movie stars, musicians, entrepreneurs, and all of the big names in America today. He said when he arrived all of these big names were talking to their friends and basically ignoring him. Then word got out who he worked for, and suddenly, all of these wealthy people came over to him to learn about his products. As my friend was telling me some of the names of the people who were talking to him, his eyes were sparkling with excitement. As he remembered this moment, I could see this was a great moment in his lifetime and something he will remember for a long time.

In this week’s parsha, Pinchas, different Karbonos (offerings) that were offered in the Temple are discussed. It talks of the Tamid (daily offering) and the offerings for Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh, and all of the Festivals. As we know, nowadays, we no longer have these karbonos. Does that really matter, though? How important were these karbonos? Does G-d really need me to bring Him a sheep or a cow? He can create things much more advanced then these simple animals, so what does it matter that we can’t bring Him karbonos?

Anyone who thinks this way is greatly mistaken. The word karbonos comes from the word “karov”, which means to bring near. Of course G-d does not need us to bring Him karbonos, but karbonos are not for Him. They are for us. They were a way for us to become closer to G-d. A karbon was a spiritually uplifting moment where a person connected to G-d unlike any other time. And now this closeness is gone.

This past Tuesday began the Three Weeks, a period every summer when we remember the destruction of Yerushaliyim and the Beis HaMikdash, our Temple. This period we observe partial mourning over what we lost. Many people feel little-to-no connection at all to this time period because we do not realize what we lost. But we lost so much! Nowadays, people get so excited if they get close to someone whose face is on TV or in the newspaper (like my co-worker). Our joy used to be getting close to G-d and that closeness came from the karbonos we brought. And now it is all gone. This is something we should think about during these Three Weeks.

But all is not hopeless. All is not lost. Because, even in our generation, we still have something that brings us close to G-d and it is Shabbos. Rav Shimshon Pincus, of blessed memory, said Shabbos is the Bais HaMikdash. Shabbos is our day when we get close to G-d and Rav Pincus brings a proof to this. Tisha B’Av, the last day of the Three Weeks, commemorates the destruction of the Bais HaMikdash and it is a day of intense mourning. On this day, numerous things are forbidden because we are to have no joy at all. If Tisha B’Av, though, falls on Shabbos, not only is the mourning pushed off to the next day, but a person is to eat meat and drink wine on that Shabbos (like every other Shabbos). The reason is because on Shabbos we have the Bais HaMikdash. On Shabbos, we are close to G-d. On Shabbos, we have that connection again like we used to have with our Karbanos. So while it is true we have lost a tremendous amount, at least we still have some connection once every week.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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