Happy Tisha B'av

An answer to an email I received from across the ocean and above the border.......

Are we supposed to be completely shattered on Tisha B'av??

Clearly not.

?????

Let us learn a few halachos:

1] We don't skip the mizmor li-soda tfilla where we say עבדו את השם בשמחה [those who were in yeshiva with me know that as my theme song  with which we ended shiurim].

2] We don't say tachanun at mincha before Tisha B'av or on Tisha B'av itself because it is called a מועד.

3] We learn Torah which [as I pointed as in the previous post] is inherently an act of simcha. In the terminology of Rav Soloveitchik: The cheftza of divrei torah is mesameach.

The churban was a good thing. The pogroms that we remember were a good thing. Ultimately, EVERYTHING is good. Hashem doesn't do evil or even allow it to happen. Humans do evil but from a Divine perspective everything is ultimately for a good purpose. This is hard for some to swallow but a basic principal of faith. The gemara often refers to Hashem as רחמנא - the Loving, Merciful One.

On Tisha B'av we are happy. On Tisha B'av we are also sad. We are happy to be alive. We are happy that Hashem is with us. We are happy for an infinite amount of reasons. We are also sad, but only for one reason, because the is the avoda of the day is to feel the pain of all of the destructions. The Batei Mikdash, the Inquisition, the Holocaust, everything. But we never allow our emotions to overcome us and lose all perspective. 

When a parent dies one makes two brachos, one mourning the loss [דיין אמת] and the other celebrating the inheritance [הטוב והמטיב]. We don't want anyone to die but if it happens then we are halachically obligated to take the good with the "bad" and even see the bad as good.

On Tisha B'av we KNOW that this is only temporary. There will be motzaei tisha b'av [feast], there will be shabbos nachamu [men seek out women to build eternal edifices] and there will be seven weeks of haftorahs consoling us and promising us a better tomorrow.

Jews are taught to be optimistic. It is healthy and it is also the absolute truth. There WILL be a better tomorrow. In the meantime we mourn but within proportion.

To summarize in one word: Balance.

May your fast be easy and bring you closer to Hashem and what is real.

[Part of what I wrote I heard from the Rebbe Shlita]