Shalommmmm sweetest friends!!!
Today is the yahrtzeit of my beloved friend and rabbi of the Shmuel Meir Shul next to City Hall in Yerushalayim - Rabbi Jerry Robbins z"l - הרב יעקב שלמה בן דב בער. We were chavrusas and I feel myself privileged to have known him and have learned with him. He left no children and almost no relatives, making it so important for us to ensure that he not be forgotten. He lived a storied life, including a stint as an army chaplain for the US army in the 1940's. For the aliyah of his neshama [and mine as well - gotta get out of the mud], I learned Maseches Yoma. I feel so fortuanate to have learned this masechta which gave me such a great cheishek to see the Avoda of Yom Kippur for real, including the Kohen Gadol as he exited the Kodesh Hakodashim [if it weren't the 9 days I would link a video of the song מראה כהן]. What better time than Erev Tisha B'av!!
I will make an on-line virtual siyum and I thank all of my sweetest friends for joining me. Just last week I was zocheh to finish Krisus in memory of my beloved friend R' Yoel Weisberg [who davened with me in R' Jerry's shul and if I rememeber correctly gave me a ride home from the funeral of Rabbi Jerry - one year before his own untimely (when is it ever timely...) death]. This means that I have time to learn for which I am endlessly thankful to the Ribbono Shel Olam. He has been so unbelievably kind to me and it is crucial to share with the world feelings of gratitiude to Hashem [until we have a korban todah and then we can make a meal out of it]. My tfilla is that Hashem allow me to contniue learning his Holy Sweet Torah and remove the financial barriers that are sometimes created when one independently learns with no financial this-wroldly reward. I must say that I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth - and the richest - for all of the Torah I learn and teach on a daily basis through the magical medium of modern technology. Indeed אנו רצים והם רצים - the world is fixated on silly games, devices and other diversions while we Jews are so fortunate to live lives filled with eternal meaning and value. We know we are here for a purpose and not to collect toys and eat yet another meal. The world around us is all about money, toys, food, money, entertainment, money, money, money, having "fun", money [did I mention money?] and everything external. Making a siyum during the nine days injects an INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF SIMCHA into our lives as we rejoice over our gift, עץ חיים, something we would happily die for and thus something worth living for. Nobody would die even if they were promised a 50 million dollar reward, right into their bank account, for doing so...:-).
Now for the Hadran speech which will connect our masechta with the days that are upon us:-).
I first must thank my parents shlita to whom I owe just about everything. I haven't the words to express my gratitude to them for all they have done for me since I came into being. They are beyond the best and greatest. May they see many more grandchildren and great grandchildren and take part in many more siyumim, and other simchas in GOOD HEALTH.
Also to my wife, Rebbetzin Necha Gittel, who lets me learn. What would I do without her? A lot of laundry and cooking and other things.....:-)
And to all of my chaveirim all over the world who learn with me in various forms. I invite everyone to join. Either a friend or death - או חברותא או מיתותא. Thanks for saving me from death.
And to Mori Vi-rabbi The Tolna Rebbe Shlita who has given me spiritual life and has meant more to me than anything ever and my only wish for myself is to be near him in this world and forever and ever in olam haba. His tzidkus is beyond anything I ever heard of or even imagined in my wildest dreams. I have literally thousands of unbelievable tzadik stories about him which I know of personally and have witnessed with my own eyes [I don't take meds and don't have hallucinations- it is אמת לאמיתו:-)], in additon to the tens of thousands of stories I don't know. Just the fact that a Jew sits close to 20 hours a day doing everything he can to help any Jew in any way without asking for a penny is remarkable. May I be more like him and master the art of true איבערגעגעבינקייט - devotion, to Am Yisrael, to Toras Yisrael and to Hashem and ALWAYS with the tremendous joy that he radiates. My own learning is made possible by him in more than one way. This siyum should be a zchus for him in every way.
The Mishna at the end of Yoma says....
אשריכם ישראל לפני מי אתם מטהרים ומי מטהר אתכם אביכם שבשמים
Much has been written to explain this mishna. Here is one understanding that will relate to tisha b'av as well. The Torah says ארבעים יכנו - when a person commits certain sins he receives 40 lashes. In fact, the rabbis teach us that he only receives 39 lashes. What happened to number 40??
The Maharal offers a kabbalistic interpretation [Be'er Ha-golah Chapter 1 - see there for the entire exposition]: When a person is conceived, for the first 39 days he/she is just חומר - pure physical form. One the 40th day, MAZEL TOV, the fetus receives a neshama. Sin is never done by the neshama alone. It is always the will of the body to sin and it drags alone the neshama. Since the neshama was also partner to the sin, it deserves a punishment as well. So in principle, 40 lashes are mandated, corresponding to the creation of body together with the soul who were partners in sin.
Once 39 lashes have been administered, the body has been purified. The 40th wack would be for the neshma alone. The neshama alone would never sin! So no more lashes are necessary and we stop at 39. So the first 39 are given to body and soul together as partners in crime but by the time we get to 40, all that is left is to purify the neshama which would never sin alone in the first place so it is not necessary to exact further punishment. The Torah says to give 40 because until we arrive at 40 - both body and soul are liable for the punishment in full. But after 39, we see a purified body that no longer needs punishment and the soul would never sin in the first place, so we stop there.
Based on this, the Holy Rabbi Avraham Borenstein [the Sochochover Rebbe ztz"l] explains the language employed by Chazal [Pesachim 83]: סופג את הארבעים - He absorbs 40. Wait? You rabbis knocked it down to 39??
Ahhhh - there really ARE 40 lashes. 39 to cleanse the body and the 40th must be done by the soul itself. The soul gives it self the 40th wack by coming close to Hashem. No PHYSICAL מכה is necessary but a spiritual "kick in the pants" [or "kick in the neshama"] is the call of the day. Don't think that after 39 you are off the hook and it's party time. Nyet! No vodka Boris!! Now it is time to afflict your soul and bring it to the place it should be - closer to the Creator HKB"H Uvaruch Shemo.
There is a fascinating opinion of the Kesef Mishna, Rabbi Yosef Karo, Rav and Mara D'asra of the Young Israel of Tzephat, that one who immerses in mikva only becomes pure after EXITING the mikva בעלייתו מן המקוה and not yet while underwater. Much has been written about this [including by yours truly in an unpublished article that will hopefully be published posthumously NO TIME SOON!]. According to the foregoing - we understand very well. The mikva is 40 seah [seah is a measurement]. These 40 seah purify body and soul together as they both sinned and were created in 40 days. But that is not the end of it. Only AFTER one exits the mikva and elevates himself yet more בעלייתו מן המקוה and comes close to Hashem does he achieve complete purity. The mikva removes the filth but it is now incumbent upon the person to purify his mind and behavior to make himself worthy of clinging to the Divine. However, it is a two way street. After we purify ourselves and do our best to get close - Hashem must then accept us in order to complete the process.
That is what the Mishna means: אשריכם ישראל - How fortunate are you the Jewish People! לפני מי אתם מטהרים - Before whom do you purify yourselves. We purify ourselves before Hashem. But that is not the end. ומי מטהר אתכם? Who purifies you? אביכם שבשמים. After you did your job Hashem then brings you close. [Based on the sefer "Kerem Yavneh" P. 35-36]
People think that tisha b'av is JUST a miserable day of mourning. We are an eternally optimistic people - we don't believe in days that are just bad. That is why Hashem made tisha b'av in the summer - so that we can watch baseball to make the fast go quicker and easier.... No, but really. Tisha B'av is a GREAT day. A day of דביקות בהשם. We are crying because we want to be close once again. We want to come close and have Him bring us close. How do we end Eicha? השיבני ה' אליך ונשובה חדש ימינו כקדם! Ahhh - the good ol' days when we were together. We want it again but in even a BETTER way. No more death. No more suffering. No more emails to daven for ... who just went to the ICU. No more tzaros with parnassa and children and everything else we are dealing with. A life where we can just bask in Hashem's love and glory day and night. The gemara [Pesachim 54b] compares the fast of Tisha B'av to Yom Kippur. It is also a day of teshuva and anticipation of complete return to our source. [See Sefer Zikaron Iyunim Bi-taanis in memory of HaRav Yehoshua Heshel Ryzman, page 713 and on].
The great Ponevitcher Rov, Rav Yosef Kahaneman, was sitting with his students in Bnei Brak circa 1947, two years after the holocaust, and saying kinnos. When they finished with the kinnah אלי ציון בעריה כמו אשה בציריה - We compare the pain and crying of the people in tziyon to the pain and crying of a woman in labor, asked Rav Kahaneman: Why do we compare the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash to a woman in labor? Labor is NOT so geshmak for a while but afterwards there is a prize - a NEW BORN BABY! Mazel tov. Here there is no baby, just destruction??
The answer is that this piyut is teaching us a huge lesson. The destruction was really just the labor pains that will bring to a much greater reality - a universal and permanent geulah. כמו אשה בציריה - It hurts but she knows that for a few minutes of unpleasantless she gets to have a beautiful child to love for the rest of her life.
Tisha B'av is called a "Mo-ed" which is why we say no tachanun on Tisha B'av. How awesome is that?! Jews suffer so much from Tachanun and on Tisha B'av we get a day off for the "holiday". Moshiach was born on Tisha B'av, Chazal teach us. THAT is when the geula began. כמו אשה בציריה.
Let us work on feeling that anticipation for a new era which is really what makes it happen. In that zchus this should be our last tisha b'av and next year we should be celebrating together in the bayis ha-shlishi and no more concern about our good friend in the White House helping our enemies try to annihilate us but rather in a world that is מלאה הארץ דעה את השם!!
A sweet elevating tisha b'av beloved friends:-).
