“Your brothers, the entire House of Yisrael shall bewail the fire that Hashem ignited.”[1]
This posuk is talking about Nadav and Avihu. We are crying over the “double burning” (i.e. Yisrael and Elisheva) that Hashem ignited.
What’s the explanation? Everybody knows, “I am with him in distress.”[2] Hashem is with us in distress. There’s a famous medrash which we read on Tisha B’Av once a year. It speaks about Yirmiyahu came out to comfort the Jewish people as they were being led out to exile (i.e. Bavel) from which they were suffering terribly. He told them, “I have to go back to the remainder that is in Eretz Yisrael.” The Jews start to cry bitterly and say to Yirmiyahu, “Why do you have to leave us?” Yirmiyahu said, “If you would have only cried one time while you were still in Eretz Yisrael, you wouldn’t have to cry so many tears now.”
The tragedy took place on Chol HaMoed Pesach.[3] It is not coincidental. On the last two days of Pesach, we read about the Red Sea. The Gemara says that ministering angels wanted to recite a song of praise when the Egyptians were drowning in the Red Sea. However, the Holy One, Blessed is He, exclaimed, “My handiwork are drowning in the sea and you want to recite a song of praise?!”[4]
The commentators ask, “But this miracle caused great sanctification of the Name of Heaven. The whole world heard of it. Every day in our davening we recall this great shattering of the natural order. It represents a basic tenet of the Jewish faith - that Hashem punishes the wicked[5] and saves His nation from their hands, sometimes with open miracles. On the contrary, this awesome wonder that the Al-Mighty performed for Israel would seem to be excellent cause for shira.”
The sefer VaYifgah BaMakom answers, “From the fact that the Holy One prevented the angels from singing, we see how great His pain is when works of His Hands must perish. Although the Egyptians were truly wicked and His Name was greatly sanctified when they perished, shira was inappropriate. The Holy One was in sorrow, for creations of His were lost to the world and failed to achieve their purpose in life.[6]
When He has to take these two souls (i.e. Yisrael and Elisheva) through a fire, you don’t think it “burned” Him also? A million percent! Hashem “felt” the heat and the pain of that fire.
We have to ask ourselves the following:
“Why did all of Klal Yisrael before Yom Tov Sheini have to hear such devastating news?” Those who know the family and Yisrael had to cry when they heard such a story. Even those who didn’t had incredible heartache that two Jewish families – besides the choson and kallah – has such distress. Why does everyone in the world feel their pain?
According to my understating, the explanation is שְׁכִינְתֵּיהּ בְּגָלוּתָא – the Divine Presence is in exile, and no one is crying for Hashem. Every day people are davening, “Send Moshiach so that I won’t have to undergo my difficulties.”[7] Whose crying for Hashem? Hashem was driven out of His house because of our transgressions.[8]
We are in the book of Vayikra which discusses the instructions and building of the Mishkan. Our Sages[9] explain at great length what a tremendous simcha it was for Hashem to have an “apartment” in this world where He could be together with His children. Nowadays, no one can come visit our Father in His house because He was driven out of it.
Who cries for that?!
Once a year, we take out the kinnos, dust it off and cry about שְׁכִינְתֵּיהּ בְּגָלוּתָא. A day later, where are we at? Did it leave an impression on us? Does it really bother us that the Divine Presence is in exile? As I said earlier, every day people are davening “Send Moshiach, send Moshiach, send Moshiach!” Really. Why? Because we need Moshiach for us? What about Hashem? Whose crying over Hashem’s “pain”? I, as a father, feel such pain as a human being over my two children. Can you only imagine the way Hashem “feels”?
Hashem caused a tremendous pain in our nation this year at the Yom Tov of the Geulah. He wants us to wake up. Hashem is talking to us: “You really want to bring Moshiach? Start crying for Me that I’m in exile.”[10] [11] Make some changes in our lives. In shemonah esrei, we need to put more focus on שְׁכִינְתֵּיהּ בְּגָלוּתָא.
They say in English, “If you keep doing the same thing and getting the same bad results you’re doing something wrong.” We’re missing something. I’m not putting down our nation. Our nation does kindness and learns Torah etc. All I’m saying is that we just need to focus on that last piece of the puzzle – to sense the pain of the Divine Presence who’s in exile. How much does it bother every Jew that Hashem is in exile?
The tragedy took place is not my loss but our nation’s loss. We need to draw all of our attention to שְׁכִינְתֵּיהּ בְּגָלוּתָא: “My Father doesn’t have a house to go to anymore and He’s begging us to bring Him home.” I feel this is the way to bring Moshiach.
Yet, it’s very hard to “feel” Hashem’s “pain”.
How do put we R’ Yeshayah Levin’s words into practicality?
The Chofeitz Chayim says, “If we were truly yearning for the final Redemption and waiting each day for its arrival, then we would be preparing ourselves by learning the relevant halachos, for there are many halachos to be learned and they cannot all be covered in a short time…[12] For if it would be revealed that in a short time the final Redemption would arrive, then certainly millions of Jews would quickly learn the halachos to the Beis HaMikdosh, since at that time all of these halachos will be applicable, not only for kohanim but for all Jews, for instance, the halachos regarding eating karbonos and visiting the Mikdash… Therefore, if we are truly waiting and yearning for the final Redemption… we too should arouse ourselves and learn these halachos with all our strength.”
Is there any sefer that exists nowadays which has relevant halachos regarding the Beis HaMikdosh?
Yes! It’s called Days Are Coming by Rabbi Moshe Silberstein.
What is the sefer about? It’s an In-Depth Analysis of the Practical Halachos Relevant to Visiting the Bais HaMikdash. By studying this sefer, one is imbuing himself with faith that Hashem will redeem us. The Chofeitz Chayim had a special morning coat that he planned to wear to greet Moshiach and from time to time he put it on and sit in anticipation. Therefore, a person should designate some type of article of clothing – i.e. suit, shirt, hat, belt or shoes etc., that he/ she has designated to wear when Moshiach reveals himself. As the Sefer HaChinuch says, “A person is fashioned by his deeds.” Saying the 12th Principle of the Ani Ma’amins every day or learning Seider Kodshim isn’t enough.
You’ll tell me, “But I’m not the Chofeitz Chayim.” That’s true. Here’s the following story:
On Wednesday, Mrs. Leah Rubashkin got a call that her husband summoned to the warden’s office She got into the car and headed off to Otisville. She arrived with a change of clothing for her husband, but the guard said no, he couldn’t change on the premises – one last display of power on the part of the warden’s office. I wondered how she’d had the presence of mind to grab a change of clothing after having received the most exhilarating phone call of her life.
“I didn’t,” Mrs. Rubashkin answered. “I’ve been driving around with that change of clothing in my car for eight years.” Mrs. Leah Rubashkin is the epitome of the Chofeitz Chayim![13]
With Hashem’s help, we may merit to see that תשע"ח should be תהא שנת עולם חָדָש, a year of a renewed world, with the revelation of Moshiach Tzidkeinu, who will make our Creator’s Name Great Again,
במהרה שנת אמן!
[5] In our case, the Egyptians were truly wicked people – the original Nazis – and if they had the chance they would do it again to the Jews!
[6] Talelei Oros volume 1 by Rabbi Yissoschor Dov Rubin, page 337.
[7] In fact, Rav Yisrael Meir HaKohein Kagan or better known as the Chofeitz Chayim asks the following:
“Why do we wait for Mashiach? Because we need parnassa, a cure for a disease, nachas from our children? Because someone in our family needs a shidduch? No! Hashem knows our innermost thoughts, and He says to us, ‘I can send you those things without sending you Mashiach!’ Instead, each one of us must cry for the lack of כבוד שמים - for the pain of the Shechinah in our exile and then Mashiach will surely come” (sefer Meir Einei Yisroel volume 1, page 236).
[8] As we say in Musaf of Shalosh Regalim, “וּמִפְּנֵי חֲטָאֵינוּ גָּלִינוּ מֵאַרְצֵנוּ. וְנִתְרַחַקְנוּ מֵעַל אַדְמָתֵנוּ, But because of our transgressions we have been exile from our land and sent far away from our soil.”
[10] see ArtScroll Yoma 57a, note 3. See also Maharsha, Chiddushei Aggados on Yuma 57a “השתא ברי טמאים כו'”; Tosafos on Sukkah 45a, “אני ו...” and Bamidbar Rabbah 7:10.
[11] On December 23rd (Shabbos Parshas Vayigash), Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin said, “May we channel the simchah of the past few days and merit to see the real geulah with the coming of Moshiach.” He also said something similar on December 20.
In the winter of 5678 (1918), Rav Yisrael Meir HaKohein Kagan or better known as the Chofeitz Chayim was told about the joy that was spreading to Jewish homes everywhere over the signing of the Balfour Deceleration. He broke out crying and could not understand everyone was so happy because, after all, Hashem had promised [to Yaakov Avinu]: “You shall spread forth to the west, east, north and south” (Bereishis 28:14). This promise said the Chofeitz Chayim, is like an I.O.U. from Hashem and when the time comes, He is certain to pay it. But people are giving thanks now for what amounts to just a small part of Hashem’s promise. Everyone is rejoicing over the Deceleration and thinking of it as if it were the Redemption. He lamented, “They are settling for less… They do not look forward to more… Oy, what has happened to us?!” And he kept on crying.
What’s the Chofeitz Chayim’s message to our generation?
Don’t be satisfied with Sholom Rubashkin’s release from prison! This simcha that we felt on December 20 will dissipate within a few weeks. The only people that will remember the day of his release will be him and his family. The Satan wants us to be complacent with Sholom Rubashkin’s release and move on with our lives instead of beseeching Hashem for the Final Redemption!
Had we beseeched Hashem for the Final Redemption when Sholom Rubashkin was released from prison, perhaps this tragedy might have never taken place!
[12] The posuk says, “Noach… went into the ark because of the waters of the Flood” (Bereishis 7:7). Rashi explains, “Noach, too, was one of those with little faith; he believed, yet he did not believe fully that the Flood would come…”
If Noach didn’t believe that the Flood would come, then we certainly need ask ourselves, “Do I really believe that the final Redemption will come or is it just a ‘concept’ that is in the subconscious part of my mind?”
[13] Excerpted from Rubashkin, the Redemption and Yearning for Moshiach.