Tisha B'Av תִשְׁעָה בְאָב Study Sheet ~Mussar~

The mishna discusses the five major communal fast days. Five calamitous matters occurred to our forefathers on the seventeenth of Tammuz, and five other disasters happened on the Ninth of Av. On the seventeenth of Tammuz the tablets were broken by Moses when he saw that the Jews had made the golden calf; the daily offering was nullified by the Roman authorities and was never sacrificed again; the city walls of Jerusalem were breached; the general Apostemos publicly burned a Torah scroll; and Manasseh placed an idol in the Sanctuary. On the Ninth of Av it was decreed upon our ancestors that they would all die in the wilderness and not enter Eretz Yisrael; and the Temple was destroyed the first time, in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, and the second time, by the Romans; and Beitar was captured; and the city of Jerusalem was plowed, as a sign that it would never be rebuilt. Not only does one fast on the Ninth of Av, but from when the month of Av begins, one decreases acts of rejoicing.

(1) Lonely sits the city
Once great with people!
She that was great among nations
Is become like a widow;
The princess among states
Is become a thrall. (2) Bitterly she weeps in the night,
Her cheek wet with tears.
There is none to comfort her
Of all her friends.
All her allies have betrayed her;
They have become her foes.

See how happy is the man whom God reproves;
Do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.

Events are determined by a combination of man's actions and God's interventions. Eliphaz explains that the same is true of suffering. Some suffering is a natural consequence of man's misbehavior and overindulgence, and some is Providential, intended for atonement, the purging of sin or to induce repentance. However, though the former cause is totally bad, the latter should be seen as a Divine gift intended for man's ultimate good. Today's misfortune may turn out to have been a life-saver tomorrow.

It is pious behavior if a person who was wronged by a colleague would rather not admonish him or mention the matter at all because the person who wronged him was very boorish or because he was mentally disturbed, [provided] he forgives him totally without bearing any feelings of hate or admonishing him. The Torah is concerned only with those who carry feelings of hate.

(1) The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. (2) The word of GOD came to him in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign, (3) and throughout the days of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of King Zedekiah son of Josiah of Judah, when Jerusalem went into exile in the fifth month. (4) The word of GOD came to me: (5) Before I created you in the womb, I selected you;
Before you were born, I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet concerning the nations.

(6) I replied:
Ah, my Sovereign GOD!
I don’t know how to speak,
For I am still a boy. (7) And GOD said to me: Do not say, “I am still a boy,”
But go wherever I send you And speak whatever I command you. (8) Have no fear of them, For I am with you to deliver you
—declares GOD. (9) GOD reached out and touched my mouth, and GOD said to me: Herewith I put My words into your mouth. (10) See, I appoint you this day
Over nations and kingdoms:
To uproot and to pull down,
To destroy and to overthrow,
To build and to plant.

(14) For instance, the Torah commanded us: "you shall surely rebuke your fellow" (Vayikra 19:17). Very often a person attempts to rebuke sinners at a place or time when his words will not be heeded and he causes them to breach even further in their wickedness, to desecrate the Name of G-d, and to add transgression to their sin. In such cases, the only Chasidut is to keep silent. Thus, our sages, of blessed memory, said: "just like it is a mitzva to say what will be heeded, so too it is a mitzva to not say what will not be heeded" (Yevamot 65b). Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, 18th c., Amsterdam

In this case there are many transgressions and much punishment. First of all, he should have reproved the offender for his sins, yet not only does he fail to do this, but he says to him, "You have not sinned," thus strengthening the bonds of evil-doers. This flatterer will be punished because he was not zealous for the truth. Not only this, but the flatterer places a stumbling block before the sinner by saying, "You have not sinned," for then the offender will not repent of his evil deeds and will continue to sin. This is apart from the guilt that the flatterer incurs because of the injury and pain of the people whom the sinner has injured and given pain, and whom the sinner will not reimburse for the damage nor conciliate his victims because of the flattery of the flatterer. For the flatterer justifies the wickedness, it is said, "He that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the righteous, even they both are an abomination to the Lord" (Prov. 117:15). All the more is this true if the wrong of the sinner is known to many, and the flatterer flatters the sinner publicly and says, "Pure and upright are you," then the flatterer has profaned the Name of God, he has shown contempt for law and judgment.

(16) Hence, this "tolerance" which they adopt in order to lighten on themselves the severity of the service is but a deceit which their evil inclination employs to incite them, with no basis whatsoever in truth.

(17) There would be no room for this incitement if they saw the truth of the matter, but since they do not seek the truth, but go on in their erroneous ways willingly, this incitement will not leave them until the time when it will no longer avail. For it will not be in their power to rectify what they had ruined. This is what King Shlomo, peace be unto him, referred to: "Whatever your hand finds to do with your power, do it, for there is no deed, nor account, nor knowledge, nor wisdom [in the She'ol (grave) where you are going]" (Ecc.9:10).

From where is it derived with regard to one who sees an unseemly matter in another that he is obligated to rebuke him? As it is stated: “You shall rebuke [hokhe’aḥ tokhiaḥ] your neighbor.” If one rebuked him for his action but he did not accept the rebuke, from where is it derived that he must rebuke him again? The verse states: “You shall rebuke [hokhe’aḥ tokhiaḥ],” and the double language indicates he must rebuke in any case. One might have thought that one should continue rebuking him even if his face changes due to humiliation. Therefore, the verse states: “Do not bear sin because of him”; the one giving rebuke may not sin by embarrassing the other person.

Rava said to him: “Hokhe’aḥ” indicates that one must rebuke another even one hundred times. “Tokhiaḥ” teaches another matter: I have derived only the obligation of a teacher to rebuke a student. With regard to the obligation for a student to rebuke a teacher, from where is it derived? The verse states: “Hokhe’aḥ tokhiaḥ” to teach that one is obligated to rebuke another in any case that warrants rebuke.

Regarding this our Sages of blessed memory said: "this teaches each person is burned from the Chupa (canopy) of his fellow" (Bava Basra 75a). This [burning] does not refer to jealousy which falls only to people lacking in understanding as I will explain with G-d's help. Rather, it is due to seeing oneself lacking from the perfection that he was capable of attaining just as his fellow had attained it.

...it is necessary for you to check with yourself, if you can, each and every one of your days, and to make an accounting with it on your service of G-d - which is your duty for that day. And if you neglected from doing this (daily accounting) in the days of your life that already passed, at least do the accounting with yourself for your remaining days. Do not continue neglecting due to your previous neglecting, or continue overlooking it due to previously overlooking it, because before G-d there is no neglect, nor overlooking nor forgetting.

(21) Take us back, O LORD, to Yourself,
And let us come back;
Renew our days as of old! (22) For truly, You have rejected us,
Bitterly raged against us.

Take us back, O LORD, to Yourself,
And let us come back;
Renew our days as of old!