Note:

For an enlarged, easier to read index click here . To "google search" this site, scroll to the bottom of this page. (This site is best viewed with "Firefox")

(Tips: F11 key enables full screen viewing & Ctrl-F to search the index)

7.28.2006

MITZVOS-----tisha b'av


How can I get myself to feel true pain over the destruction of the beis hamikdash? I don't even truly realize what we are missing.


The problem is not so much that we don't have the Bais haMikdash, but more that we don’t deserve the Bais HaMikdash. It's like this:

We get reward for doing Mitzvos. The way Mitzvos get us reward is through a process which goes as follows:


1) The Mitzvos we do make our bodies and the world holy. The more Mitzvos we do, the holier our flesh and blood bodies, and the stick-and-stone world becomes. Aveiros do the opposite.

2) When enough people have generated enough Mitzvos, the world will be ready for Moshiach. When Moshiach comes, the spiritual energy that will flood the world then will feel so wonderful, it will be, quite literally, Gan Eden on earth. This is our eternal reward for doing mitzvos. But today, the earth in it's current, unholy state would not be able to survive the spiritual energy of Moshiach's coming. Our own selves, too. Mitzvos allow us and the world not only to survive, but to benefit forever from the post-Geulah world. Until the world is ready, Hashem will not send Moshiach.

3) The natural way for the Jews to fix the world is from Eretz Yisroel, through the Bais Hamikdash. Imagine the Bais HaMikdash as having spiritual arteries that extend from it all over the world. The Kedushah of Klall Yisroel's Mitzvos go from there all over the world and sanctify it. Bangladesh, Vanuatu, Naui, and Seychelles all get holy because Jews in Eretz Yisroel do Mitzvos. The Bais HaMikdash, the Korbonos, and all our Avodah in Eretz Yisroel, facilitate this.

4) However, the Jews dropped to the level that the energy of their Mitzvos could no longer travel through the arteries of the Bais HaMikdash to all over the world. All Eretz Yisroel does for us in this sense is provide the pipes to transport the holiness generated by our Mitzvos all over the world. If we pollute our souls, then it's useless to have the Bais HaMikdash and Eretz Yisroel because we are too weak to sanctify the world form Eretz Yisroel.

5) When this happens, Hashem sends us into Golus, because we still need to fix the world, but we cannot do it anymore long-distance, from Eretz Yisroel. Now we have to be scattered all over the world for thousands of years to manually make the world holy. All the suffering and pain that we must endure during Golus is our own doing, because we "made our bed" in a way that we cannot use Eretz Yisroel, Bais HaMikdash etc. to do our job in the world, so now we have to "sleep in it" - meaning, run all around the world homeless, fixing it and sanctifying it.

So that's Golus. Like I said, it’s not so much that we don’t have the Bais HaMikdash - it's more that we don’t deserve it. If we were high enough to be able to sanctify the world from Eretz Yisroel through the Bais HaMikdash, we would be there today. We are in Golus because we are too low to do that.

I think this is a real good reason to be sad, no?



green Posted - 03 August 2001 19:00


Wow- that IS a really sad thought.

But- what was the point then? If the point of golus is to fix and sanctify the world, it doesn't seem like we're doing such a great job!

And since we're obviously not on a level to be zoche to do this from Israel with the Beit Hamikdash, how can we do it scattered throughout the world-it's even harder!

It's so hard just trying to fix and sanctify ourselves, let alone the rest of the world. And there is so much wrong inside our own communities, how can we accomplish such a thing and be able to bring the geula???


MODERATOR Posted - 03 August 2001 19:08
Green,

It's easier to fix the America from America than it is from Israel, since the Mitzvos are being done here.

The Bais HaMikdash, the Korbonos, etc. were like pipes through which our Mitzvos traveled all over the world, fixing it. But only if our Mitzvos were strong enough to "travel". Since we sinned, we have to go to all those places around the world that we could have sanctified from EY and fix them manually, through living there, and doing mitzvos locally.

We can accomplish this, although it is more painful, and takes a much longer time than the "long distance" approach that we could have used had we not sinned and been exiled.


ponder2 Posted - 03 August 2001 19:01


So, does Eretz Yisroel serve any purpose today?

Also is there a mitzvah of yishuv ha'artz?

Why do pple say that there is special hashgacha pratis there? (is there?)

If people live in Israel during Golus why aren't they really supposed to leave it?

MODERATOR Posted - 03 August 2001 19:16


Ponder,

There is a disagreement in the Rishonim if there is a Mitzvah for individuals to live in Eretz Yisroel today. Ramban holds yes, Tosfos holds no. Megilas Esther says the Rambam also holds no.

Every Mitzvah you do in Eretz Yisroel is intensified. Every Aveirah is also intensified. There are more opportunities in Eretz Yisroel but also more dangers. The Rama MiPano writes that the Satan tries harder to ruin people in Jerusalem more than anywhere else in the world, since the holiness is so great there.

So today, everyone has to figure out, based on his personality, level, and circumstances, where in the world will he be able to serve Hashem most properly. Maybe it is in Eretz Yisroel, maybe in Chutz LaAretz. Wherever that place is, he should go.


No comments: