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This holiday is difficult to understand. On other Chabad sites I was instructed that the 2nd temple did not have the presence of G-d. I am also taught that G-d is present in all creation and that He sustains creation from second and second. So how can the absence of a temple mean G-d's presence is gone and in exile. I am also taught that every Jew is a spark of the divine and the purpose of life is to express that divine spark through the performance of mitzvot and study of Torah or to make a holy dwelling for G-d. Therefore our bodies, if we live in according to G-d's will are temples for the presence of the living G-d. Doesn't the tanakh teach not to look back or we will miss what G-d is doing for us in the present moment. Doesn't annually looking back and lamenting the Temple destruction indicate a non acceptance of G-d's plan. Would it be better to lament the human failings that caused the destruction of the Temple and are present in the policies of Israel even now. Reply
Tisha B'Av
Thank you so much for your teachings they have taught me much about 9Av.
Shalom God bless you.
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tisha b'av
Thank you for the shiur.
It was comforting to think that our (my husband, david and I) being the only 2 Jews we know of who are fasting in this city has a wider divine purpose.
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Comment to Rabbi Ruvi New
Dear Rabbi New:
Today is my English birthday, August 2, and I have just listened to your commentary on the meaning of Tisha b'Av. Never before have I thought of Tisha b'Av as a positve day. Especially since my Hebrew birthday is sheva b'Av, therefore, rendering celebration and partying out of order. Not that I am so young to miss the goodies. I'm middle aged and beyond the mentality of looking forward to getting older.
Nevertheless, your explanation of Tisha b'Av as a day on which we can understand the full context of Hashem's plan for the world, the coming of Moshiach, the rebuilding of the Temple for a third and final time, and the end of our exile, cannot but fill me with a sense of "happy birthday". The logical extention of the end of our exile and the fulfillment of our purpose as bringing light to the world is a most awesome birthday gift, for which I thank G-d. The circuitous and tragic route we have traveled in exile is not without meaning.
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The Lessons of Tisha B'Av
I deeply enjoyed the lecture by Rabbi Ruvi New from Boca Raton.
It was not only enlightening, but the wisdom and beauty flowed with his thought. I came to learn more about the dynamics of Creation, the blend between G-d's mercy and judgement, the poingnant meaning of the destruction of the Temple and the four exhiles, as a Plan of God for mankind. I really trust and truly believe that Yerushalaim will be the heavenly city of G-d on earth and the culmination of G-d's glory and overcoming of all suffering and the fulfillment of Redemption. All the world should hear those words which come to scrutinize the paths and detours of mankind, which provide us with light and reflection on our own journey, as persons and societies, as individuals and groups... T'shuvah will only be possible, on a daily level, if a person is aware that his/her destiny is part of a higher plan, engraved in G-d's design. Shalom! God bless you!
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omniscience...? If - since G-d is all knowing, why didn't he realize that the world could not stand on pure judgement and have to create it again?