Our Consolation

August 10, 2008 · Filed Under Tisha Beav ·

Another Tisha Beav has passed and we are once again looking for consolation. The temple is still not rebuilt. We still have a lot of reasons to mourn.

At the end of the afternoon prayer service of Tisha Beav, some sfardi Jews include verses which speak of the future redemption in order to start the process of consolation of the Jewish Nation as we realize the temple is still not rebuilt. I think the idea behind this tradition is very deep and important:

At this point, at the end of our mourning period, we remember what the “Tachlit” is, what our ultimate destination will be. We remember how incredible the description of this time by the prophets truly is. We regain hope by remembering that the end will be incredibly joyous.

But what about now? Ok, the future will be joyous, but what about now?

I think we can get an incredible amount of consolation by understanding that all the sufferings we are going through right now are the things which will ultimately lead to this Goal. Our time is the time of the tahalich, the process. This process is necessary in order to get to the goal. Once we realize this, then we can better assimilate all the hardships which come up during this process.

In our generation, in which the Jewish Nation has returned to its land to rebuild it, this connection becomes so much more obvious. All our hardships are simple part of the troubles which lead to the completion of our redemption which started in 1948. All those hardships are just like birthpangs which ultimately lead to the birth of a child - our hardships will lead to the birth of the most incredible period of time.

As we end this time of mourning, we must remember what we are striving towards, and we must remember that the current process, the current path we are taking, is one which leads towards this incredible goal.

This realization will not only help us emotionaly cope with the hardships of the current process, but, also, hopefully enable us to better utlise our strength towards the unfolding of our ultimate redemption.

May it come very soon.

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N.M Says:
August 11th, 2008 at 6:57 am

Amen!

Chaya K. Says:
August 11th, 2008 at 4:09 pm

May it be and may we continue to contribute our ACTIVE part to this redemption and do not just lay our hope on others!!!! Amen ken yehi razon.

Andre M Says:
August 11th, 2008 at 6:08 pm

I hear what you are saying but I still want it now. How can we deal with this yearning for it now and accept your explanation of a long process… we want it now! that is what makes it hard!

Dan Says:
August 12th, 2008 at 10:59 am

Yes, we all would like it now. Which is why patience is a great virtue in today's world. Can you imagine what would happen if, out of impatience and excitement to see her new born child, a pregnant women would take it out of her body way before it is ready to live on its own? Would any loving and caring mom ever do this? So too with our redemption - we need to keep developping it step by step and have faith that when the time is right, God will bring the final redemption - all we can do is keep moving forward toward that time.