What was that Tisha B’Av all about anyway?

August 11, 2008 · Filed Under Av, Bein Hametzarim, Tisha Beav ·

Written by: Gemma

One minute we are mourning; no music, meat, etc, and when chatzot (midday) strikes we can be merry again. What’s this all about? As people tell me they can’t wait to listen to music and eat meat again (myself included), I ask myself about the last 3 weeks. How can we ever be fully happy again? How can we rush out of our mourning like this? If we truly felt it, surely we would never eat meat and listen to music… because aren’t we always supposed to lament the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash?

These questions have been in the back of my mind the past 3 weeks. I think I may have an answer, but I’d like your opinions.

In truth, we’re never completely happy without the Beis Hamikdash. We even commemorate it at biggest simchas with the breaking of a plate. We’re always lacking. But at the same time, we can’t be in constant mourning. We have to “ivdu et Hashem besimcha” (serve Hashem in happiness) and count all our blessings. The 3 weeks are there to make us stop our lives and remember why we’re here and where we’re going. If we never have a period of time to reflect upon the matter it would be even more distant than it already is from us. We’re missing closeness with G-d and we don’t even know what we’re missing!

But once we explore this and understand a little bit more, we’ll know why we’re sad. And then we can be happy, because we know it’s not all gloom. We know there’s hope.

Now, can somebody pass me the shnitzel?

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