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HaRav Brevda explains: He Who Mourns Jerusalem Will Rejoice in Its Redemption
By HaRav Shlomo Brevda (Shlita) zt"l
Part II
This was originally published in the English edition of Yated Ne'eman in 1993, that is, 32 years ago.
For Part I of this series click here.
For Part III of this series click here.
The first part discussed the erev rav and their efforts to dull our sense of mourning over the churban of the Beis Hamikdash. It explained that the erev rav have been successful since a few short generations ago many people cried on Tisha B'Av but today we do not.
The Sin Will Go Into Their Bones
So, it is stated here, in the gemara that those who do not mourn will not be present. The gemara continues that they found a Beraissa, which says almost the same thing, but it is quite puzzling. It says "Tanya nami hachi—we have learnt somewhere else as well—kol ha'ochel bosor veshoseh yayin beTisha B'Av—all those who eat meat and drink wine on Tisha B'Av [the posuk says about them]—vatehi avonosom al atzmosom."
What does that mean? That this sin will go into their bones. But it doesn't say that the person won't be in Yerushalayim at the rebuilding, at the rejoicing.
The Ritva says the following astounding fact: We know that there will be eventually a techiyas hameisim, a revival of all those who are worthy. All of the good people of the generations who are deceased will one day come to life if they deserve it, and will live again. We are all looking forward to that. We will be able to see the Chofetz Chaim; we will be able to see Moshe Rabbenu, Avrohom, Yitzchok, and Yaakov, our dear and beloved ones, and so on.
The Ritva tells us a very, very great chidush: there is a general time for techiyas hameisim at a late date, but there will also be a special techiyas hameisim, a rejuvenation of Yidden. Which Yidden? All of those who mourned over the destruction of Yerushalayim and the Mikdash throughout the generations. They will get up especially from their graves and live again so that they can partake in simchas Yerushalayim.
Those Who Wait Will Reach It
The Ritva continues: it's a promise in the Torah. Where? At the end of Daniel, which is more or less the end of Tanach. Daniel says, "Ashrei hamechakeh veyagia leyomim." He says that all of those who, throughout their lives, are constantly hoping, believing and striving for the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash, the return of the Shechina, for the full life of having all of the Taryag mitzvos, a mizbeiach mechaper, and all that the Mikdash gave to us for true spiritual fulfillment— all of those who have hoped to see this yagiu leyomim, they will reach those days.
Isn't that difficult to believe? How many millions of Yidden believed, strived, hoped, mourned, did everything so that the Mikdash should return? And they died. They've died and they've never seen it. They died a thousand, five hundred years ago, nine hundred years ago, two hundred years ago, last year. They didn't live to see binyan habayis, and the posuk says "yagia leyomim". If the posuk says "yagia", then they shall reach the days.
What will happen with all the millions who are deceased? They will be revived. They will get up from their graves and live again so that they can partake in the simcha that they were striving and hoping for all of their lives.
That is what Chazal meant to say. Whoever eats and drinks on Tisha B'Av, does not mourn over the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. And that means that whoever knowingly flouts the law and, doesn't just eat and drink, but he eats wine and meat to show that he's happy on that day—he doesn't mind the destruction of the mikdash.
The posuk says of such a person, "That sin will go with him into the grave, into his bones." Says the Ritva, what does it mean? It means your bones will not get up to live at simchas Yerushalayim.
On Tisha B'Av we actually say this in the Kinos that we say on Tisha B'Av, in the following words: "Shochnei kevorim— those who are lying in their graves—mechakim—are waiting— umetzapim—eagerly awaiting—leyom yish'ech—for your yeshuah, Yerushalayim. [Why?] Az yitzmechu yichyu yeshainayich. When Yerushalayim will have its yeshuah, that's when they will get up and they will live once again."
So it seems this was a well known fact to the previous generation, something which to us is a chidush.
The Zohar HaKodosh also talks about this and says that Kol barnash—every human being—debochi—who actually wails, and lifts up his voice in crying—al churban beisei deKudsha Brich Hu—on the destruction of the House of Hashem Yisborach—zochi—will be privileged in the future to see— lemechmei Yerushalayim veyishuvah bechedvasa—in its rebuilding, in its great simcha. He will be part of this simcha.
Return To Us
What is it going to look like, this simcha? The Vilna Gaon in Shir Hashirim (7) says: "Shuvi shuvi hashulamis shuvi shuvi venechezeh bach." Four times Knesses Yisroel, the Jewish People, shout the words, "Return to us, return to us."
Who are they shouting to, the Gaon asks, and who are those who are saying it? The Gaon says the four times are keneged the four galuyos. The Gaon, is saying that the Yidden from the exile of Bovel, the Persian exile, and the Greek difficult period, and the Roman exile which takes in the past two thousand years until our very day—all four exiles will get together.
And the Gaon says once again, why four? It means the four corners of the earth, which means that the Jews of this generation, those who will survive at the time of the building of the Beis Hamikdash, all of us will gather together. We will all be standing around Har Habayis.
The Third Beis Hamikdash will not be built by us. It's going to come down from the shomayim completely built and furnished. Of that Beis Hamikdash we say every morning: "Mikdash Hashem konnenu yadecha." The Third Beis Hamikdash is built by Hashem Yisborach Shemo. It will come down from shomayim and will never be destroyed. Maasei Hashem are forever.
The Mikdash will come down min haShomayim. We will all stand around Har Habayis. This is unbelievable if you can imagine what this will look like.
Who'll be present? Avrohom, Yitzchok, Yaakov, the Shevatim, Moshe, Aharon, all the Nevi'im, all the Tannaim, Amoraim, all the tzadikim, the millions of Yidden who kept Torah and mitzvos and were very close to spirituality until they couldn't bear the period of destruction of our spiritual Mikdash. All of these people will be present. There will be millions including the greatest Torah personalities of all generations, the greatest neshamos.
And the Gaon says, what are these four times shuvi? All of us together, when we will all be together surrounding the Mikdash, we are going to look up to the Shomayim, and we're all going to shout like a lion's roar, "Shuvi! Return to us, Shechina! We want You back with us in this world." This is the four times Shuvi, and that's when the Shechina is going to return.
We don't comprehend the deep meaning of "Shechina." It's something you can only feel spiritually. But we will all instantly feel like changed personalities.
The Triumph Of Spirit
From time to time, some yungerleit come in to discuss questions and problems (which I generally discourage for personal reasons). Among those who come in is a rare person with the following problem. Halevai we should all have this problem.
A yungerman says, "I've decided to tell you something which has been bothering me for the past eight years constantly. I've never told it to anyone else."
He says, "Eight years ago I wasn't married yet. I was in yeshiva, and I went through a very, very good period spiritually. I was learning very well, davening very well, and I felt that this was the most successful period that I had in yeshiva. And as this was occurring," he continues, "suddenly one day I woke up. I had such a gaiety of heart that I can literally not describe it today. I felt physically lighter than a feather. I was able to get up in an instant. I was so happy inside. The moment I was dressed I was already down to davening. I began to daven, I never felt like this in my life. Every word had life in it. I began to understand things I never understood before."
He continues, "In eating I used to be like every other person but then I was extremely pious. I ate a bit. I felt already full. I didn't have to overeat, or use any lusts of life. I bentched bircas hamozone and I felt like I was flying. I went to learn. I covered a few pages in an hour. Everything became simple. I had all types of questions from other parts of the Talmud which never occurred to me before. I was able to give answers, and I couldn't believe myself that this had happened in me."
He said, "Every problem that I had—physical or material problem of life—became nothing in my eyes. I was in such good spirits that nothing bothered me at all. And all my chaveirim noticed that I was in a very good matzav ruach. They were all very happy with me."
And this went on, he said, for a month. "It's unbelievable, what occurred to me," he said. "But at the end of that month—finished. I returned to normal."
Now I want you to know that the person who told me this story is a top person in the kollel. He has remained very special. But— he all returned to "normal."
So I said, "What's your problem?"
"Kevod HaRav, ani lo yachol lichyot bli zeh." He asked me how to return to this. "I can't live without this. I'm physical and I'm spiritual at that time."
Now, you'll ask, why do I believe him? I can tell you the following.
I was once present when someone was talking to the mashgiach of Mir and Ponovezh, to the great tzaddik R' Yechezkel Levenstein. He told the Mashgiach that he had three hours once on a leil Shabbos of a situation like this, mamesh the same thing. I heard this 37 years ago. Someone described to the Mashgiach how he felt. All the questions in emunah, all of our little doubts, at that moment everything becomes so clear that the person mamesh feels that he comes close to Hashem Yisborach Shemo. There are no questions and no doubts.
The person is describing this to the Mashgiach, and the Mashgiach is standing there listening to him, and his eyes lit up, and he cut him short and he said, "Oh, that's very good you know. You have to see that this should occur much more often to you. You realize that, that this is how you should be living."
But the Mashgiach immediately closed his mouth and he refused to continue.
I came to the conclusion that the very, very great tzadikim, actually live most of their lives this way. When they have an hour that they don't feel this way, it's a very big tragedy to them and they start wondering why. What did they do wrong here? We are so far from it, but the great tzadikim lived this way most of their lives, and if they had an hour or a day without it, it was a tragedy to them.
Our hope is that we'll have it one minute in life. What I can say is that if you'll have one minute like that in life, it will serve you for the rest of your lives. You have no idea what this does to a person. Do you know what that moment is?
We have a body; we have a soul. There is a terrific battle between our bodies and our souls, as you know, most of the life. The soul wants the truth, spiritual values, and the body wants the big lie, materialism. Most of the time let's hope it's at least a battle. That's what we hope for at least in this generation. Don't give up the fight. Or, if you've lost the battle, return to it.
Try To See That It Happens More
When the soul completely triumphs over the body, that's how you feel. You feel so good, and the whole Torah becomes so True, and all problems disappear. That's a siman that the soul has triumphed during those five minutes. And the person mamesh is transformed into another being. But, you can lose it, and the Mashgiach said to that person at the time, "Try and see that it happens more often."
When we will be standing around the mokom Hamikdash, Har Habayis and we're going to say, "Shuvi shuvi hashulamis, shuvi shuvi venechezeh bach, we want hisgalus of the Shechina, from all of our hearts. When the Shechina does come down to this earth, each and every Yid, it says, "Vesimchas olam al rosho"—there will be a certain new simcha attached to every Yid, and it is going to be extremely similar to what I described to you.
We are all going to take off spiritually. We are going to have a different feeling, and the other way to describe it is, we are going to get a tosefes, an addition of kedushas neshamah, that's going to vanquish the body and the materialistic lusts of the human being.
Who does not want to be present on that day? Who wants to be left out from the list of invited guests? The reason why others won't be there—those who didn't mourn over Yerushalayim —is very simple.
Once when I had to marry off one of my children, I was considering a certain catering hall. The caterer said, "Come during a chasunah and see how we do things, then come into the office and tell me if you want it that way, or if you want it otherwise."
So I did so. I walked into a chasunah, and they were in the middle of the dance. Two people recognized me. I didn't know who was the chosson, who was the kallah, who was the father or the mother. I didn't know anyone. Two people grabbed me and they schlepped me into the dance. You know how I felt there? The only part of me dancing were my feet. I wasn't there. I felt so out of place.
Dancing In The Heart
This, however, can take place in this generation. In my times, when I was younger, at a chasunah of our people, people didn't dance with their feet. Their hearts were dancing. It wasn't in the voice. It was the heart. What you felt in the yeshivishe chasunah, used to get new recruits for yeshivos when people used to see what a yeshivishe chasunah was like. It was all spirit. And the feelings that the bochurim had for the chosson—unbelievable!
We live today in a generation where many are dancing with their feet, singing with their voices, and if they have a nice, square head, they put a bottle on it. And with these three things you can make gay at a chasunah. You don't really have to have a heart or to have feelings for it. But I remember times when the heart was the ikkar of a simcha.
Simchas Yerushalayim is going to be lifnei Hashem, in front of the Shechina. There no one can partake if his heart is not in it. And you know, a very famous posuk which you say before bircas hamozone: "Hazor'im bedimah berinah yiktzoru—Those who sow with tears will reap with song and rejoicing."
What does that posuk teach us? That those who sow will reap? This we know without a posuk.
It teaches us something else. For example, you have two types of parents generally in the world—there are those who have no time for their children, so baby-sitters, maids and little girls are bringing up their children. They have time to scold their children once or twice a day, or punish them. They give them some pocket money to get them off their shoulders. These children will also get married one day, and the parents will be at the chasunah, but they won't have the true nachas in their hearts. They'll be there, but they won't have a deep spiritual joy in their hearts.
There are other parents who give their children time, effort, tears, patience, frustrations, tireless efforts, Tehillim, prayers. At the simchos of their children, they will be totally rejoicing. That's what the posuk says. Every fruit in the world has its seeds. There's a fruit called rejoicing, and its seed is called tears. You must sow tears in order to get true simcha at the end.
End of Part 2
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