Wednesday, July 22, 2020

The Holiday Of 9 Av

This blog once cited the idea of the Baal Shem Tov that greater than being distant and hidden from Hashem, is not to realize that you are in an imperfect state at all.  That is how he explains אנכי הסתר אסתר פני, the double terminology of  הסתר means that we are ignorant of the fact that we are in a state of הסתרה.  Rav Yeruchem Levovitz explains a similar idea as to why ט אב is called a מועד.  How is the saddest day of the year a מועד, a time of meeting with Hashem?  Because we are making an accounting of the fact that we are distant from Hashem.  The recognition of where we are holding, the sאate that we are in, is itself a מועד.  It means we aren't living in a state of ignorance, unaware of the great darkness we are plunged into (cited in Aley Shor volume 1 second shaar.)
This is what we highlight in מגילת איכה.  The איכה is a derivative of the original איכה,  "where are you" that Hashem asked Adam.  As cited before on the blog, the Alter Rebbe the question was where are you holding, where are you headed in life?   In the time of the חורבן the people didn't realize how bad things were.  They ignored the prophets, thought the Mikdash would never be destroyed, they had no answer for G-d's question of איכה.  We attempt to fix this through reading מגילת איכה, through contemplate not merely on the past, rather were are we headed.  Are we interested in living a life that will be Mikdash centered?  Of living in Moshiach times where the whole עסק will be 'לדעת חכמת ה, (see Rambam end Laws of Kings)?  Are we living a life of כל ימי חייך להביא ימות המשיח?       

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