As we commence the Second Week of the Three Week period, we may address a fundamental question. Every year, for almost 2,000 years, we have been observing the very same Three Week period, beginning with the calamities that befell us on Shiva Asar B’Tammuz, and ending with the catastrophes that occurred on Tisha B’Av. There may be differences of Minhagim among the different communities, but the sullenness and solemnity of the days are common to them all. One may legitimately ask his Rabbi whether it is permitted to eat peanut butter ice cream with chocolate fudge topping and colored sprinkles during the Nine Days, and even receive a definitive response that it is not prohibited. However, a question of this sort emphasizes the "tofel" (even ice cream can be tofel, secondary), and disregards the "ikar" of the period that we are in.

So here is the fundamental question: Do we simply continue observing the period that we are now in the same way as we did last year--10 years ago and 20 years ago--or do we do something different? After all, on the one hand, we have been and are doing everything that we thought was, and is, right according to Halacha during this time--to the point that when we are doubtful, we ask a Rav. On the other hand, it does not appear that we have succeeded, for the Bais HaMikdash is still in ruins and we find ourselves in a world pervaded by terrorism and materialism, and with a value system completely incongruous to Torah. So perhaps we should try something different, something else, and something we have not done before. Perhaps we should approach the Churban and exile from a different angle. After all, in the business and professional world, if something does not work one way, you try another way, before giving up.

In order to deal with this dilemma, in order to determine whether we should continue doing the same (proper) things we have always been doing, and that our fathers and forefathers have been doing for hundreds upon hundreds of years--or whether we should do something else--we look to the analogy of our Gallus existence, as taught to school children. You may recall being taught that while in exile, we rebuild the Bais HaMikdash brick by brick, with every Mitzvah that we perform being at least one brick in the new, magnificent, everlasting, Third Bais HaMikdash.

Thus, as we continue to do what we are supposed to do, and as our ancestors have done over all these years, we are continuously building and building and building an edifice that we can simply not currently fathom. However, to continue the analogy, sometimes one can build faster if he has the right equipment, the right tools and the right skill. Yet at other times, the construction process may be quickened simply by pure effort, toil and exertion. In Egypt, for example, Chazal teach that the bitterness of our toil significantly curtailed the decreed term of our exile (the "quality" of the labor making up for the additional time that had to be spent there). It is for this reason, many teach, that Maror, the bitter herbs, are eaten **after** the Matzah on the night of the Seder--for through the Maror the redemption was hastened.

It is no secret that Tisha B’Av always falls on the same day of the week as the Night of the Seder (which is the reason, some explain, that we have the egg symbolizing mourning on the Seder Plate, and that some actually eat the egg at the beginning of the otherwise festive Seder Meal). Obviously, we are to learn from the Exodus from Egypt how we are to accomplish the Exodus from our current exile, as well.

We may therefore suggest that while we can and should continue to build the Third and Final Bais HaMikdash in the same manner as we have done in the past; there is room for us to perhaps further hasten the redemption by taking some new and different action so that those bricks are put up faster and faster. Picture the difference between viewing a bricklayer building a wall in regular motion, and watching him build that very same wall in "fast-forward." It will most certainly take a much shorter time for the wall to be completed.

Let us try to avoid the Maror, the bitterness, as the catalyst for a speedy redemption if at all possible. Instead, perhaps we should look at what caused the initial walls to fall in such a short period, as taught by Chazal. Over the next several days, b’li neder, we intend to mention some of these causes of destruction, which, if rectified, can be the means of redemption. We are assured in the "Nacheim" Tefillah that we recite on Tisha B’Av--for You, Hashem, with fire You consumed her, and with fire You will rebuild her…The same fire that destroyed, can and will rebuild.

Today, we will begin with the Chazal (Nedarim 81A) teaching that the reason we lost Eretz Yisroel was that: "They did not make the Bracha before studying Torah". Many find it difficult to learn that this means that the appropriate Bracha was not actually recited by the masses prior to Torah study. Rather, it is suggested that the Bracha was not recited with the sufficient feeling and thought, as is befitting Torah and all that it is and that it represents. After all, what makes me different from all of the nations, all other peoples, all of the beings around me? It is the Torah--with its Divine source, and the Mitzvos and Ma’asim Tovim that emanate directly and unabatedly from it. If we do not appreciate this, if we recite the Brochos hastily and/or sleepily, while walking in the home or to Shul, and not from a Siddur, then perhaps we ought to go out to (or stay in) Exile--among the nations--to study and finally appreciate what makes us different.

One tikun, one improvement that we can undertake over the next two weeks is to recite Birchos HaTorah a little more properly--from a Siddur, understanding the meaning of the words, and with an appreciation for what the Torah means to each one of us individually, and to us as a people. If we do, we may be laying some of those last rows of bricks--at a "fast-forward" pace!

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Reprinted with permission from Hakhel MIS

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