Written for Bais Yaakov's school paper
עשרה בטבת is coming up soon on Thursday,
January 1st. On this day, almost two and half thousand years ago,
the Babylonian army surrounded our capital, ירושלים עיר הקודש, and blocked all deliveries of food. As the siege dragged on, the
Jews inside slowly began to starve. Two and a half years later on the 17th
of Tammuz, the enemy broke through the city walls. And three weeks after that,
on the 9th of Av, the בית המקדש was destroyed. This is
why we fast on the tenth of Teves. It was the beginning of the end.
Why did Hashem do it this way? We all know the Jews were guilty of
idolatry, adultery and murder. They deserved גלות. So why not just give
them גלות? Why must חורבן come as such a long and drawn-out
process?
The answer is that Hashem is compassionate and He wanted to give
the Jews a little more time. Time to realize that only Hashem can save them.
Time to rebuild their אמונה and בטחון. Time to Daven. Time to
do Teshuvah.
When the siege began, all was not yet doomed. Had they listened to ירמיהו הנביא they could have turned
things around, but they did not listen. The Jews failed, the שכינה left and the מקדש was burned to the ground.
In light of the situation in Yerushalayim today, it is
unfortunately very easy for us to relate to Asara B’Teves. Our brothers and
sisters are living under a siege of terror, but instead of the enemy
surrounding them from without, the enemy dwells within. These are frightening
times, with no end in sight. There is no foreseeable resolution to the Arab-Israeli
conflict and no hope for peace. We can only expect war.
There is, however, one paradoxical advantage to our hopelessness,
the very same advantage our ancestors failed to utilize at the time of the Babylonian
siege. When we have nowhere to turn, we are forced to recognize that we are in
Hashem’s Hands. And if we would just stop and think about that, we could set
off an extraordinary chain-reaction. Hopelessness begets אמונה, אמונה
develops into בטחון – and from בטחון
comes ישועה!
כי בחסדך בטחתי יגל לבי בישועתך. “Because I put my trust in Your
חסד, my heart rejoices in Your ישועה” (Tehillim 13:6).
It follows that we need to redouble our energies into the single
most effective tool that builds אמונה and strengthens our בטחון in the חסד of
Hashem. That tool is תפילה.
As mourning for the חורבן begins this year on עשרה בטבת, our job is clear. We
don’t need to put on sackcloth, we don’t need to get up at midnight for Tikun
Chatzos, and we don’t need some secret combination of Pirkei Tehillim. We
simply need to Daven שמונה עשרה right.
What does our שמונה עשרה looks like?
Forgive me for projecting, but I assume most people are like me and
typically go through three stages. At the beginning where כוונה is critical, we are all focused.
If חו"ש someone
is sick, maybe we can hold out until רפאנו, but eventually we enter
stage two, when our minds slowly drift away from the תפילה
and we space out and coast along for a while. Finally, if we are
lucky, we wake up again when we bow for מודים. Stage three looks good
as we get back into things and put up a strong finish, but unfortunately, mostly
due to its location, stage two – the middle of שמונה עשרה – often gets ignored.
We must overcome this complacency, because the call of the hour
is all in stage two! It is there, in the forgotten middle, that our נשמה expresses the hope of
our nation and we Daven for גאולה.
If we pay attention to what we are saying, if we Daven for the
rebuilding of Yerushalayim –
ובנה אותה בקרוב – if we yearn for
Moshiach – צמח דוד עבדך – and beg to see the return of the שכינה
to ציון with our own eyes – ותחזינה
עינינו – if we pour out our hearts into the heart of שמונה עשרה and strengthen our בטחון,
then the גאולה will come.
Once upon a time, עשרה
בטבת was the beginning of the end. But גלות
is almost over now. Let’s make this עשרה בטבת
the end of the end.
