(The following is based on a shiur given by R’ Yisroel Reisman)
We find a number of places in the Torah that there is something called kefitzas haderech. In Parshas Chayei Sorah we learn that Eliezer had kefitzas haderech, in Parshas Vayeitzei we find that Yaakov had kefitzas haderech, and in Parshas Beha’aloscha we find that Klal Yisroel had kefitzas haderech.
Kefitzas haderech means that I need to travel 100 miles which normally takes 2.5 hours, however, somehow I managed to do it in 2.5 minutes. The question is, how does kefitzas haderech work? Does it mean that I actually traveled 100 miles but time was suspended, so that after traveling the 100 miles and I get there I find out that only 2.5 minutes had gone by. So, it is a miracle in time. Or is it a miracle in space. I traveled 100 miles in 2.5 minutes because the Ribbono Shel Olam compressed the 100 miles and I was able to go as if I was going just 100 feet and I got there 2.5 minutes later.
To illustrate the chakira, if I had an odometer on my car and I was Eliezer and I traveled to find a shidduch and I made it in one day. I traveled maybe 600 miles in one day. Did my odometer click off 600 miles of traveling, did I use up gas for 600 miles of traveling just that time was suspended, or no, the peshat is that I only had to travel one day’s worth of traveling and it is a miracle in space that I got there. Is it a miracle in time or a miracle in space?
R’ Chaim Kanievsky in Taima Dikra (Parshas Behaloscha, 11:1) proves like the first option, that one is traveling the whole time and is in fact travelling the hundred miles, however, once he gets there the time is earlier than it would be normally. It’s a miracle in time, not in space.
The obvious follow question is, if the Ribbono Shel Olam is making a miracle and is allowing one to travel 100 miles in 2.5 minutes, instead of the regular 2.5 hours, why does He perform the miracle in a way that makes one have to go through the bother of traveling. Let the Ribbono Shel Olam do the miracle the other way - that it should be a quick trip so to speak? A trip that involves only traveling 100 feet and not 100 miles?
The important answer is this. There is something to the trip, there is something to the traveling. We tend to think that when there is a problem we just have to get past the problem and the idea is to be smooth, the idea is not to have the problem.
There was once a Yid who had 6 children and 3 of them were rebellious children and they gave him a lot of headaches and 3 were the smooth type. He told an Adam Gadol about his problem and he said I didn’t ask the Ribbono Shel Olam for 6 children. Had He given me only 3 children I would have nachas and I would be very happy. To that this Adam Gadol replied, you are a fool. In Shomayim you were supposed to have 3 challenging children and that is your tafkid, purpose. A malach said you are going to give him 3 difficult children and no regular children. So, the Ribbono Shel Olam said okay I will throw in 3 regular children. But your tafkid is not the self-pilot children your tafkid is the children that require your efforts and your strengths.
The same thing is with us. We travel somewhere and we say it is the will of Hashem I am heading out. I am going and I am traveling to Eretz Yisroel. So, I say let me just get there. No. the travel is meaningful. The going there is traveling. The effort that you put in is traveling. When you are traveling it is purposeful. The tircha, the bother of getting there counts. The challenges, the difficulties that is the whole purpose of the traveling.
The mistake that people make is not appreciating the challenges on the way. It comes a Tisha B’Av and many people have an attitude let me just close my eyes and open them up and Tisha B’Av will be over. I fasted a whole day and accomplished, I fasted. No. The idea is not to get to the end of Tisha B’Av without eating, the idea is to have a Tisha B’Av that is meaningful. A Tisha B’Av that counts for you, that is a source of Avodas Hashem. A source of aliya in Avodas Hashem. It is not just to get there. It is how you get there. The bother of getting there. The bumps on the road. They are purposeful. When there is kefitzas haderech, Hashem doesn’t say alright you won’t have the bother you will just be there. No. The bother is purposeful. Hashem doesn’t steal that from you. The tircha, the shvitz, the bother. Hashem doesn’t steal it from you, not at all. You are zoche to work hard.
It says in Parsha Ma’asei: ואלה מסעיהם למוצאיהם – “this is where they were for their travels”. The Rogatchover (I think) said, you might think that travel is just to get there and it doesn’t matter how. He said no, ואלה מסעיהם למוצאיהם, there is a purpose. The traveling itself, is for a purpose.
So, Tisha B’Av is coming and its challenges. The minhagei aveilos that we have is very purposeful. Someday it is going to go on the scale when we go upstairs when they judge the Maasei Bnei Adam. Tisha B’Av is an opportunity to be really meaningful. Don’t just go to sleep and wake up on the other side, the journey is also very meaningful.
