Our Parsha opens with Moshe Rabbeinu rebuking Bnei Yisrael in an indirect manner. He lists the names of all the places where Bnei Yisrael sinned along their journey in the desert, and the stops at which they provoked Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s anger. Some of the names are real locations, whereas others, according to Rashi, are merely hints to what occurred at a particular stop. The sins that took place each time are not specified, out of regard for Bnei Yisrael’s honor, but they were unnecessary as Moshe spoke to the people. They knew exactly what he was referring to and needed no further details.
This is like a thief who breaks into a house after noticing there's no "Beware of Dog" sign on the front gate. To his shock and dismay, the moment he steps inside, a Rottweiler lunges at him, taking a good bite out of his leg. As the dog stands over him, ready for more, the thief cries out for help. The homeowner rushes down the stairs, rifle in hand, but there's no need to do anything except pull the dog back and call the police. A few weeks later, while released on bail and pending trial, the thief runs into the homeowner on the street. He doesn’t recognize the homeowner, but the homeowner certainly recognizes him, and not just because of his limp and bandages. The homeowner doesn’t need to say, “Remember me? Remember when you broke into my house? When my dog attacked you and took a piece of your leg? When you were helpless on the floor, screaming for my help? When the police and ambulance arrived and took you away chained to a stretcher?” There’s no need for all the details. All the homeowner needs to say is, “Regards from the dog!” The thief knows his exact intent, including where, when, and what.
There is another explanation brought by the Kli Yakar, who says that two of the locations listed and the inclusion of the word בֵּין (between) for each one, reflects two dates and the period in between. The Kli Yakar says בֵּין־פָּארָן וּבֵין־תֹּפֶל is in reference to the period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av. Paran refers to the sin of the spies, Tofel refers to the sin of the golden calf, and the time between them refers to the Three Weeks, or the period of הַמְּצָרִים we are now in. In his explanation, he adds a powerful piece that we ought to read directly and carefully, learning from it this week:
וּ אִ בְּ דוּ יִ שְׂ רָ אֵ ל שׁ ְ נֵיהֶ ם כְּ אֶ חָ ד, וְ אִ ם כֵּ ן אֶ ל מִ י יָנוּסוּ וּבִ שׁ ְ נֵי זְ מַ נִּ ים אֵ ל לְעֶזְרָ ה, כִּי בי"ז בְּתַמּ וּז שׁ ֶעָשׂוּ הָעֵגֶל , וֹם נָזֹרוּ אָחוֹר וְפָּנּוּ אֶל הַשֵּׁם בּוֹ בַּי לַאֲחוֹרָ יו כָּך עֹרֶ ף וְלֹא פָּנִים בַּחֹדֶ שׁ שׁ ֶמַּזָּלוֹ סַרְ טָן שׁ ֶדַּ רְ כּוֹ לֵילֵך יִתְ בָּרַ ך ָחָ ה ָלָה הַ בָּ אָ ה מִ פְּ אַ ת הַ הַ שׁ ְ ג נָזֹרוּ אָ חוֹר וְ אָ ז אִ בְּ דוּ הַ הַ צ . וּבְט' בְּאָב הָיָה מַ עֲ שֵׂ ה הַ מְ רַ ג , וֹם נוֹלְדָ ה מִ דַּת שִׂ נְאַת חִנָּם בְּיִשְׂ רָ אֵל כמ"ש וַתֹּאמְ רוּ בְּשִׂ נְאַת ה' אֹתָנוּ הוֹצִיאָנוּ וְגוֹ' . מַ ה עַ ל רַ חֲ מַ ך פירש"י מַ ה דִּ בְ לִ בָּ ך . דִּ בְ לִ בּ ֵ הּ עָ לֶ יך כִּ י הֵ מּ ָ ה סָ בְ רוּ מֵ אַ חַ ר שׁ ֶ כָּ ל אֶ חָ ד מֵ הֶ ם שׂוֹנֵא אֶ ת חֲ בֵ רוֹ כָּ ך מִ סְּתָמָא שׂוֹנֵא אוֹתָם ג . וְעוֹד מֵאַחַר שׁ ֶטָּעוּ לוֹמַר שהקב"ה שׂוֹנֵא אוֹתָם בְּחִנָּם א"כ וַדַּאי טֶבַע זֶה שׁ ֶכָּל אֶחָד יִשְׁ נֶא אֶת חֲבֵרוֹ, וַתַּהַר צָרָ ה זוֹ וַתֵּלֶד מִ דָּה רָ עָה זוֹ אֲשׁ ֶר הֶחֱרִ יבָהּ בַּיִת רִ אשׁ וֹן וְשׁ ֵנִי, כִּי בְּבַיִת רִ אשׁ וֹן הָ יָה שִׂ נְאַת חִ נָּם בֵּין נְשִׂ יאֵי יִשְׂ רָ אֵל, וּבְבַיִת שׁ ֵנִי פַּשְׁ תָּהּ הַנֶּגַע בֵּין כָּל יִשְׂ רָ אֵל כִּדְ אִיתָא בְּיוֹמָא
And on Tisha B'Av was the incident of the spies and on that day was born the character trait of baseless hatred (Sinat Chinam) within Israel as it is written: “It is out of hatred for us that Hashem brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to wipe us out." And on this Rashi explained "What is in your own mind about your friend, you imagine is what is in his mind about you." Because they each thought after the incident with the spies that they hated their fellow and thus it made sense to them to think that G-d hated them as well.
And furthermore, since they mistakenly claimed that Hakadosh Baruch Hu hates them without cause, it naturally follows that each person would come to hate his fellow. This misfortune gave birth to the terrible trait that ultimately led to the destruction of both the First and Second Batei Mikdash. For during the time of the First Beit Hamikdash, baseless hatred existed among the leaders of Israel, and during the time of the Second Beit Hamikdash, this plague of baseless hatred spread among all of Israel, as it is mentioned in Yoma (9b). This occurred in the month of Av, whose astrological sign is the lion, for each person, like a lion, would yearn to devour his fellow. As a result, they lost even the natural protection, for if there is no love among them, and no one supports or helps his fellow, how can the Jewish people survive, for he is small and weak.
Sinat Chinam (baseless hatred) was born during this period between the two grave sins, and the terrible fallout from this trait was the destruction of the First and Second Beit Hamikdash. The topic I would like to focus on relates to Tisha B’Av and the Avodah that will lead us to the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash. It can be introduced via a small detail in the Kli Yakar’s commentary, related to the astrological sign of the month of Av, or its mazal (constellation) in Lashon HaKodesh. That sign is the אַריֵה – the lion.
In the Birkat HaChodesh recited last week, we prepended the name Menachem to the month, referring to it as Menachem Av. However, that is not the month’s official name, and it would not appear as such on a Get. We added Menachem as a bracha and segula that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should comfort us by sending the Mashiach and turning this month of sorrow into one of joy and happiness. Other explanations exist for this temporary name change, including that we console Hakadosh Baruch Hu for the loss of His house and dwelling place in the world, something we can unfortunately appreciate a bit better this year as empathize with, and share the burden of a hundred thousand of our brethren up North – in Shlomi and Metula and Kiryat Shmona and everywhere else – who are without homes and with nowhere to go. The mazal for this month, as we all know, is very bad for Am Yisrael. The Gemara says (Ta’anit 29a):
מִ שׁ ּ ֶ נִּ כְ נַ ס אָ ב מְ מַ עֲ טִ ין בְּ שִׂ מְ חָ ה .
From when the month of Av begins, one decreases acts of rejoicing.
Why do we decrease our rejoicing? Why do we do so from the onset of the month and not from the 7th of the month? That marks the day on which our enemies entered the Beit Hamikdash to destroy it. Why start early?
The Rokeach addresses this question, quoting the Midrash from Parshat Noach, which tells us that Hakadosh Baruch Hu mourned for seven days prior to the flood. He knew the world would be destroyed and He sat shiva, so to speak, in advance. We don’t know when a person will die, so we have to wait until afterwards to begin our mourning period. The same is found prior to the death of Nadav and Avihu, when Moshe Rabbeinu was instructed to tell Aharon he must sit for a week, of shiva, even before they died: וּמִ פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד לֹא תֵצְאוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים. Only later, on the 1st of Nisan, did they learn why. And it turned out that Nadav and Avihu sat shiva for themselves! The same occurred in Av. Hakadosh Baruch Hu knew that on the 7th of the month, the nochrim would enter the Beith Hamikdash, so He sat and mourned for seven days prior, beginning on the first of the month.
The Gemara says, it is because there is bad mazal, or bad fortune, during the month. It goes on to say, a Jew who has litigation with a gentile should avoid him during the month of Av when the Jew’s fortune is bad (and he should make himself available in Adar, when his fortune is good). This mazal ra, or bad fortune, is connected to the mazal of the month – the lion.
If, chas v’chalilah, the Beit Hamikdash is not rebuilt in the coming days, and we are forced to once again observe Tisha B’Av as a day of mourning, we should at least learn something that can be brought into the day in an effort to accelerate our redemption. We should better understand what it is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants from us with regards to the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. We should at the same time better understand what is being demanded of us during this difficult period we’re in.
In the astrological wheel of mazalot, the sign for Av is the lion (or Leo in the Zodiac wheel). The seven months in which Am Yisrael celebrate a holiday are represented by the following seven constellations: Nisan – Aries (טלה), Iyar – Taurus (שור), Sivan – Gemini (תאומים), Tammuz – Cancer (סרטן), Av – Leo (אריה), Elul – Virgo (בתולה), and Tishrei – Libra (מאזנים). Our focus today is on Av and the lion. Ostensibly, there is a contradiction in this sign; dual meanings that oppose one another. On the one hand, it is named אב (father), a name that symbolizes רַחֲמִים (mercy, as in אב הרחמים). Very soon we’ll ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu to have compassion on us like a father has on their child: כְּרַחֵם אָב עַל בָּנִים רַחֵם ה’ עָלֵינוּ. But the month also symbolizes יִרְאָה – fear. As we know, the letters of אַריֵה can be rearranged to spell יִרְאָה, while the gematria of אַריֵה (216) equals that of גְבוּרָה. Additionally, if you take the Nine Days and multiply them by twenty-four hours, the result is 216 hours of mourning during that span, tied to the אַריֵה. It is also clear from the words of the Nevi’im that the month of Av represents Din, and with that, we have a paradox in play with the self-contradicting elements of Av.
In sefer Olelot Efraim, the author asked his rav, Rav Gedaliah Schorr, how could it be that there are so many tragedies that occurred to our people in the month of Av throughout history? How is the name אָב appropriate for such a month that is seemingly exclusively Din? The rav answered that the opposite was in fact true. It teaches us that all the troubles we’ve seen during this month all stem from Rachamim. כִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר יְיַסֵּר אִישׁ אֶת־בְּנוֹ ה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ מְיַסְּרֶךָ – The way a man trains his son, so Hashem trains you. The calamities that occurred in the month of Av are not a sign of Dinim (Judgement) but rather merciful education.
I’d like to dive into a topic called מְעוֹן אֲרָיוֹת – the lion’s den. The Navi Nachum says (2:12):
אַיֵּה מְעוֹן אֲרָיוֹת וּמִרְעֶה הוּא לַכְּפִרִים אֲשֶׁר הָלַךְ אַרְיֵה לָבִיא שָׁם גוּר אַרְיֵה וְאֵין מַחֲרִיד׃
Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion, and the lioness walked, and the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid?
I want to focus on this topic because the Navi says that when the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed, Hakadosh Baruch Hu called out those exact words: אַיֵּה מְעוֹן אֲרָיוֹת – where is the lion’s den.
There is a balance of two contradictory elements found in the month of Av – on the one hand, the aspect of Fear and Din, and on the other hand, the aspect of Rachamim. Around the Kiseh HaKavod, the Heavenly throne, Yechezkel HaNavi describes four faces (Yechezkel 1:10): The face of a lion on the right, the face of ox on the left, the face of an eagle at the back, and a human face at the front. Each of these faces represent a Malchut – a kingdom: king of the beasts, king of the animals, king of the birds, and king of the humans. Hakadosh Baruch Hu sits atop all four: אָשִׁירָה לַה’ כִּי גָאֹה גָאָה. As a result, He is called מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים. If we look at these four, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is compared to a lion. We find this in Sefer Amos (3:8), and subsequently in the phrase commonly used to awaken us during Elul: אַרְיֵה שָׁאַג מִי לֹא יִירָא – The lion has roared, who will not fear? True, He is also referred to as an eagle – כְּנֶשֶׁר יָעִיר קִנּוֹ and וָאֶשָּׂא אֶתְכֶם עַל־כַּנְפֵי נְשָׁרִים – but the classic representation of Hakadosh Baruch Hu in the form an animal uses the lion as its comparison. We’ll see a few such examples shortly.
The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah, Naso 13) recounts what happened to Daniel when he was thrown into the lion’s den. How many lions gathered to confront him? It wasn’t your classic zoo where a handful of lions walk around like zombies while the rest are out of sight and asleep. There were 1460 lions that greeted Daniel in that lion’s den! And these were hyperactive, hungry lions used to eating a full zebra, each, every day! They threw him in fully expecting him not even to survive the handful of seconds it took to land. And in what merit was Daniel saved from these lions? As we know, during the Yamim Noraim, we ask Hakadosh Baruch Hu to answer us like He answered Daniel: מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְדָנִיֵאל בְּגוֹב הָאֲרָיוֹת הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ. What was the merit of that salvation? The Midrash explains:
מִפְּנֵי מָה הֻצַּל דָּנִיֵאל מִן הָאֲרָיוֹת, לְפִי שֶׁהִתְפַּלֵל לִפְנֵי הַקָדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא שֶׁנִּקְרָא אַרְיֵה, דִּכְתִיב (הושע יא, י): אַחֲרֵי ה' יֵלְכוּ כְּאַרְיֵה יִשְׁאָג, וְדָנִיֵאל מִשֵּׁבֶט יְהוּדָה שֶׁנִּקְרָא אַרְיֵה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר גוּר אַרְיֵה יְהוּדָה, וּכְתִיב: וַיְהִי בָהֶם מִבְּנֵי יְהוּדָה דָנִיֵאל וגו', יָבוֹא אַרְיֵה וְיַצִּיל אַרְיֵה מִפִּי אַרְיֵה.
Why was Daniel rescued from the lions? It is because he prayed before Hakadosh Baruch Hu, who is called “lion,” as it is written: “They will follow the Lord, He will roar like a lion”. And Daniel is from the tribe of Judah, that is called “lion,” as it is stated: "Judah is a lion cub”, and it is written: “Among them from the children of Judah were Daniel...”. Let a Lion come and rescue a lion from the mouth of a lion.
Let a Lion come and rescue a lion from the mouth of a lion. It doesn’t say he davened to Hakadosh Baruch Hu with the name eagle or ox, but rather a lion. Therefore, if we look back at the Kiseh HaKavod, and the four images, I would say the lion represents Hakadosh Baruch Hu in that grouping. But if we refer to the lion as king, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu as King, a question then arises. If the image of the lion represents Midat HaDin – the attribute of Judgement of the King, then the lion’s image should really be on the left side rather than the right, as the right side symbolizes Midat HaRachamim – the attribute of Mercy. Conversely, if the lion appears on the right side, then it would imply the lion symbolizes Rachamim, which contradicts what we know about the lion. The same can be said of the month of Av, which is named like אב הרחמים – Father of Mercy but has within it a lion and fear. Clearly, the lion possesses a combination of both Din and Rachamim, mercy and fear. What is the significance of this paradox?
Let’s jump into the lion’s den, B’ezrat Hashem, and find a few very interesting learnings that can be applied to our Avodat Hashem as we approach the great day of Tisha B’Av that Hakadosh Baruch Hu will transform into a great festival. The day is one referred to as a Moed, and Chassidic sefarim say it is a day of introspection that can lead us to atonement on the level of Yom Kippur. The Gemara (Berachot 3a) teaches:
שָׁלֹשׁ מִשְׁמָרוֹת הָוֵי הַלַּיְלָה, וְעַל כָּל מִשְׁמָר וּמִשְׁמָר יוֹשֵׁב הַקָדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְשׁוֹאֵג כָּאֲרִי, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״ה׳ מִמָּרוֹם יִשְׁאַג, וּמִמְּעוֹן קָדְשׁוֹ יִתֵּן קוֹלוֹ שָׁאַג יִשְׁאַג עַל נָוֵהוּ״. וְסִימָן לַדָּבָר: מִשְׁמָרָה רִאשׁוֹנָה חֲמוֹר נוֹעֵר, שְׁנִיָּה כְּלָבִים צוֹעֲקִים, שְׁלִישִׁית, תִּינוֹק יוֹנֵק מִשְּׁדֵי אִמּוֹ, וְאִשָּׁה מְסַפֶּרֶת עִם בַּעֲלָהּ... אָמַר רַב יִצְחָק בַּר שְׁמוּאֵל מִשְּׁמֵיהּ דְּרַב: שָׁלֹשׁ מִשְׁמָרוֹת הָוֵי הַלַּיְלָה, וְעַל כָּל מִשְׁמָר וּמִשְׁמָר יוֹשֵׁב הַקָדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְשׁוֹאֵג כַּאֲרִי, וְאוֹמֵר: ״אוֹי שֶׁהֶחֱרַבְתִּי אֶת בֵּיתִי וְשָׂרַפְתִּי אֶת הֵיכָלִי וְהִגְלֵיתִי אֶת בָּנַי לְבֵין אוּמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם״.
The night consists of three watches, and over each and every watch, Hakadosh Baruch Hu sits and roars like a lion “The Lord roars from on high, from His holy dwelling He makes His voice heard. He roars mightily over His dwelling place. And signs of transitions between watches can be sensed in this world: In the first watch, the donkey brays; in the second, dogs bark; and in the third a baby nurses from its mother’s breast and a wife converses with her husband... Rav Yitzchak bar Shmuel said in the name of Rav: The night consists of three watches, and over each watch Hakadosh Baruch Hu sits and roars like a lion and says: “Woe to Me, that due to their sins I destroyed My house, burned My Temple and exiled them among the nations of the world.”
Hakadosh Baruch Hu, in pain over the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, roars like a lion at each watch, because the Avodah of the Beit Hamikdash was connected to the changing of these watches. The Gemara then continues with the story of Rabbi Yosei in the ruins of Yerushalayim:
Once, Rabbi Yosei was traveling along a road when he...
