Tishah b’Av is a day of crying. On this day we talk about subjects that we don’t broach the rest of the year. It is a day of introspection. We look at the past and think about the future, what was yesterday and what will be tomorrow. Where we are standing. This self-accounting is essential to continued life.
Hashem’s mode of running the world changes from time to time, because Hashem runs His world in the way of midah k’neged midah. Thus, every period has its own special mode.
Chazal tell the story of Menashe Melech Yehudah, who was completely wicked. In the end he did teshuvah, but only after the king of Ashur captured him, put him in a copper vat, and lit a fire underneath. Menashe called out to all the idols in the world to save him, to no avail. In the end he called out to Hashem. Hashem then dug a passageway under the Heavenly Throne of Glory to let in Menashe’s prayers, which, due to his extraordinary wickedness, could not ascend to Heaven any other way, and this saved him.
When Beis Hamikdash still stood, it was an era of open miracles. Menashe asked and received. He was miraculously saved from the hand of the king of Assur.
Our era is a time of hidden miracles. In this period, Hashem’s kindness is very great. If a person davens and asks, if he has a little prayer-power, Hashem will answer him. We see siyata d’Shmaya in many areas. There is enough food to go around, there is enough space, baruch Hashem we live in good times.
But we need to keep in mind that Hashem “changes the periods and switches the times.” Things don’t stay the same forever. And Tishah b’Av is the day to think about this. We all hope that Mashiach will come soon, but if he doesn’t, chas v’shalom, can we rightfully assume that the present situation will stay unchanged for the next sixty-seventy years? Can public Shabbos-desecration and lack of modesty just go on like this, without someone being held to account?
Fifty years ago, the world was in upheaval. European Jewry was destroyed. Many of those who survived that terrible period were drained of spiritual strength, and they fell out of Torah observance. But many others were built up, and grew even closer to Hashem, because they were more prepared. As we know, there was plenty of anti-Semitism even before the Holocaust. Nevertheless, the things the Nazis did took people by surprise. But since Jew-hatred was already prevalent, many people were ready for a worsening of the situation, and consequently, the ensuing events built them up.
And what about us? We live a tranquil life. We lack nothing. We were never starving. Are we capable of withstanding trials and hard times?
On Tishah b’Av, a person is hungry and weak from fasting. He is taken out of his comfortable existence. This is the time to do some cheshbon hanefesh. This is the time for stories about starving and suffering people who gave up everything for the sake of keeping Shabbos, or for the sake of davening.
This is the time to ask ourselves if we would do the same, and if we are preparing ourselves for such a thing. What would we be like if, for a week, our usual foods would not be available? What if for a whole week, we wouldn’t even have bread? We don’t even think such a possibility. And when we do go through pain or deprivation, it really knocks us off balance.
