What Is the Avodah of Tishah B’Av?
Now, let us see how this applies to us on a practical level. Tishah b’Av is approaching, and many of us will sit on the floor and hear speeches on topics of galus and redemption. Usually, these addresses are comprised of one of two genres: chizuk or mussar. And some of us wonder, what indeed is the avodah of the day? During Simchas Beis HaShoeivah and Simchas Torah, there is no doubt that the avodah is joyfulness. What is the mehalech here? What is the avodah of the day?
When we look at the composition of Eichah, we find that right in the center of all the lamentations is the pasuk כלו לא כי תמנו לא כי ה’ חסדי רחמיו—the greatest chizuk in which we bear in mind the great kindness of Hashem. But wait! Aren’t we in the midst of crying and wailing? Is now the time for chizuk?
Even If This Means Destroying the Beis HaMikdash
But when we analyze it a bit more closely, we realize that it is truly one theme. For closeness to Hashem and deveikus with Him are the ultimate purpose of all the mitzvos, of all the Yamim Tovim, and, really, our entire existence on This World. Everything is designed to bring us close to feeling closeness to HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
Now, in the times of the Beis HaMikdash, it was easy to attain deveikus. Klal Yisrael came up to Yerushalayim and witnessed the deveikus with their own eyes. But when they became used to these sights, and they began sinning with terrible aveiros or with sinas chinam, they severed this connection... they were missing this integral awareness and feeling of closeness.
Said HaKadosh Baruch Hu: Klal Yisrael is missing something so integral and central to Yiddishkeit ... I must do everything to return this nekudah to what it was—even if this means destroying the Beis HaMikdash. I don’t need a Beis HaMikdash if the central point is missing. If they can engage in sinas chinam and other terrible aveiros, they are obviously missing the central tenets of emunah that Hashem runs the world and watches over each person with Hashgachah peratis —and therefore what point is there in a Beis HaMikdash?
The Purpose of Galus
Some understand the words of אבנים ועל עצים על חמתו שפך, He poured out His wrath on wood and stone, to mean that Hashem was about to annihilate Klal Yisrael, and in the last moment, He burned the wood and stone of the Beis HaMikdash instead. But according to what we have learned, it goes much deeper.
HaKadosh Baruch Hu said, “I want the Yidden to come to a deep understanding of My love for them, and as a result they will believe in Me, and they will never want to do anything in conflict to My Will, and they’ll daven to Me with all their might—‘Please, Hashem, only You can help me! If You won’t help me, I will surely fail.’ They will feel close to Me, and trust Me, and rely on Me. And I will surely help them and guard them from the yetzer hara. But what can I do if the Yidden don’t get the point?” Thus, Hashem made the cheshbon to destroy the Beis HaMikdash, and this will lead to a higher awareness of Him in our closeness to Him—and with this we will be able to rebuild the Beis HaMikdash.
The Ultimate Purpose of the Beis HaMikdash
We learn from here a jarring thing: The ultimate purpose is not the building of the Beis HaMikdash, but to develop Yidden who are on the level to have earned the building of the Beis HaMikdash. This is the purpose. When they will be on this level, Hashem will build them a Beis HaMikdash... but there is no point to a Beis HaMikdash if the Yidden aren’t on this level.
Therefore, HaKadosh Baruch Hu created pain and galus, and in the very moment that a person finds himself in galus and pain, and he must do teshuvah, we tell him two things: On one hand, there is the beis medrash, the closeness to Hashem that you can escape to, and the chizuk that you can derive from there, understanding how much love Hashem has for you. On the other hand, I can reveal to you how much darkness of the galus lies outside the beis medrash.
Finding Hashem Through Galus
Everyone understands that when they’re in a quandary, in a tzarah, they must choose the good, because if he won’t seek out the Tehillim and the closeness to Hashem, he will fall apart entirely. He has so many problems in his life that he doesn’t even have the option of rebelling... he doesn’t have the strength to rebel. And when he chooses Hashem, he begins to see how much Hashem loves him, and he begins to thank Him and he is filled with joy and light! Says Hashem, “I will be there with you in galus” so that you will choose the good, a choice that comes from the innermost parts of the person—knowing that he has nowhere else to turn. He must transform his entire essence.
In Galus, You Can Look Only at HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
Says the Navi in Eichah: Think about what used to be. Think about what was in Yerushalayim. Think about what was there, and what is there now. What is left of all of it? Nothing. There is nothing to look at. It is very painful to look at the barren Makom HaMikdash. You can look only at HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And when you will turn to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, you will transform your essence, becoming the type of Yid that Hashem wants you to be. And when there will be enough such Yidden, the Beis HaMikdash will automatically be rebuilt.
Awaiting the Ultimate Redemption
Chizuk and mussar (understanding what galus is and what it could be) are two sides of the coin that are meant to bring a person to this level: not only doesn’t he do aveiros, but he understands why he doesn’t do aveiros. Sometimes we see someone who is successful in business, and people want to know what is behind his success. Similarly, HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants what is behind the success in Torah and mitzvos (which is closeness to Hashem)—and this is the entire purpose of creation and it is also the purpose of the galus. Only when a person appreciates this closeness to Hashem does he merit a Beis HaMikdash. The galus had transformed us. It seared the אלוקים קרבת into our conscience forever—and therefore we will merit a permanent place of השכינה השראת.
And so, we work and we wait אחכה לו בכל יום שיבוא.
