8. Reb Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld zt'l, who studied in the Ksav Sofer's yeshiva in Pressburg, said, "I once heard two women of Pressburg speaking. One asked the other, 'What did you prepare for lunch today.' 'I prepared beans,' she said. 'And what will you make tomorrow?' The woman replied, 'Sha! Sha! לשטן פה תפתח אל. [Don't even consider that tomorrow will be a regular day.] But if chas v'shalom Moshiach doesn't come, I will cook potatoes.' Reb Yosef Chaim repeated this story, to show how simple people in Pressburg awaited and believed in the coming of Moshiach.
A businessman came to the Apter Rav zt'l to ask for business advice. The Rebbe gave him wise counsel, and then the rebbe emitted a deep moan and said with a broken heart, "A great tragedy happened today."
"What happened?" the man asked.
"We didn’t bring the korban tamid today..." the Apter Rav cried copiously.
Someone came to the Kotzker Rebbe zt'l, complaining that his son-in-law had become a Kotzker chassid. He told the rebbe that his daughter was very upset about this, and the father cried, "If one has a heart, how could it not burst from pain because of my daughter's sorrow?"
The rebbe replied, "If one indeed has a heart, how could it not burst from pain because of the churban Beis HaMikdash."
Bein HaMetzarim
The Gemara (Shabbos 31) says that when a person is niftar, one of the first questions that heaven will ask him is לישועה צפית, "Did you hope for Moshiach?"
Reb Yaakov Emdin zt'l (Siddur Beis Yaakov, Tisha b'Av 6:16) writes, "If our only sin were that we didn't mourn over Yerushalayim, it would be sufficient to prolong our galus. In my opinion, this is the primary cause of all the terrible destructions – beyond comprehension – that befall us in galus. We are pursued and don’t have peace... all because the mourning has left our hearts."
