by Rabbi E. Tauger

Av

A Month When We Come to Terms With Exile

The month of Av contains the fast of Tishah B'Av which commemorates the destruction of the Temple. Our Sages say: Whoever does not see the Temple rebuilt in his lifetime, should consider it as if it was destroyed in his lifetime. Thus the destruction of the Temple should be like an open wound, causing grief and agony.
Most of us, however, find it hard to relate to the Temple's destruction. Certainly, if we recall the matter, it upsets us. But we don't recall it. Our thoughts are elsewhere. We are concerned with our families, earning our livelihood, and our immediate reality. These are the matters that preoccupy us.
For that reason, the Baal Shem Tov described exile as "double darkness." Why double? Because usually, when a person is in darkness, he seeks light. He is uncomfortable in darkness and wants to get out. But the darkness of exile is such that we do not appreciate it as darkness. On the contrary, we are at home with it and comfortable. We look at our setting as basically good. Of course, there are difficulties that arise from time to time, but they are side issues. By and large, we are happy with our lives.
Is there anything wrong with that? Can one expect anything else?

Wearing Dark Glasses

The answer to both these questions is no and that is the nature of the problem the Baal Shem Tov described. Like the people in the story cited above, we have become accustomed to our surroundings and they circumscribe our perception to the extent that we are incapable of seeing beyond our immediate surroundings. We are mired in exile and it determines our approach to our existence.
The concept that the world is G-d's dwelling, that it was created to reveal G-dliness and that this is the purpose of our lives is at best an abstract ideal, something that we would like to believe in, but find trouble relating to when it comes down to everyday living.

When Things Were Different

When the Temple was standing in Jerusalem, we had an opportunity to look at things differently. There were ten miracles that happened continually. On the verse: "Three times a year shall you appear before G-d," our Sages commented: Just as a person would come to appear before G-d, he would come to see G-dliness. The experience of coming face to face with the Divine presence was enough to inspire a person to live a spiritually oriented existence until his next holiday visit when the experience would repeat itself.
It wasn't only that he saw G-dliness when he visited the Temple in Jerusalem. Because he saw G-dliness at those times, his entire approach to life was different. Even when he would go home and involve himself in his everyday affairs, he viewed the world differently. Having had first hand experience with G-dliness made him sensitive to the G-dliness that exists in every dimension of life.
Furthermore after such an experience, a person sets a goal for himself in life: to expand the awareness of G-dliness in the world, to let others become aware of what he himself knows. Instead of setting his own material satisfaction as his foremost objective, he seeks to spread spiritual truth to others and let them understand as well. It's a natural response. Once you have an awareness of something good, you want to share it with your friends and others whom you know.

So Our Sensitivities Remain

That is why the destruction of the Temple is viewed so seriously in Jewish life. Because this one event changed the entire direction of Jewish life. As long as G-dliness was revealed in the Temple, it was the focus of Jewish life, the vertex around which everything revolved. Once the Temple was destroyed, the focus changed and people began to think primarily about their own individual material concerns.
For this reason, we commemorate Tishah B'Av. For we are generally so caught up in the day-to-day routine of our lives that we don't realize the change that took place. Fasting on this day makes the past a cogent reality and shakes us into consciousness of the loss our nation suffered.

Not Merely a Story of the Past

But a question obviously arises. The Temple was destroyed almost 2000 years ago. There is no one who remembers exactly what took place there. So how can these concepts be relevant and real to us today. On the contrary, to a certain extent, it sounds like wishful thinking, theorizing about something that neither we, our parents, or our grandparents saw.
What prevents this from being the fact? Contact with a tzaddik. When a person meets a person who manifests G-dliness openly, it is just like going to the Temple. Indeed, the Zohar states, that seeing "the countenance of G-d, the Lord" is paralleled by encountering Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. For a tzadik enables us to "appear before G-d" and "see G-d," in a way that makes the experience real for us like it was real for our ancestors in the Temple.
And a tzadik gives us a sense of purpose. For once we sense the depth and meaning he has imparted to our lives, we want others to have such an experience as well. We want them to understand that life is more than chasing a dollar or the material pleasures that it can bring.

Eyes on the Horizon

Even though connection with a tzadik makes G-dliness a real experience for us, that experience runs in direct contrast with the reality we encounter in the world at large. The tzadik makes G-dliness tangibly felt, but when we leave his presence and face the world, that perception changes. It does not fade entirely, but it becomes far less powerful as the day-to-day facets of material existence require our attention. We understand that dealing with these issues is not a diversion from spirituality, for they too have a G-dly purpose, but that understanding is intellectual; it is not apparent to us.
That is the reason why those individuals connected with a tzadik feel such a strong yearning and desire for the era of Mashiach. For at that time, the spiritual awareness that they now appreciate in the tzadik's presence will spread throughout the world at large. "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of G-d, as the waters cover up the ocean bed." The perception of G-dliness that was experienced in the Temple and which is experienced together with a tzadik will not be contained in one particular place, but instead, will be known by all mankind.
Moreover, in the present age, all spiritual awareness runs against our natural tendency, for it is material existence that controls our perception. In the era of Mashiach, this will change and together with our awareness of material existence, we will sense the G-dly life-force that gives every entity its vitality. Someone who has had his sensitivity for spirituality heightened by connection to a tzadik feels a special yearning for the coming of this era. It's like the appetizer which whets your desire for the main course.
But in truth, the desire for Mashiach is not only shared by those who have had contact with a tzadik, but by every Jew. For the soul of every Jew is an actual part of G-d. Within each of us, there is a longing for this spiritual potential to be expressed. Like a hidden desire that lies dormant within a person's heart for many years, but is always there, this G-dly potential is always present and is looking to become manifest. That is why the subjects of redemption and Mashiach have an attraction for all us, for we all have a spark of our being that identifies with that future era.

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Telling Tales

Once the vintage chassid, Reb Peretz Chein, was sitting together at a chassidic gathering with several colleagues. To hide what was then an illegal gathering, they were meeting in a cellar. Their candles had burnt out and the only light was a faint glimmer from the lanterns in the street.
The chassidim didn't mind. Their light and warmth was internal. The fellowship they were sharing, the concepts they were discussing, and the songs they were singing were powerful beacons.
A chassid passing by on the street heard the sounds of their singing and asked to join. When he was given permission, he opened the door and began to make his way to the cellar. But after the first few steps, he stopped. The darkness was so powerful he could not see where he was going.
"Why aren't you coming?" the chassidim called to him. "It's too dark," the chassid replied. "Just wait," one of the voices called out. "Soon your eyes will get used to the darkness and you'll be able to see."
Reb Peretz took this as an analogy. "That's precisely the problem with us, he told his colleagues. "We get used to darkness and then it isn't so difficult to bear!"

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Torah readings of the month

Parshas Devarim

Moshe recited the Book of Deuteronomy as the Jews stood on the banks on the Jordan, preparing to enter Eretz Yisrael. The crossing of the Jordan River was to be a spiritual as well as a geographic movement. During their journeys through the desert, the Jews depended on miraculous expressions of Divine favor: they ate manna, their water came from the Well of Miriam, and the Clouds of Glory preserved their garments. After entering Eretz Yisrael, however, the Jewish people were to live within the natural order, working the land and eating the fruits of their labor.
Herein lies a connection to the present day, because we are also "on the banks of the Jordan" preparing to enter Eretz Yisrael together with Mashiach. Then we will undergo a transition of the reverse nature. From occupation with material concerns, we will proceed to the age when the occupation of the entire world will be solely to know G-d," the Era of the Redemption.

Parshas VaEschanan

This Torah reading contains the command telling us to tie the words of as "a sign on your arm and an ornament between" i.e., a means of identifying as Jews both for ourselves and for others. Similarly, when interpreting the Biblical promise that "all the nations of the world will see that the Name of G-d is proclaimed upon you and will fear you," our Sages state that this verse refers to tefillin. On 24 Iyar, 5627 (June 3, 1967), soon after Egypt's closure of the Straits of Tiran and two days before the outbreak of the Six Day War, at a farbrengen, the Rebbe cited the above teaching of our Sages and their assurance that the observance of this mitzvah endows the Jewish people with added strength. He highlighted the contemporary relevance of this assurance - that in the current moment of crisis, too, observing this mitzvah would bring the Jews awe-inspiring victory.
Throughout the world and particularly in Eretz Yisrael, chassidim eagerly responded to the Rebbe's call, using every possible means to reach out to their fellow Jews, soldiers and civilians alike, and to offer them the opportunity to perform this mitzvah. More than four decades have passed since the tefillin campaign was launched. In the course of those years, in wartime and in peacetime, this campaign has enabled countless Jews to fulfill this mitzvah.

Parshas Ekev

Our Rabbis teach that the opening phrase of the passage Vihaya eikev tishmaon - "It shall come to pass when you heed...." alludes to our present era, ikvasa demeshicha, the time when Mashiach's approaching footsteps can be heard. When we observe the Torah and its mitzvos in ikvasa demeshicha, the commentaries explain, G-d will keep the promises mentioned in the Torah and bring the redemption.
Implied is that there is something unique about our observance that will precipitate the Redemption. The unique quality of our generation is hinted at by the word eikev which also means "heel" in Hebrew. When you want to enter an extremely cold swimming pool, which is the easiest limb to put in first? The feet.
Although the feet lack the sensitivity of the more refined limbs of the body, they respond more readily to our will. Similarly, although our generation may lack some of the spiritual refinement of the previous generation, like the heel, we are able to show a deeper commitment to fulfilling G-d's will.

Parshas Reeh

TThis Torah reading begins: "Behold I have set before you today, life and good, death and evil, choose life." Maimonides emphasizes how free choice is one of the fundamental principles of the Jewish faith. For if we have no choice, why should we receive reward or punishment for our actions. And without free choice, we would be no more than clever robots.
On the other hand, our free choice seems to run contrary to another fundamental principle of the Jewish faith: G-d's omniscience. For seemingly, if G-d knows what we are going to choose, it is not really free choice.
Our Rabbis have debated this concept for centuries. One of the answers given is that G-d's knowledge does not affect our behavior. He knows, but in a removed way. For example, there are clairvoyants who can foretell the future. Would anyone suggest that their knowledge of the future makes those events take place. Similarly, G-d knows what man will choose, but His knowledge is bound up with His essence and does not impose itself on man.

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