16 Aug Your Turn To Speak

RESPECT FOR SEFORIM

Dear Editor:

I think people need to be more sensitive to not leaving seforim open when they walk away from them. They should not to sit on a bench when there is a sefer or siddur on the bench. People should also be sensitized not to place seforim piled on the floor.

Thank you.

Dvorah

Editor’s Note: Thank you for bringing this to our attention. It is a halacha in Shulchan Aruch and it is most important that we keep to it.

REMEMBERING THE SLAIN OLYMPIC ATHLETES

Dear Editor:

I would like to wish a Mazel Tov and a big Yasher Koach to U.S. gymnast, Aly Raisman, who is Jewish, who followed up her gold medal win in the women’s floor exercise yesterday by paying tribute to the memory of the 11 Israeli athletes killed by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich Olympic Games.

A proud Jewish American

Editor’s Note: I don’t mean to throw cold water on your beautiful letter, but participating in the Olympics is not a very Jewish thing to do.

BAGELFEST

Dear Editor:

Why did the town of Monticello make this year’s Bagelfest on Shabbos and on Tisha Baav? You would think that they would want religious Yidden to attend as well?

A “holy” brother

Editor’s Note: I guess your question answers itself. They obviously did not want religious Jews to attend.

DANGEROUS INTERSECTION

Dear Editor:

When are they going to fix the traffic light in front of Monticello Pizza Plus & Simply Sushi in Monticello? It’s been broken for at least 6 months and it’s definitely a dangerous intersection! They should at least put up a temporary traffic light for the months of July & August?

A worried mother

Editor’s Note: I think you should contact the Monticello Police Department and perhaps some action will be taken. Thank you for your concern.

FEELING THE THREE WEEKS

Dear Editor:

Hello Rabbi Steinfeld, shlita……I need a little clarification about your article that I just read on matzav.com and Thevuesonline.com.  The 3 weeks is always a time of year that I….that I….despise.  I hate to use such a harsh word, but I couldn’t think of a more appropriate word to describe my feelings.  I despise it because I’m a yid that likes to do things with “meaning” & “feeling”.  When Chodesh Tammuz arrives, we are all warned that we are approaching Shivah Asar Betammuz to be followed 3 weeks later by Tisha B’av, so we are all warned to “prepare ourselves.”  This is very problematic—for me, anyway.  How can I “prepare” myself to mourn for an event that took place 2,000 years ago, an event that no one today can attest that he lived through it and he remembers it.  We don’t even have any inkling of what the Bais Hamikdash was like! All the reading in the world of stories about the era of the Bais Hamikdash are sorely lacking, unfortunately.  Let’s say, for example, someone tells you to mourn “the holocaust.”  That I can see as a reasonable and an attainable request.  Even though they are few in number, we still have living survivors of the holocaust.  I, for example, was born in 1946, a year after the WW II ended.  I remember as a kid, seeing every other yid walking in the street with numbers on his arm.  So, I have something to relate to.  But, the Churban?  What possible connection can we have to that in the year 2016?  We are like a bunch of actors pretending to mourn–no eating–no showers and many other restrictions.  But are we expected to be no more than “actors”?  I don’t think so.  I value yiddishkeit more than that.  You indicate in your article that we should just imagine that we are missing our right arm, C”V.  While the arm was attached we never thought twice about it, but now that it’s missing it gives us a bigger appreciation for having what we have and will also generate mourning when we lose it.  But, Rabbi Steinfeld, this mashal is not a good mashal and the analogy is flawed.  Why?  Because living without an arm is something we can all mourn since we remember what it was like when we had that arm.  But, living without a Bais Hamikdash is extremely difficult to mourn because we cannot possibly relate to something we never had nor can we even get chizzuk from someone living today who remembers the Bais Hamikdash. Do you see my point?  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not trying to be “mekanter”.  I simply would like to understand. Thanks.

Chaim L.

Rabbi Steinfeld responds: I am much younger than you, so I don’t feel I can lecture you. Nevertheless, I will try to answer your question. I take your question very seriously. I feel we can compare this situation to a case where one enters a shivah house. The mother of the house was just nifteres. The husband and older children are all sitting shivah in a very sad state. One little two year old may be running around with a ripped shirt, but he is laughing and playing. Every so often he may come over to his siblings and one remaining parent and upon seeing their tears and sobbing may join them in crying despite the fact that he doesn’t understand why they are crying. There is another story that can be an analogy to our discussion. During the Six Day War when the soldiers finally reached the Kosel after conquering the area from the Arabs there were about eight religious soldiers upon reaching the wall, lay their hands and head on the wall wailing and crying. A Chiloni soldier, upon watching his fellow soldiers wailing and crying, started crying as well. When he was asked by other religious soldiers why he was crying, he responded, “I am crying because I don’t understand why they are crying.” Rav Schwab once explained the reason why the mitzvah of Kibbus Av V’aim is on the right side of the luchos, the side which lists mitzvos between man and Hashem, is because man respects a father and mother or someone of the previous generation because he or she is closer to Har Sinai. They are closer to the previous generation and help link today to yesteryear.  Similarly, in our case, we must strive to learn from the previous generations and study seforim that discuss our illustrious past. We must understand that during the time of the Churban more Jews died than during the Holocaust and the Crusades put together. We cry for that loss of potential of what could have been. We can’t even fathom how much we lost. It is comparable to one losing a loved one when they were young. It is so hard to try to imagine that person living a long fulfilling life. Yes, we cry for the churban. Yes, we cry for the great loss of life. But most of all, we cry for all the living Jews who are not living the Torah life and Hashem does not have nachas from them. And to top it off, we cry because we don’t know why we are crying.

SHABBOS NACHAMU

Dear Editor:

Every year during Shabbos Nachamu I feel very guilty. I don’t understand why we celebrate. The Bais Hamikdash did not come back. I realize that a Yid needs to be B’simcha, but why the celebration? The word nachamu means consolation, not celebration. I wonder if we would have the same simcha that we have that we can finally listen to music and eat meat as to the simcha when Moshiach comes.

Yankel Firestone

Editor’s Note: Let’s be dan l’chaf z’chus that you are practicing your happiness and jubilation that you will be able to have when Moshiach comes.

HOT WEATHER

Dear Editor:

The weather has been very hot and humid. Isn’t it interesting that no matter when Tisha B’av comes out on the secular calendar, it is always steaming hot? I think Hashem is reminding us of the fires of the Churban.

Let us not get burned.

Bracha Weiss

Editor’s Note: Interesting analogy. Let’s hope the Bais Hamikdash comes back soon and we will bask in its glow.