18 Jul DEVARIM: WAITING FOR MOSHIACH

A group of people were
speaking to the Brisker
Rav zt’l about the tzaros
the Jewish nation was
undergoing at the time.
Someone present sighed
in desperation, “We need
Moshiach to come
quickly and save us.”
Another person
whispered, “Moshiach
isn’t coming so fast.”
The Brisker Rav heard
this and became very
upset. He called this
man to another room
and said, “How can
you say such a thing?
How can a Yid say

such a thing?”
The Brisker Rav took out a Rambam and read
to him, “Whoever doesn’t believe in
Moshiach and doesn’t await his arrival, not
only doesn’t he believe in the Nevi’im – he
doesn’t believe in Moshe Rabbeinu’s Torah
as well.”
We must develop a longing and anticipation
for Moshiach.
Reb Shmuel Wosner zt’l notes that the
Rambam begins his sefer (Yad Hachazaka)
with the obligation to believe in Hashem, and

he concludes the sefer with our belief in
Moshiach, and in between these two beliefs,
he writes all the halachos of the Torah. This
teaches us that the entire Torah is dependent
on these two beliefs.
The Jewish community of Brisk wanted the
Beis HaLevi (Reb Yosef Dov Soloveitzik
zt’l) to be their rav, but the Beis HaLevi
turned down their offer. Representatives from
Brisk came to the Beis HaLevi and pleaded,
“Twenty-five thousand people live in Brisk,
and they all want you to come be their rav.
Will you turn them all down?”
Immediately, the Beis HaLevi agreed to
accept the position in Brisk.
The Chofetz Chaim zt’l said about this
episode, “The Beis HaLevi didn’t want to
turn down 25,000 Yidden. If thousands of
Yidden will yearn and request for Moshiach,
Moshiach will certainly not turn them down.”
The Mourning Left Our Hearts
Rebbe Nachum Chernobyler zt’l once stayed
at the home of a simple couple, and at
midnight, Reb Nochum cried and mourned
for the Churban Beis HaMikdash. The simple
man asked Reb Nochum why he was crying
so much, and he explained that he was crying
over the Churban. “Don’t you also want
Moshiach to come and return us to
Yerushalayim?” Reb Nochum asked.
The simple man replied, “I’m not certain. I

will have to ask my wife about that.”
He returned and said that his wife doesn’t
want to go to Yerushalayim because who
would care for their hens and livestock if
they moved to Yerushalayim?
Rebbe Nochum told him, “But we suffer
from the goyim all the time. Wouldn’t it be
better to leave and go to Yerushalayim?”
Once again, the simple Yid went to get his
wife’s input. He returned and said, “My wife
prefers that Hashem take all the goyim to
Yerushalayim.”
This story reminds us that the mourning has
left our hearts, and we don’t even know why
we mourn.
The Tiferes Shlomo writes, “To properly
mourn for Yerushalayim, think about how
much holiness we lack. For we don’t have a
Beis HaMikdash and kohanim doing the
avodah. We aren’t close to Hashem as we
used to be.”
Reb Shimshon Pinkus zt’l (Galus
v’Nechamah p.147-151) writes, “If someone
isn’t able to mourn and cry during Bein
HaMetzarim for the Churban Beis
HaMikdash and Galus HaShechinah, he
should sit on the floor and cry bitterly about
his personal churban that he is unable to cry,
and doesn’t care, and cannot associate with
the mourning over the destruction of the Beis
HaMikdash.”

The Yaavatz zt’l (Siddur Beis Yaakov, Tisha
b’Av, 6:16) writes, “If our only sin was that
we aren’t mourning sufficiently for
Yerushalayim, that would be reason enough
to cause the galus to continue. In my opinion,
this is the most logical and obvious cause for
all the tzaros we encounter in galus. We never
have respite from the Goyim, wherever we
live. And this is because the mourning has
left our hearts.”
Reb Yonoson Eibshitz zt’l (Yaaras Dvash
vol.1, p.253) writes, “Someone who doesn’t
comprehend, doesn’t feel the distress of the
Churban so much. This is how it is (due to
our many sins). We don’t feel the Churban.
We are like a fool that doesn’t feel his pain.
Some tzaddikim had a complete
understanding and recognized the dire loss
caused by the Churban. If we would
understand how much we lost, the lack in our
perfection, etc., we wouldn’t want to eat or
drink, rather roll in the earth from distress.”