29 Jul 667 DAYS WITHOUT A DAY OF THEIR OWN: BUILDING B’YAMEINU

Of course, we daven
from the bottom of
our hearts that by
Tisha B’Av the hostages will all be
home, our soldiers will all be with
their families, and our enemies will all
be defeated.
But if not, Tisha B’av will mark 667
long days since October 7. 667 days
in which innocent people, guilty only
of the crime of being in Israel, will
have been held by cruel, evil terrorists.
667 days that heroic IDF soldiers have
been fighting on several fronts, leaving
their families and risking their lives
for our people and our land. 667 days
with an entire country of 10 million
people constantly remaining aware of
where a bomb shelter is and needing to
think about it each time they leave
their home.

For 667 days—granted in very
different ways—hostages, soldiers and
the people in Israel have not been able
to call any day fully their own.
The Talmud (Yerushalmi, Yoma 5)
tells us Kol dor she’eino nivneh
b’yamav, ma’alin alav k’ilu hu
hecherivu, any generation in which the
Beis HaMikdash isn’t built in its days,
it is considered as if that generation
itself destroyed it.
Why didn’t the rabbis just say kol dor
she’eino nivneh, any generation in
which the Beis HaMikdash isn’t built?
What is added by the word b’yamav,
in their days? We use this same word
daily in our davening when we ask
Hashem u’vnei osah b’karov
b’yameinu. Again, why not just ask
Hashem to build Yerushalayim and the
Beis Ha’Mikdash, what is added by
b’yameinu, “in our days,” when this is
inherently the request?

In his Zera Kodesh, the first rebbe of
Ropshitz, Rav Naftali Tzvi Horowitz,
explains that “B’yameinu” isn’t a
prayer for when we want redemption
and rebuilding, it is the formula and
blueprint for how to bring it. The
letter Beis, when used as a prefix, can
mean two different things. B’yameinu
can mean in our days, but it can also
mean with our days.
The building blocks, the materials for
a generation to build the Beis
HaMikdash and bring redemption, is
“b’yamav,” to use its days
meaningfully, productively and as
fully as possible. Doomscrolling,
mindless binge watching, criticizing,
fighting and sowing division are
exercises in squandering our days. If
we waste them, misuse them, fail to
appreciate the gift of “our days,” it
isn’t only that we failed to rebuild the
Beis HaMidkash, but by destroying
our most precious commodity, our
days, k’ilu hechrivo, we destroyed
what we could have done with them,
what we could have built with them.
For 667 days the hostages haven’t
had “y’mayheim.” Their days
haven’t been their own. They
haven’t had control over their time or
their lives. They haven’t had their
freedom or seen their families.
Maybe they haven’t even seen the
light of day. For 667 days they
haven’t been able to decide for
themselves what they want to do,
where they want to be, what they
want to achieve.
We daven daily that Hashem finally
changes our condition in the world,
that He brings a genuine and lasting
peace, that He builds the Beis
HaMikdash b’karov. How?
B’yameinu, by using our days to heal
instead of harm, to create connection
instead of separation, to compliment
instead of criticize, to build instead
of destroy, to unite instead of divide.
In Eicha we describe the unbearable
pain of yashva badad, of feeling
alone, a malady and condition that
too many continue to suffer from
today. If loneliness is the problem,

the antidote and the answer is to be
nosei b’ol im chaveiro, to bear the
burdens of our friends and our people,
to feel their pain, to empathize with
their plight and to become part of their
suffering.
To be nosei b’ol im chaveiro means to
not only feel bad for, but to feel pain
with those who are struggling and to
focus on filling our days with providing
relief, support, and love.
If we want to change what is happening
to us in the world, we have to be
thoughtful and mindful of what we do
to and for each other. We must fill
yameinu, our days, with standing with
and davening for the hostages, our
soldiers, and all our brothers and
sisters in Israel. We must ensure
nobody is dreading the countdown to
Shabbos wondering if they will get
invited or will once again be eating
alone. We must make sure that nobody
in our community can’t sleep at night
because they aren’t confident they will
cover their bills. We can’t allow an
Agunah to feel she is all alone or a
victim of trauma or abuse has been
abandoned.
If you own and control your days, you
are not only blessed but bear an
awesome responsibility to fill it with
meaning, purpose, care, and concern.
If we use the days leading up to Tisha
B’Av well, we will merit to no longer
sit on the floor and mourn but to
celebrate the building of the Beis
HaMikdash, constructed b’yameinu,
with our days.