22 Jul AS WE START THE NINE DAYS

In Masechtas Nedarim
[81a], the Gemara cites a
verse in Yirmiyah [9:11],
“Mi ha-ish hechacham
v’yavein es zos… al ma
avda ha’aretz – Who
is the man who is wise
(enough) to understand
(the reason) why the land perished?” The
Gemara elaborates that this matter was asked
of the sages, prophets, and even the celestial
angels. They were stumped and unable to
shed light on the disaster of the Temple’s
destruction and Yerushalayim’s ruination until
Hashem Himself revealed the secrets. As
Rav informs us, Hashem explained that the
disaster occurred because they didn’t make
the blessing on the Torah properly.
First, let us first understand the prophet’s
question. Although we are taught that the first
Beis HaMikdash was destroyed because of the
heinous crimes of idolatry, immorality, and
bloodshed, we still should have had a saving
grace because, as we are taught, Torah study
is a shield before retribution. Therefore, since
the generation of the churban was replete with
Torah study, this should have been sufficient
to afford us ample protection to avoid the
many catastrophes of that era. It is this that
bewildered the greatest sages, the prophets of
vision, and even the most powerful heavenly
angels.

But only Hashem, Who plummets the very
depths of people’s hearts, was able to discern
that although there was plenty of Torah, there
was something wrong with the blessing made
on the Torah. Rabbeinu Yonah elucidates
that a proper blessing is made when a person
appreciates something and is excited to thank
Hashem for it with a blessing. He goes on to
say that, although Klal Yisroel learned plenty
of Torah, they did not appreciate the Torah
as a pleasure for which a blessing was worth
offering. They viewed it more as a task and
chore that needed to be fulfilled.
Let’s ask ourselves how this relates to us.
Are we learning just because we have to – or
because we want to? Is the Daf Yomi a burden
to be met – or a luxury to be enjoyed? Is the
weekly review of the Torah portion a privilege
– or a yoke? These are crucial questions we
must ponder and work on as we approach the
Nine Days and Tisha b’Av.
But there is more to be learned from Hashem’s
diagnosis. A blessing is also critical in helping
focus and channel our minds in the proper
direction when we embark upon a mitzvah
activity. For example, take the mitzvah of
netilas yadaim, washing our hands before
eating. Without a meaningful brocha, one
can easily slip into the bad habit of viewing
this washing as a mere exercise of dinner
hygiene. However, when we thoughtfully say
the words, “Asher kiddishonu b’mitzvosov

vitzivanu…,” it impresses upon us that this is
a ritual of holiness and an expression of doing
the command of Hashem.
Thus, Hashem explained that the reason our
Torah learning failed to protect us at the time
of the churban was because it lacked the
necessary amount of ‘lishma.’ How easy is
it to get into the routine of trying to finish a
masechta and forgetting in the process that we
are learning because it is the will of Hashem
and the fulfillment of the mitzvah of ‘v’dibarta
bam.’ What a vital lesson this is! In order to
protect our families with the shield of Torah,
we must train ourselves to preface our Torah
study with the thought that we are engaged
in this activity in order to fulfill the supreme
command of Hashem – to occupy our time
with the study of His Torah.
This lesson of course embraces all areas of
Yiddishkeiht. It is a daily malady that plagues
the Jew who is religious from birth. If one
is not careful, it is so easy to go through the
routines of religiosity – putting on tefillin,
eating kosher, keeping Shabbos, all without
thinking about Hashem. It is therefore of
immense importance that when we say our
brachos, we learn to use the brocha as a guide
to train our minds on Hashem when we do His
mitzvahs.
As we contemplate this all-important lesson
from the Gemara, I’d like to make one
more comment. How contemporary the
Gemara rings when it says the destruction
of Yerushalayim puzzled and perplexed the
sages, prophets, and angels! It shouldn’t
cause us any wonder that we are unable to
explain the atrocities of the Holocaust when
even prophets and angels were confounded
by the similar disasters of yesteryear.
Finally, another lesson to be learned from
Tisha b’Av has been taught to us by Rabbi
Chaim Volozhin, zt”l, zy”a. He points out
a similarity between the opening words of
Megilas Eicha, “Eicha yoshva vadad – Alas!
The city that is alone and desolate,” with the
Torah directive to Klal Yisroel, “Hein Am
l’vadad yishkon – Behold the Nation which
dwells apart.” He explains the connection
as follows. When the Jews fail to keep
themselves distant and distinct from the
neighboring nations, Hashem punishes us
with the likes of Eicha. We’ve seen this to
be true throughout the ages – assimilation
and imitating the style of other nations bring
about disaster! Such was the fate of the
Jews in Egypt who embraced the ways of the
Egyptians and desisted from circumcision.
This resulted in enforced enslavement and
all the travails of Mitzrayim. So also was
the fate of the Jews in Spain, who became
too close to the ways of their host nation and
then suffered the dreadful consequences of
the Spanish Inquisition and expulsion from
that country.
Once, I had the pleasure of being together
with Rav Lichtig of Queens. In his youth, he
attended the legendary Yeshivas Chachmei
Lublin founded by the great Rabbi Meir
Shapiro, zt”l, zy”a. Rabbi Lichtig told me

that HaRav Shapiro traveled to America to
raise funds for his great yeshiva. Upon his
return to Europe, they asked him to describe
the American Jew. He responded with the
following capsulized assessment. ‘They
know very well how to make Kiddush but
they are lacking in the understanding of
Havdolah.’ What he meant was they knew
how to do beautiful mitzvos but were missing
the discipline to distance themselves from the
ways of non-Jews. Now, more than a half a
century later, this failing is still symptomatic
of many of our people. How we must be
weary of the influence of gentile culture upon
our manner of dress, our method of speech,
our behavior with our spouse, our treatment of
our children, our attitudes towards our parents,
and the respect we show our elderly and sages.
Let us remember this golden rule: When we
keep ourselves distinct from the nations,
Hashem blesses us with His Divine protection.
On the other hand, when we strip ourselves of
the proper boundaries, Hashem forcibly ejects
us from them, in order that we maintain our
Jewish identity. Hashem will keep us apart –
either by wearing a yarmulke voluntarily or by
being forced to wear a yellow Jewish star as
we had to wear at the time of the Nazis.
In the merit of our bettering ourselves from
the lessons of the churban, may we be spared
from any further Jewish suffering and see
the rebuilding of the Temple and the Final
Redemption speedily in our days.