29 Jul DEVARIM: BUILDING THE “BRIDGE” TO REDEMPTION

On Tisha B’Ab, as
we know, we observe
a fast and mourn the
destruction of the Bet
Ha’mikdash. Although
this calamity occurred
many generations after the Torah was given,
nevertheless, the day of Tisha B’Ab – like
everything else – has a source in the Torah.
This source is revealed to us by the Zohar,
in Parashat Vayishlach, where it teaches that
the 365 days of the solar year correspond to
the 365 Misvot Lo Ta’aseh – prohibitions
introduced by the Torah. Each day of the solar
calendar is associated with a different Biblical
prohibition. And the day of Tisha B’Ab, the
Zohar writes, corresponds to the prohibition
of “Gid Ha’nasheh,” which forbids partaking
of a certain sinew of animals. This prohibition
commemorates the incident that occurred
when Yaakob Abinu was on his way back to
Eretz Yisrael after having spent twenty years
with his uncle. On the night before he crossed
the river into the Land of Israel, he was attacked
by a mysterious assailant, identified by the
Sages as the Satan, the angel of Esav. Yaakob
ultimately prevailed, but suffered an injury
in his Gid Ha’nasheh. In commemoration of
this struggle, we refrain from eating the Gid
Ha’nasheh of animals. The Zohar teaches

us that this prohibition corresponds with
Tisha B’Ab. Just as this command requires
us to refrain from eating something to
commemorate a foreigner’s attack that caused
Yaakob a painful injury, on Tisha B’Ab we
refrain from eating to commemorate the pain
and suffering caused by our enemies on this
day.
The Hatam Sofer (Rav Moshe Sofer,
Pressburg, 1762-1839) develops the Zohar’s
teaching further, establishing that this fight
between Yaakob and Esav’s angel actually
took place on the night of Tisha B’Ab. That
night set the precedent for what would happen
many centuries later, when, like then, our
enemy would come and deal a painful blow.
If so, then we can perhaps understand an
otherwise peculiar aspect of the Torah’s
description of the events of that night when
the angel attacked Yaakob.
The Torah relates that on this night, Yaakob
brought all his belongings across the river,
to the other side (“Va’ya’aber Et Asher
Lo” – Bereshit 32:24). Afterward, he was
left alone on his side, and he came under
attack. Rashi explains this verse to mean,
“He made himself like a bridge, taking from
here and placing it here.” We must wonder,
why is this important? Why did the Torah

find it necessary to inform us that
Yaakob formed a “bridge” over
the river, bringing his possessions
from one side to the next?
The answer is that this “bridge”
is the secret for how we defeat
“Esav” and recover from the
destruction and exile that he
brings upon us. In Yaakob’s
famous dream, he saw a ladder
extending from the ground –
from the site of the Bet Ha’mikdash – to the
heavens. This is what the Bet Ha’mikdash
represents – connecting the earth to the
heavens, infusing our physical world and
our physical reality with sanctity, with
spiritual meaning. Offering an animal as
a sacrifice means taking a physical entity
and making it sacred, which is precisely the
way we are supposed to live. This is what
the Bet Ha’mikdash represented, and this is
the symbolic meaning of Yaakob forming a
“bridge” for his material possessions. When
he brought his assets across the river to
Eretz Yisrael, he was showing us what
religious life means – infusing our physical,
worldly existence with holiness. This is the
significance of Yaakob’s “bridge” – bridging
the gap between heaven and earth, between
the sacred and the mundane, between the

spiritual and the physical.
On that night of Tisha B’Ab, which established
this occasion as a time of exile, suffering and
calamity, Yaakob showed us how we can bring
an end to our troubles and earn redemption. In
order to be worthy of the Bet Ha’mikdash, we
need to work to make this connection between
heaven and earth, between our physical
reality and Kedusha. We need to infuse our
mundane activities with spiritual meaning,
by directing everything we do toward Torah
and Misvot. We do this by going about all
our activities in strict adherence to Halacha,
and by devoting time and resources for sacred
purposes. By elevating our worldly existence,
and injecting it with holiness, we form the
“bridge” that will lead us to the rebuilding
of the Bet Ha’mikdash, speedily and in our
times, Amen.