The revered mashgiach, Rav Moshe Wolfson, who just passed away, alerts us to the potential and greatness of the upcoming days. He said at seudah shlishis and wrote (Emunas Itecha, 2:163) that “the avodah of the months of Tammuz and Av are the most beloved of all the days of the year.” He went on to explain that although they appear to be the “lowest” of all the months, in reality our main mission is to elevate these days to their potential.
“These longest days of the year,” he continues, “are days of action (yemei peulah).”
Although these words were published ten years ago and spoken much before that, they resonate with truth even more today. He speaks of a “lowly world during ikvesa d’Meshicha…a time of tremendous tests when Eretz Yisroel has been emptied of much of its kedusha.”
We, too, are now experiencing many tests, including an Eretz Yisroel that has, at least for the moment, abandoned the Torah world and rejected its contribution to the land’s safety and well-being. Chazal (Yerushalmi, Yuma 1:1) tell us that “Any generation that the Bais Hamikdosh was not rebuilt in its days is as if it was destroyed in its days.” Since we are not only living without the Bais Hamikdosh, but are hearing the drumbeat of eradicating the blossoming and flourishing botei medrash, a tragic churban of its own, we each feel the pain of churban in the atmosphere of the next 18 days or so.Rav Wolfson is teaching us that we should look at them as days of chai, life, when we can restore the glory and rebuild if we only desire it enough. With the impetus and inspiration of the mashgiach, let’s examine how this can be done.
First of all, as Rav Wolfson quotes from the Chasam Sofer (ibid., page 169), it was on the seventeenth of Tammuz that Boaz married Rus, sowing the seeds for Malchus Bais Dovid and Moshiach Tzidkeinu. That alone should be enough to incentivize us to take advantage of these lofty days. However, he goes further to remind us that the Gemara (Sotah 47a) reveals that Balak merited Rus, Malchus Bais Dovid, and eventually Moshiach becoming his descendents because he had offered 42 korbanos to Hashem. One of the takeaways is that we, too, can accomplish tremendous things even if our actions and motives are not perfect. Imagine, Balak had nefarious motives for those sacrifices, yet it obtained for him a parsha in the Torah and the most illustrious descendents of all. We, too, can and must take advantage of these moments.
First of all, we must truly daven, with all the kavanah we have, for Moshiach to come and for the return of the Bais Hamikdosh. Although the Soton is constantly belittling our prayers, telling us that “if the Tannaim, Amoraim, Gaonim and Rishonim didn’t bring the geulah, how dare you think that your miserable little tefillos will succeed where theirs failed?”
The Mabit (Bais Elokim, Shaar Hatefillah, chapter 17) gives us the answer to his taunts. Moshiach will arrive because of the cumulative effect of the tefillos of all the generations. We just don’t know when we have reached that magic moment, the threshold of all thresholds. Many of our gedolim have taught us that although gaavah (arrogance) is bad, false modesty is worse. The Soton actually fears our power and so tries to destroy it by taking away our belief in it. We must therefore pray with all heart because everything depends upon it. As Rav Tzadok Hakohein of Lublin (Tzidkas Hatzaddik, page 154) writes, “Just as a person must believe in Hashem, so must he believe in himself.”
Secondly, we must constantly, especially during these special days, be trying to improve ourselves. We all know that the car depreciates as soon as it leaves the showroom. At first, it seems that the same is true for the neshomah. The soul is coming from the holiest of places, only to immediately be buffeted by desires, temptations and tests. However, our value, so to speak, only increases when we have passed at least some of these tests and triumphed over some of the evil. That is where Tammuz and Av come in. We are now given opportunities, as Rav Wolfson said, to elevate the lowly and energize the body. Since we are a composite (see beginning of Derech Hashem) of soul and body, the more we help the soul to bring the body higher, the more kedusha we bring to the world.
Thirdly, the Chazon Ish (see Kovetz Iggros 1:3; 2:13) writes that we were created primarily to break bad middos. He is also quoted as saying (see Rav Eliyahu Meir Shushan, Doresh Tov, Bein Hametzorim, page 143) that every bad trait we break builds another brick in the future Bais Hamikdosh. The upcoming days, when we are trying to uplift the lowly and energize that which is lethargic, are ideal for this spiritual bricklaying.
For example, how was the Vilna Gaon’s mother zocheh to give birth to such an incredible son? The story is told that when she was growing older, living in a tiny hut in Vilna, her grandson, the son of the Gaon’s brother, invited her to come live with him and his family. “Savta,” he promised her, “Hashem has blessed me with wealth. Here you can live like a queen, enjoy daily nachas from your grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and live out your years in serenity and happiness.” The Gaon’s mother smilingly responded with a surprising answer. I personally thought that the story would end with her explaining how much nachas she had from her son, the gadol haTorah, and couldn’t leave Vilna.
However, I was wrong. She answered that “in Vilna, I have tremendous Olam Hazeh.”
Her grandson was shocked. “Bubby, here you have absolutely no pleasure at all from this world. If you come live with us, you will enjoy every moment in this world.” But the wise old lady answered, “You don’t understand. In Vilna, every day, I see the large house we used to own. But then, one year, your grandfather couldn’t afford a beautiful esrog, so I suggested that we sell our house and buy the esrog. We did and I see that house every day. When I walk by, I am filled with joy for the esrog that we were able to purchase and buy real estate in the Real World.”
That is what the Chazon Ish, perhaps based upon a statement of the Vilna Gaon himself (commentary to Mishlei 15:24), meant when he declared, “What is a person accomplishing in this world if he doesn’t constantly improve his middos?” In these days, when we mourn for our lost home and oasis of kedusha, the best thing we can do is work on ourselves so that we mourn for lost ruchniyus, not fleeting gashmiyus. These days are for restoring our focus and sense of priorities, yearning for and trying to restore our lost treasure, the Bais Hamikdosh.
Fourthly, the second Bais Hamikdosh was destroyed because of sins of the tongue. We spoke lashon hara, rechilus, and destroyed lives and relationships through our words (see Yuma 9b). The antidote is good words, wise words, gentle words, soothing words, and words of comfort and consolation.
How do we know that we must not only avoid lashon hara, but must also speak properly?
The story is told of a Chassidic rebbe who promised his Chassidim that if they will be careful to speak no lashon hara, rechilus, etc. for forty days, they will merit seeing Eliyahu Hanovi. One chossid arrived at the rebbe’s door after forty days with a complaint. “Rebbe,” he said, “I fulfilled your edict to the letter. I spoke no lashon hara, rechilus, nivul peh or anything bad. In fact, I engaged in a taanis dibbur for 40 days. I spoke not a word.”
The rebbe brought the man gently to the window. “Look out to the field below. Do you see that horse? He, too, hasn’t spoken evil in 40 days, but a ferd bleibt a ferd. A horse is still just a horse.”
It is not only what you don’t say, but how you control your mouth, that counts.
During these precious days, as Rav Wolfson called them, we must avoid bad words, but we must also use our most valuable assets, our mouth and tongue, to soothe and bring smiles and comfort to those who are sad and in need.
We might add to the rebbe’s words that when the Targum (Bereishis 2:7) states that Hashem created man as a speaking creature, he did not mean as a silent creature. He wanted him to speak, but to make every word count like the most precious commodity in the world.
I have had the zechus of speaking with a number of people who spent time with the Chofetz Chaim. They all commented that despite what we might think, the Chofetz Chaim was quite loquacious. In several of the famous venues, such as the Knessiah Gedolah, he would sit himself down and speak for hours to all around him. Everyone heard what they needed to hear, as the Brisker Rov once testified, but there was not an extra word. Rav Elchonon Wasserman, who spent a great deal of time in Radin with the Chofetz Chaim, was once listening with others to a shmuess from his rebbi. At the end, after the Chofetz Chaim had left, the person sitting next to Rav Elchonon commented, “The rebbe said the same thing last year at this time.” Rav Elchonon politely corrected the listener, “No, this year he added four words.”
To briefly review, let us daven for the geulah and the return of the Bais Hamikdosh with all our heart, let us try to improve ourselves as much as possible, especially our middos, and let us guard our tongues but also use our power of speech to elevate those around us. Hopefully, then, we will be zocheh to be the generation of Moshiach, im yirtzeh Hashem.
