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17th of Tammuz: The Answer Lies Within You | Rabbi Mordechai Alster
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It's the 17th of Tammuz,
the day they broke
the walls of Yerushalayim,
leading to the destruction
of the Beis Hamikdash
three weeks later, on the 9th of Av.
The Yerushalmi
in the first chapter in Yuma says,
In every generation that
the Beis Hamikdash is not rebuilt,
it’s as if that generation destroyed it.
The question is,
What's our responsibility?
What exactly do we do?
Where do we start?
What do we have to fix?
The truth is
that this question they had
at the time of the destruction.
The Gemara in Nedarim 91a
brings the Pasuk in Yirmiya that asks,
Why was the Beis Hamikdash destroyed?
And the Gemara continues,
They asked this question to the sages
and they asked it to the prophets
and according to one version
they asked it to the angels,
and nobody knew the answer.
Until Hakadosh Baruch Hu himself answered it,
like the Pasuk in Yirmiya says,
And Hashem said:
Because they have forsaken My Torah.
Because they did not recite the blessing
over the Torah before studying it.
The ר”ן brings Rabeinu Yona,
who explains,
that Klal Yisroel was doing everything right.
They were learning Torah.
They were keeping the Torah.
The sin was
they were missing a certain Chashivus,
a certain appreciation for Torah,
a sin so small and so subtle
that even the greatest people
in that generation didn't recognize it.
Only Hakadosh Baruch Hu,
Rabeinu Yona says,
who knows מעמקי הלב,
who knows what's doing
in the depths of everyone's heart,
Hakadosh Baruch Hu had to reveal it.
Every year after the 9th of Av,
at the beginning of Bein Hazmanim,
the Rosh Yeshiva, R’ Lazer Shach z”l,
would give the opening
schmooze to the Yarchei Kallah,
in front of hundreds of Bnei Torah
in the Ponevezher Yeshiva.
In 5748,
R’ Shach quoted this Gemara in Nedarim
and he asked the obvious question,
If the sages did not know
which sin caused the destruction,
and the prophets didn’t know
which sin caused the destruction,
and even the angels couldn't identify
which sin caused the destruction,
so what's the claim against Klal Yisroel?
How could Klal Yisroel be expected
to recognize what no one else did
and why did Hashem bring the destruction?
R’ Shach continued and he said
that when he understood
the answer to this question,
it felt as if the walls were trembling.
And R’ Shach explained,
When it comes to
what's doing in a person's heart,
his struggles,
your weaknesses,
your shortcomings, your challenges,
what you have to change,
the greatest people don't know.
The sages don't know,
the prophets don't know,
the angels don't know,
but you know.
You know where your weaknesses are,
you know where your struggles are,
you know what you have to change,
you know what you have to improve,
and you know exactly
what Hashem wants from you.
Therefore, it was a tremendous
claim against Klal Yisroel.
Every individual knew
where the shortcoming was,
where the sin was,
where he had to improve.
And because they didn't improve,
therefore, the claim against
Klal Yisroel was so overwhelming,
that Hakadosh Baruch Hu brought
the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash.
But the truth is
it's explicit in the Sforno.
The Pasuk in Parshas Nitzavim says,
For this Mitzvah,
and the Ramban says it's going
on the Mitzvah of Teshuva,
is neither beyond your grasp
nor far removed from you.
It is not in Heaven, that you should say,
Who will ascend to Heaven for us?
Nor is it beyond the sea.
The Sforno explains,
It is not in Heaven,
you don't have to go to Heaven
to ask prophets where you have to improve.
Nor is it beyond the sea,
you don't have to go across the oceans
to ask the sages
what you have to correct.
Rather, the matter is very close to you.
When it comes to knowing
what's in your heart,
you know.
And you know what nobody else knows.
Everybody asks themselves,
Where do I start?
How do I change?
What do I have to focus on?
What does the Torah want from me?
Don't look anywhere else.
You know.
And all you need
is the honesty to recognize
your shortcomings
and the גבורה, the courage to change it.
And then we’ll merit
the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash.