Weekly Dvar Torah: The Medicine Is In Place Long Before The Illness

Reish Lakish said: G-d never sends punishment upon the Jewish people, unless He first set the healing in place.

The prime example is, that Esther became queen just in time prior to Haman becoming prime minister, and Esther told the king all about her uncle Mordechai saving the king’s life, just in time before Haman decreed that all Jews be killed.

We started three weeks of mourning for the destruction of the two Temples, and the pursuant exile that plagues us till today, 1951 years later.

But what do we read in the Torah this week?

First, we read about the division of the land of Israel among the 12 tribes, a division conducted by lottery imbued with G-dly inspiration, as Rashi says, that when the lots were drawn, the lottery ticket announced what piece of the land goes to which tribe, truly G-dly.

We read about the love for the land of Israel as demonstrated by the daughters of Zelafchad, when they asked for their fair share in the land of Israel, and G-d adjusted the laws of inheritance to satisfy their request.

Then we read about G-d commanding Moses to appoint Yehoshua his successor, because he will lead the Jews into the promised land after his passing.

Finally, we learn about the daily sacrificial order in the Temple, followed by the sacrificial order of all the Holidays, including the happiest days of the year.

It would be more fitting to read this week about G-d’s admonishments to the Jewish people, warning them of the destruction and the exiles that follow, if they transgress and violate the Torah.

How is it that as we start mourning the destruction of the Temple, and the expulsion from the land of Israel, we actually read all about acquiring the land, the laws of the services in the Temple on the happy days?

The message given is clear, long before the punishment of exile started, we were already set in motion to intensify our connection and love to the Holy Land and to the Holy Temples, and to never lose touch with the joy of the Holy Days that were celebrated in the Temples in the land of Israel, because this is the remedy and cure before the illness of destruction.

But this is not just an afterthought after the fact of destruction, but rather this was set in motion hundreds of years before the destruction, to teach us that the cure was set in place long before the punishment.

This is why in these three weeks instead of focusing on the pain of the destruction, the Rebbe encouraged us to increase our study of the laws of the Temple, which will be built speedily with the coming of Moshiach, this will happen as a result of our demonstrative yearning for the redemption, and G-d will respond as He did to the daughters of Zelafchad.

When the Rebbe visited Camp Gan Israel in 1960, there was one messy room which collected all the junk, and being that it looked like a dump, someone put up a sign saying זכר לחורבן = this room is a reminder of the destruction (a phrase used to leave a spot in your home to remember the destruction of the Temple).

The Rebbe commented; why זכר לחורבן make it זכר למקדש = why have a reminder of the destruction of the Temple, make it a reminder of the Temple, period.

G-d prepared the healing even before the punishment, and even in time of punishment we already have the cure.

And with this thought, we can actually rejoice.

Have a curing and healing Shabbos,

Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Yosef Katzman