Weekly Dvar Torah: The Power of Mourning

Napoleon Bonaparte, the emperor of France, was known to disguise himself and mingle among his subjects to know how they live, and of course to hear what they think about him and his rule.

On one such trip in the villages of his reign, he came upon a village and noticed that the streets were deserted, the stores were closed and there was not a soul in sight.

Napoleon was intrigued, till he met one person and asked where is everybody? He was told that everybody is in Shul.

He went to the Shul, and he saw a packed Shul with everyone sitting on the floor in mourning, crying and lamenting.

What happened he asked curiously, the response; our temple was destroyed.

Is there anything I can do to help?

Well sir, this happened some 1700 years ago in Jerusalem.

And you are still crying till today?

Yes, they said, this temple will be rebuilt by G-d when Moshiach comes, and until then we cry and lament waiting for the Moshiach to come.

Wow said Napoleon, a people who for 1700 years still cry over the destroyed Temple, will surely live to see their Temple rebuilt again.

This tale gives some insight into the psyche of the Jewish people, and the relationship with a G-d who allowed His house, the Temple to be destroyed, and who we trust that He will rebuild it speedily.

There is no question that when the Temple was destroyed, G-d had to allow it to happen, after all it’s His house, and He is fully in charge.

Then G-d allowed for His children to be exiled.

And 1951 years later we still never gave up, we mourn the destruction, and continuously look forward to the revelation of Moshiach who will rebuild the Temple.

What did Napoleon see, and what keeps us going?

When G-d created the world, He had a plan, it was to create a seemingly disconnected existence from Him, and ultimately this disconnected existence will discover G-d.

How does this happen?

You allow for opposing forces to prevail, you allow G-d’s house to be destroyed, you allow G-d’s children to be exiled, and the negative forces celebrate.

This can only happen because G-d allows this to happen, and not only that, G-d says that when His children are exiled, He goes to exile with them.

How is this possible? Who can exile G-d? Is this even thinkable?

But this shows the distance that G-d allowed this exile to go, exile is a concealment of G-d’s presence, it tries in every which way to convince the world of G-d’s nonexistence, and herein is the key, this is what Napoleon understood.

For over 1700 years the Jewish people are in exile, G-d is in exile with them, G-d’s house is in ruins, and the people didn’t give up and are still yearning for the restoration of the temple and freedom from exile.

How is this possible? Because G-d is with them in exile, even in concealment He is present, and the Jews know it, so how can they forget.

This knowledge empowers the Jews to survive and continue to love G-d their father, because they know that He joined them in their plight, G-d did not throw His children away to some evil forces, He himself went with them, and will return with them when the time will come.

This super empowerment keeps the Jews as a people in spite of thousands of years of oppression and persecution, because the essence of a Jew is G-d, and just like G-d can never be obliterated so cannot His children, because we are all one and the same.

And knowing that G-d will ultimately be revealed, is what keeps us going, and keeps the flame of hope ablaze, in the darkest days the Jews marched to the gas chambers singing Ani Maamin, I believe with perfect faith in the coming of Moshiach.

So, as we mourn, we know that it’s only a concealment, just like G-d cannot be disregarded so can the Jewish people not be eliminated, and all the challenges and tribulations are only a test which we pass with flying colors.

And this guarantees that this people that mourns the destruction of 1951 years ago, will merit to see the rebuilding of the Temple, with the coming of Moshiach NOW!

Have a faithful Shabbos,

Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Yosef Katzman