NEW -- Tisha Ba'Av Drasha

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THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF RABBI PINKY SCHMECKELSTEIN

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NEW – Tisha Ba’Av Drasha

Rabboisai,

It has been a long time since I addressed you. And, in truth, it has been more than that since I wrote to you with a pure heart.

The last two years or so have been trying times for the Schmeckelsteins. Death. Illness. Professional transition. Monetary concerns. Temptation. Surrender. Shatnez. Loshoin Harrah. Blood. Frogs. Kinim. Aroiv. And so on.

You know. All the things that we spend our whole lives trying to avoid.

At some point, whoever you are, whatever you do, life throws you curveballs. And then your true character is measured.

When all is going well, you face basic life challenges. You think that you are a hero – especially because that is what you mother tells you – but it is not that difficult. But when you have a setback - personal or professional - character is when you pick yourself off the floor, no matter how shitty you feel, and you push ahead. Character is resilience.

And that is the meaning of life.

Shoyn.

I share this with you because this is a special time of year. We are currently commemorating Tisha Ba’Av, the saddest day of the year, outside of April 15. According to tradition, Tisha Ba’Av memorializes many things in Jewish history:

·         The first Bais Hamikdash was destroyed by the Babylonians. And, tragically, Klal Yisrael were not compensated by insurance. (Indeed, it was Prudential - not Yirmiyahu HaNavi - who originated the notion that the destruction on the Temple was an “Act of the Reboinoisheloilum.”

·         The second Bais Hamikdash was destroyed by the Romans. Well... they actually waited for all of the Jewish factions to kill each other within Jerusalem and destroy each other’s food supplies. If Klal Yisroel had only held out for two more months... we could have combined Tisha Ba’Av and Yoim Kippur, and perhaps celebrated Shabbos Nachamu with a “special friend” in the Sukkah…

·         Moishe Rabbeinu broke the Luchois when he saw the Jews worshipping the Eigel HaZahav, the Golden Calf, while eating Chazer sandwiches on bread that was not made from Yishon flour.

·         Apostomos burned the holy Torah. Note: I have absolutely no idea who Apostomus was. If you want more details, go to the Chabad or Aish website, AKA “Persecution.Com”

·         Alan Dershowitz was born, and he would go on to great fame and fortune representing such upstanding citizens as Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, Baruch Lanner, and OJ Simpson. Mi K’Amcha Yisrael?!?!?!

How should we think about a day tinged with national tragedy, especially in a time of relative peace for Klal Yisroel, relative freedom of religion for Klal Yisroel, relative economic stability for Klal Yisroel?

I am writing these words from the Shtetyl in Pittsburgh, having spent Shabbos in the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. It was in Squirrel Hill that a lone gunman walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue on a Shabboskoidesh last October and murdered eleven people during Davening.

Squirrel Hill is a quiet, peaceful, friendly neighborhood, abutting Oakland, home to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Carnegie Mellon University, and several other academic institutions, including several Catholic universities. Many of the Jewish residents of Squirrel Hill are affiliated with the hospital of universities. It was in many ways an Idyllic community, until...

When we think about the tragedies that befell Klal Yisroel which are commemorated by Tisha Ba’Av, it is important to remember that they too followed periods of stability and security for Klal Yisroel.

During the late First Temple period Klal Yisrael experience a renaissance under Yoshiyahu HaMelech, King Josiah, embracing centralized worship in the Bais Hamikdash and incorporating a newly found “lost book of the Toirah”, widely believed by both CHAZAL and secular scholars to be Sefer Devarim. All was well until, a generation later...

During the Mid-Late Second Temple period the Chashmonaim, the Hasmonian Maccabees, wrested independence from the Seleucid Greeks in Syria and the Ptolemaic Greeks in Egypt, and expanded Jewish sovereignty over many parts of the traditional Land of Israel. But factional divisions led to the entrance of the Romans into the territory, the loss of sovereignty, and, eventually, the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash, and, finally, the banishment from Jerusalem and two thousand years of exile.

As Klal Yisroel, we have a rich history of great political, cultural, academic, economic, and societal achievements. Yet... we have suffered persecutions in every corner of the globe. What is the secret to our Jewish survival and, dare I say, success, especially in light of our legacy of tragedy?

Rabboisai, I am reminded of a famous Maiseh Shehoya. The third Bobover Rebbe, Reb Shlomo Halberstam, survived the Shoah after losing his first wife and many of his children to the Nazis – the original White Supremacists. Upon reaching the shores of America, Reb Shlomo set about rebuilding his community… and his own life. Reb Shlomo remarried, and at his second wedding, one of his Chassidim asked him, “Rebbe, how can you dance, after all of the death and horror that brought you to this point?”

Reb Shlomo kept dancing, but leaned his head towards his Chussid’s ear. Answered Reb Shlomo, “You know, you might be right. Maybe I should go back to Poland, cover myself in the ashes of my family, and either wait for them to wake up from the dead, or wait to die in that place. Or, just maybe, I can try to rebuild my life and our Chassidus. What do you think I should do, Schmuck?”

Reb Shlomo’s Chassid paused for a moment, and then offered to sell Reb Shlomo a life insurance policy and an unfiltered cellphone. Reb Shlomo responded by embracing his Chussid and encouraging him to crouch to do the Kazatzkah. Reb Shlomo then tightened his Gartel, but his hands on his hips, and kicked his Chussic skver… errr… square in the Shvatzlach.

Shoyn.

Reb Shlomo knew that the secret to Klal Yisroel’s success is resilience.

Rabboisai, at this time of year we are reminded that even our greatest periods of success can easily transform into painful tragedy. But at the same time, we commemorate these tragedies on very few days of the year. Why is that?

To listen to some of our friends and colleagues, brothers and sisters, one might think that the real Mitzvah is for Klal Yisroel to be in a national state of mourning 365 days a year. We were persecuted. They took turns killing us. They are all against us. None of them are our real friends. Our fate is to suffer -- and suffer we shall every day.

But Tisha Ba’Av is only once a year. Yes, it follows the Three Weeks and the Nine Days, but is one day a year, and is followed six days later by Tu Ba’Av and Shabbos Nachamu, a universal time of new beginnings, and the occasional one night stand. We limit our national mourning to one day a year because Klal Yisroel is founded on resilience, The Toirah commands us to not forget the past, but wants us to focus primarily on the future.

And so Rabboissai, at the end of this long fast, after we eat everything not nailed down to the table, after a period or challenge and disappointment, after a period of pain, we can relax knowing that the worst is behind us, and the best is yet ahead.

Tzom Kal, You Menuval

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Rabbi Pinky Schmeckelstein
Rosheshiva
Yeshivas Chipass Emmess