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Sunday, July 24, 2005

Bein Hametzarim

The stomach churns and growls. The head aches. It's a fast day, the 17th of Tammuz.

This is a date of disasters for the Jewish people, one of them being that on this date the wall around Jerusalem was breached. The destruction of the Temple followed three weeks later on the 9th of Av.

The challenges of life are many, and it is easy to get caught up in them and forget how much we are lacking our holy Temple. Our Rabbis instituted many pracitices that accompany us daily in order to cause us to remember the Temple. Unfortunately, these things become routine and often go unnoticed. When was the last time I looked at the unpainted cubit by cubit square on the wall in my house? How much kavanah did I have when I said "retzeh" this morning?

However, a fast day, when you are denied some of your most basic needs (food and water), is hard to ignore. As the stomach growls and the head aches, we are forced to remember the tragedy of the destruction of the Temple. We are forced to remember the causeless hatred that brought this calamity upon us. It is a day for introspection and teshuvah.

As I gaze upon the Temple Mount, I feel the destruction more keenly. A mosque stands on the site of the Temple. From another mosque on the Temple Mount huge crowds of Muslims regulary hear anti-Jewish incitement. If all this were not enough, our Israeli and ostensively Jewish government is planning to destroy the Jewish communities of Gaza and Northern Samaria. Voices of senseless hatred spew forth from the Israeli media, directed at the settlers and those that support them. Indeed, bein hametzarim. Please G-d, we need a miracle.

6 comments:

Barry Freedman said...

Amen!

Zoe Strickman said...

Ugh, don't remind me. Fasting might be close to over for you guys, but here in America we are just starting the fast, and I had the merit to wake up this morning at 6am.

I hope you don't mind me asking you this, but I was wondering if you would be willing to put a link on your site to mine. My site is seriously lacking in Jewish readership and I could use the increased traffic (and more importantly, the feedback) on topics that I am writing about on the blog, and I don't know how to attract more Jewish readers. I'd appreciate any suggestions you have, and I've enjoyed reading your site since I came onto the blog world in March. Thanks. -Zoe

ifyouwillit... said...

Wishing you a Tzom Kal. Not long left now...!

yaak said...

Nice post.
We do need a miracle.

Anonymous said...

Most worthwhile reading particularly at this time:
http://www.yiddishkeit.org/HTML/Mashiach/MProcess.asp

Cosmic X said...

Barry, Itsnodream, and Yaak:

Thanks.

Zoe,

I'll put in a link bli neder soon. It may get you another hit per month.

Anonymous,

Interesting link!

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