[Avodah] tisha baav is a moed

[Micha Berger]

Someone sent me the following, noted of a talk delivered by Rav Asher
Balanson of Jerusalem. (With an apology about trying to keep their web
presence down to a minimum.) He only added at the end that 9 Av is directly
connected to Yamim Noraim via the shiva denechamta...

-micha

: The Shulchan Aruch says that on Tisha B'Av we do not say Tachanun. The
: reason for this is that the day of Tisha B'Av in the Tanach is referred to
: as a "moed" - literally meaning a holiday - and therefore we don't say
: tachanun just like we don't say it on any other holiday. Now, at first
: glance this would seem to be just a play of words, after all, Tisha B'Av is
: certainly not a holiday nowadays, (even though that at the time of the
: Mashiach it will be one). However, that does not make very much sense.
: Obviously there must be a deeper meaning in this halacha. Let's try to see
: how Rav Wolbe explains it.

: Rav Wolbe quotes R' Yeruchem (from the Mir) who says that even though all
: the other holidays that we celebrate during the Jewish yearly cycle indicate
: how close HaShem is to us, on Tisha B'Av we celebrate "moed shel richuk" a
: holiday which comes to show us how FAR AWAY HaShem is from us. Let's try to
: understand this concept a bit.

: At the time preceding the Churban Beis HaMikdash, Klal Yisroel did not
: really believe that the Beis HaMikdash would be destroyed. Despite the fact
: that Yirmiyahu HaNavi had warned them, they didn't believe him: After all
: there were plenty of Neviei Sheker who were assuring them that they had
: nothing to worry about. Klal Yisroel were more or less convinced that they
: were doing the right thing and that the Beis HaMikdash was not threatened.
: The Navi says to them "How can you say that you have not sinned? Look at
: what you have done". We see from this that the Klal really believed that
: they had not sinned really badly. Maybe they made a few minor mistakes, but
: their overall situation was not too bad. That is what they believed. And
: then, all of a sudden, HaShem does allow the Beis HaMikdash to be destroyed.
: All of a sudden the Klal is faced with the realization that they have been
: sinning very badly; their ways have not been good. To them, Tisha B'Av was
: not just the day that the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, it was the day that
: they were rudely awakened to their true situation.

: While it is not good for a person to commit sins, there is something worse:
: That is a situation where a person commits sins and doesn't realize it. He
: thinks that he is a Tzaddik when he is really a Rasha. That is the worst
: possible situation. For a person who has been convinced that he is doing
: fine and that all is well, the realization that this is not true, while
: certainly very upsetting is also a reason for celebration: At least now he
: knows his true situation; at least now he is no longer fooling himself.

: That is what is meant by a "Moed shel richuk". On Tisha B'Av we celebrate
: the fact that we are no longer able to fool ourselves. We don't have the
: Beis HaMikdash and that is OUR fault. All year long we can walk around
: fooling ourselves that we are more or less Tzaddikim. On Tisha B'Av this is
: no longer true. We must take a good accurate look at ourselves and see the
: truth as it really is.

: This does not apply only to the Klal or only to the Beis HaMikdash. Each and
: every person has this same situation in his own private life: We walk around
: day after day more or less convinced that we are okay as far as Avodas
: HaShem is concerned. Our davening is more or less okay. Our Brachos are more
: or less okay. Our Shmiras HaLashon is more or less okay. However, we must
: take a really good look at ourselves: Our davening is NOT more or less okay
: - it is horrible. Our brachos are NOT more or less okay. Nor is our Shmiras
: HaLashon. We have to take a good look at ourselves and realize what we have
: done to ourselves, how bad the situation really is.

: And, why is this so important? Because, unless you realize that something is
: broken, you don't try to fix it. Unless we realize how bad our sitution is,
: we won't truly try to fix it. It is no wonder that a few short weeks after
: Tisha B'Av begins Chodesh Elul and the preparation for Yomim Noraim. First
: we have to see how far away we really are - moed shel richuk - and then we
: have to see what we can do about fixing the situation and coming closer.