A Father Never Stops Searching for His Child | The Three Weeks and Tisha Beav
We currently find ourselves in the midst of the three weeks, the Bain Hamitsaram, which is Hebrew for between the narrow straits. Mitzaram is like mitzraim, Egypt, represents borders, constriction, parameters. And it's a period of three weeks, which is exactly 504 hours. Because if you do 21 days times 24 hours per day, you get to 504. Which I want to get to that number, put it on the back burner, on a low simmer. You know, maybe on a two actually. Put it on a two in the back so it doesn't burn. So it's the period of three weeks, a time period which started on the 17th of Tamuz, when the Jewish people committed the grave sin of the Egel Hazov, the Golden Calf, and it culminating on the 9th of Ov when the Besamingtush was ultimately destroyed. The ninth of Ov represents the day when the Miraglium, the 10 spies, came back to the Jewish people with their evil report, and the Jewish people lost faith and they lost hope, and they cried a Bachia Shel Chinam, a cry for nam. You know, in the Slichos liturgy, in the morning prior services that we recite, one of the things we mention is that along with the breaking of the luchos, which were shattered on the 17th of time, was the beginning of the three weeks, something else happened. Batl Hatamid, the carbon hatumid, the daily offering, which was a carbon that was brought in the morning and at night, representing a constant connection with Hashem. It was a carbon that was brought before Al-Karbon. It was a carbon that was brought at the end, it represented an all-encompassed day of serving Hashem. And Batul Atamid, on the first day of the three weeks, that special carbon, the carbon Hatamid, was Batl, it was nullified, it came to a full stop. But there's a message of the karban Tamid, which is actually discussed. The Tammid is discussed in none other than Parshas Pinchas. And the Torah makes an association, a connection between the karban hatamid, the daily offering and harsinai. The Torah tells us in chapter 28, verse 6, O Las Tamid Ha'asuya Behar Sinai, right? It's the continual elevation offering, the daily offering that was done at Mount Sinai for a satisfying aroma, La Reach nichawach. And there's a law that every single day, even on Shamiz, on Yuntif, right, during the Sabbath and the holidays, there's all there's special carbonos, special offerings that were brought, but always preceding that was the carbon tammud, the daily offering. And the carbon tammid, the Torah describes it as Asuya Bahar Sinai. There's a connection between the carbon tamid and our sinai. What's the connection? So there's a rev, the rev of Nitra. The Rev of Nitra was Rev Rav Shmuel, David, Ungar. And he lived from 1886 to 1945. And he was the Rev and Avbezdin in a town called Nitra, an amazing genius, an amazing Isha Khesr, a man of kindness, an amazing person who was Mosar Nepaj, who dedicated his life for Yiddin, for Tara, and Mitsos, and to teach Torah. And he has a safer called Na'os Dasha. And in that safer, he says an idea. You know, when we do things a lot consistently, often it can be done with rote. It can be done with lack of feelings, right? When we do whatever it is that we're doing, you bought a new car, right? He doesn't say this, but let's say you bought a new car and you're so excited, and it's a fresh car. But the moment you drive it off the lot, guess what? It becomes a used car, it becomes a little bit old, and every single day you start to appreciate it a little bit less. And it's the same thing in our service of God, right? The more times we do something, often it can create feelings of road. And our job is to introduce feelings back into it. Not just to do the motions, but to do it with emotions, right? One of the reasons churban, one of the reasons destruction came was because of a lack of feeling. We were just going through the motions without the emotions. The karban tamit is a prime example of a something that can become rote because it was every single day. But says the Tira, explained by Rev Ungar, there's a connection between the daily offering and harsinai. The Harsinai represents khiddish, it represents newness. There was an offering that was brought right before, when we were by Harsina, right before Matantar, there was that offering that was brought. And that that offering was done with great Islavos, which means a fire, with great energy, with great passion, because it was something new. And if you think about just more generally, Harsini, there was kolos and braking, there was lightning and thunder. It was an experience that was completely new. And the Torah makes an association between the karb and Thomid and Harsina to teach us a lesson that when you are serving Hashem, it needs to be done like harsini. It needs to be done with freshness, with newness, not just going through the motions, but going through it with emotions, not just going through it, but growing through it. And when we learn to do that, then our experience will take on a heightened level of meaning and importance and profundity. But where do we find that, right? We're in this period of darkness. We're in this period of the three weeks. We're in this period, right? We're in a world where which pushes at us agendas and so much misinformation and so much shakar falsehood. And so what are we to do? Where are we to find that light? Where are we to find that? Batl at Tammid, that daily offering of closeness, it's gone. What are we to do? I want to share with you a secret. The actual physical carbon tamid, the daily offering, it's true. It may be batal. We might not be doing it. We're not doing it right now. We don't have a baseline makesh, we're not offering. But there is something inside of us that is Tamid. Torah tells us, Ish, Tummid, Tukad, Alamizbayah, there's a fire, a constant fire that's burning on the temple. And the commentaries explain that it's not just a constant fire that's burning on the temple, but inside and every single Jew. Each and every one of us has in Ish Tamid something burning. A fire, a soul that's on fire, the soul of man, Ner, Hashem, Nishmas Adam, the soul of man is likened to a flame. A flame doesn't stop radiating light. It might be covered, it might be concealed, it might have things on top of it, but inside there's a light, and that light illuminates, that light reflects, that light burns, and that light moves constantly, jumping as a flame does. And our job is to connect to that inner part of us because it exists. There's a story with Ravi Sral Salantar, a great, great Tzadik, and he was walking late at night and it was very, very dark. He was with a bunch of his students, and they saw a little light coming from a little, little home. And he was so curious. It's so late at night. Why is somebody up? And they go knock on the door, and it it was a shoemaker. And they asked the shoemaker, What are you doing? How are you able to be still working at such a late hour in the night? And the shoemaker said something incredible. He said, as long as there's a light that's on, as long as the fire is lit, I could still prepare the shoes. And Ravi Sral Salantar took this as a message for himself and as a message to teach his students and as a message for all of us. And that was this, and I'm going to tell you in Hebrew, Kozaman Shaha Ner Dolek Hsharod Latakhein. As long as the fire is dolak, as long as the fire is lit, it's still possible to continue to fix, whether it's shoes, whether it's yourself. And guess what? There's a secret to this story because the ish Thomid, the soul of a man, that n'er Hashem Nishma Sadam, the soul of a man is something that is a Tumid. It's constant, it doesn't go out. And guess what? The Nair is always lit. Just sometimes it's concealed, sometimes it's covered up. And our job during this time period of the three weeks is to try to uncover that a little bit more, to try to see that that spark exists and to try to fan that flame. And when we do so, it's going to impact our lives tremendously. You know, it's just fascinating to point out that the month of Av is called that. It's called the month of Av. We recite Kinnes. If you rearrange the letters of Kinnes, right, it spells Tinok, a child. It's a month of connection, a month where a son, a child searches for a father, and the father searches for a child and would give up everything for each other. So as much as it's a time period where darkness happened, it's a time period of finding that inner light, that light of connection, that light of our soul, that light where there's av and ben, the father and son, where there's that connection. And we're trying to find that through this period. Yes, it's Bainam, Saram, it's a it's constricted, but on some level, it's it's like a tunnel. It's trying to keep us in line, in focus. We're supposed to focus. There's a father here. We're the son, he's our father, he wants us. Bain kahu bain kah. Whether we've sinned or done the right thing, Hashem calls us children. It's an amazing khizak, it's an amazing inspiration, a boost of strength for us. The Bas Ayan tells us that he was a holy, holy rabbi. The Bas Ayan tells us that what is an apikoris, a heretic? A heretic is someone who believes that God doesn't dwell within him after he sins. That's a heretic. Because Hashem is a father, he's an Aven, we are a Ben, and he loves us no matter what. And it's time for us to start fanning that flame that exists, that is Tummit, that is constant. We have to fan that flame and realize that that flame exists. There is a period of time that we're in called the three weeks, and it can consists of 504 hours. 21 times 24, 21 days times 24 hours is 504. The numerical value, the gumatria of 504, it's darash. The Hebrew word darash means to search. Not only that, but the very middle, the Chatzi Torah Bitevos, the half, the center part of the Torah in words, if you count all the words before, all the words after, the central part is a posuk, a verse in parshes, shmini. And those words are darash, darash. That word darash is the central point, that's the central place of the Torah, darash, to be a seeker, right? A father never stops searching for his son, and a son never stops searching for his father. And that's what we can do during this period of the three weeks is to connect to that light that exists deep inside. I was just recently driving by a street. It was called Lamplighter Court. And I don't know, maybe there was 15 homes or something on that street. It was one street. Every single one of us is a lamplighter, but not just for a single street, it's for a universe. We all have that ability to connect. We have a divine spark within us, and we're meant to fan that. And through this time period of three weeks, let's focus on the Av and on the Ben, on the Father, on the Son. No matter what we've done, no matter what we've been through, we have a connection. Let's fan that connection and make it bigger and greater and make this world brighter and brighter.
