Tisha B'Av Collection: Key Insights from Four TMC Talks

How do we authentically mourn something we've never seen or experienced? The destruction of the Temple presents a unique spiritual challenge—connecting to a loss that occurred thousands of years before our time.

This profound question leads us on a journey through Jewish wisdom about making the intangible tangible. Drawing from the teachings of Rav Reuven Leuchter and the Alter of Kelm, we discover how imagination serves as our bridge to the past. Just as Moshe Rabbeinu physically shouldered burdens to understand his people's suffering, our Tisha B'Av practices—sitting on the floor, chanting lamentations, fasting—create a tangible environment that activates our spiritual imagination.

The concept of proximity (kiruv) emerges as central to understanding what was lost. The Temple represented the ultimate closeness with the Divine, a place where heaven and earth met. Its courtyard (azara) draws from the same root as "help" (ezer), revealing its purpose as the place that helped our prayers ascend. King Solomon's dedication prayer emphasizes this role—the Temple was fundamentally a house of prayer, the gateway through which all spiritual communication flowed.

The heartbreaking story of Leiby Kletzky, who took a wrong turn with tragic consequences, serves as a powerful metaphor. Just as his father cried out "Leiby, turn!" while watching security footage too late to help, so too does our tradition call for us to turn—to do teshuvah (repentance). The destruction came from baseless hatred and self-centeredness; rebuilding begins with turning toward what truly matters.

Whether you're deeply connected to Jewish tradition or exploring these concepts for the first time, this exploration offers practical wisdom for connecting to our collective past and finding meaning in ancient grief. Through strengthened prayer, imagination, and genuine empathy, we might help bring about the rebuilding we've awaited for so long.

Chapters

• 0:00 Authentic Mourning for the Temple
• 3:25 Moshe Rabbeinu's Empathy Lesson
• 5:40 Historical Memory in Jewish Tradition
• 8:25 The Power of Divine Proximity
• 13:07 The Temple as House of Prayer
• 17:48 The Tragedy of Leiby Kletzky

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

how do we cry authentic tears and mourn the loss of a holy temple in which we never witnessed it in its glory? How can we sit on the floor and commiserate with the pain of the almighty and all that we have lost, if we've never seen the base have a hero within its grandeur, we've never been able to see the kohan mula vi and bes Mulezimram? How do we connect with something, seemingly, that feels so untouchable? Step one it's already important. I'd imagine I heard this from a great person. That person should know that it is very hard and a little bit of pressure should be put. It is important, but it is very hard. So to feel inadequate, it's just too hard to therefore feel despondent. That is neither the right of Oida and perhaps should most definitely be refrained from. However, with that being said, any step forward in the connection to what we have lost is probably very valuable in the eyes of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And here's one approach Now to really kick this idea off the great Reb Reuven Leuchter, the main disciple from Reb Shlomo Vol Volba, the great Mashiach. He told us that, truthfully, there are countless structures and ideas in that we are asked to connect to that we cannot touch. How many times are we told to get into our souls? You can't touch the neshama. You're supposed to connect with the creator of the world. You can't see him or feel him in a very corporeal, practical way. It takes work, and this is the job of the world. You can't see him or feel him in a very corporeal, practical way. It takes work, and this is the job of a Jew, to make spiritual concepts and that world into a practical reality. So with this idea, maybe it'll add some fuel to the fight to help us really get and visualize the Besam Migdash and all that it was. One approach comes from the great altar of Kelm, reb Simcha Zisal Ziv, whose yard site actually is today. Rebbe Ruchem would talk ceaselessly about this idea. The altar of Kelm told us that Moshe Rabbeinu, the quintessential Jewish leader, showed one very strong midah in his climb to greatness. And that small part of the story that we are privy to in Moshe's upbringing Moshe Rabbeinu, growing up in Pharaoh's house, sees up in Pharaoh's house. He sees the Hebrews outside schlepping packages says the verse that Moshe Rabbeinu he felt very connected to their struggles. He went outside and he saw their pain. He was Nosei Be'oil Chavira. He put their packages on his back. He felt their pain, he felt their anguish, and the Medrash says quite literally that, moshe Rabbeinu, he actually went outside and to get into their shoes and to feel his fellow's pain, he picked up a package, put it on his back and started to schlep so that he could practically and tangibly feel the pain.

Speaker 1: 2:30

The job of a person to make the imaginative, the dim yon, the concepts that we cannot see into our reality is a job that is all-encompassing, avodah in the life of a Jew. So perhaps the reason that we sit on the floor on Tisha B'Av, mourning, growing our beards, eating ashes and eggs, singing Eicha in a very somber tune all to set the mood, using items to make it practical. So we should strive to be present to these actions, to let this set the mood, because there's an unbelievable and majestic gift that the Almighty gave us, called imagination, and you can literally live in a world, and 2023 testifies to this. You could live in a world that is totally fake, but in this case, you can recreate the life of Avram, yitzchak and Yaakov and recreate in your mind the holy harabayis and what it stood for To be nice to Obeah Haveru. Sometimes it even means to do something practical, to fear the ill pain, to feel their pain. Bring packages on your back, like Moshe Rabbeinu, to feel Hashem's pain, this Tisha B'Av, and to understand what we have lost, be present and privy to all that we are doing To set the mood and the tone and, as that parochas is taking down from the Yaron Kodesh, then see it and then feel it and then imagine it and then visualize it and make these, these imaginative, superhuman, supernatural, celestial concepts of Ruchnius as practical as we can through this amazing koyach called imagination.

Speaker 1: 4:00

Ask even the wisest of all American historians for the exact date that the British burned down the US Capitol in the War of 1812. I don't imagine they'd be able to tell you the exact date. Ask them, ask anyone. Ask the most wise and enlightened scholars for the day that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, and I don't know if they'd be able to tell you the answer. But ask when you walk into any first grade or preschool classroom at Kloros, the Globe. Ask any preschool Jewish child when was Hashem's house destroyed? And he will tell you. Well, the base hamikdashes. Both of them were destroyed on Tisha of the 9th of Av. It is so baked into our Jewish society, it is so critical that we get a feeling for what we had, how great it was, and now how bereft, how empty we are. And perhaps in that spot is where we will feel a bit of connection to what we have lost, how different things are to really be. Mis'abel al-khurban, biased this year.

Speaker 1: 5:17

Reb Yerucham tells us that if you read Rashi critically, by the story of the accidental murderer, the unpremeditated manslaughter, the man who must flee to the Are Miklat, what is the reason that he's sent away to hide in the Are Miklat? It's very interesting. We spoke about this. Listen to what Rashi says Leave, go to the Are Miklat until the Kohen Gadol dies. Why? Because you try to shorten the lives of people and the Kohen Gadol tries to lengthen the lives of people. Therefore, ain't no kid die. It is not fitting, it is not proper, sheeheh lifnei Kohen Gadol. It's not proper that you should be in front of the Kohen Gadol, not even in the same proximity. The Kohen Gadol can't even see you, so you're banished. Unbelievable. It's not to save this accidental murderer from the Goel Hadam, no, he can't even be in the proximity of Kedusha. There's something called kuv and Richuk Closeness and distance. And Rabbi Ruchem told us that. We know.

Speaker 1: 6:30

We say in Eicha that that the he calls this a meeting, a gathering, a va'ad. Tisha B'Av is a holiday. It's a coming together of lishbor bachorah. It's a holiday of distancing, a longing for Hashem, hashem longing for His people and wanting the house to be there so we could come together again. This guy, this individual, must be banished. He can't have proximity. What the Beis Hamikdash stood for was a house of kirov, of intimacy, of connection, of divakos. It was all there for us to be in such closeness with Hashem. It's really a deep concept If you think about where the Gemara tells us that you'll find Hashem's shechina very, very tangibly.

Speaker 1: 7:23

The Gemara says, not when you're learning or doing a mitzvah, but if you're in the Dalet, amo Shel Halacha, in the eight square cubit feet around of Halacha, study there, in that proximity, in that kirov, that closest Shem, there's where you're going to find the Shechina. It's unbelievable. The Levim weren't even given a portion in the land. They got to be these certain cities that would just be V'hayu, lehi, levim, very, very close to the base of Midas, because the Levites were always to be living with the Almighty in the super sacred, sacrosanct style of life. And the Medrash tells us just be close, I want you near.

Speaker 1: 8:07

It's a deep concept, yet a very, very subtly simple concept In Yiddishkeit. It's about coming closer. The word Teshuvah come near, get close, get cozy. And the Beis Amikdash was the utmost and paramount example of coziness with Hashem. In the same way that if one is in Zohar because of some other happenings or sins, that one must be sent to a Miklat, so too Golis, so too we were sent away Because of the sins. A bit of self-centeredness, therefore. We lost the close intimacy with Hashem. Kirov is what we need. Be Dovah, come close to the Torah, be Oilo Regil to your Night. Seder Chavrusa, move closer to towns of Torah, move closer in with your Rebbe, move closer in with all of the people in the Kedusha. That is basic and simple Kirov, because that is what we are so badly missing. With Tisha B'Av rapidly approaching, it is crucial that we get an understanding and a feeling for what the Beis Hamikdash truly was, what it represents to us, to therefore maybe get a little bit of a time of flavor for what we are sitting on the floor and crying about and crave to be rebuilt so badly.

Speaker 1: 9:48

And when you examine, at the end of Chronicles 2, divrei HaYomim Bez, shlomo HaMelech's tefillah after he put his finishing touches on the Bez HaMikdash. You'll see something interesting that you don't always immediately connect with the Bez HaMikdash. But to begin this idea, let's just jump in with a song. Maybe it'll make it a bit more practical and resonate some more. The Beis HaMikdash, a place that we would bring karbonos to. We want to go up to this holy homestead. Let us rejoice With the Beis HaMikdash was. It was a house of prayer. Let us rejoice Tefillah, but the base that Megdash was. It was a house of prayer, for it was a house, a holy home, a humble abode of a base tefillah. It was a house of tefillah for everyone.

Speaker 1: 10:47

Rashi tells us in Sefer Bereshit that truly above the Beis Hamikdash was the portal, the gateway to heaven, and all of our tefillahs fly to Jerusalem, to the Har Abayas and up into heaven Through that portal and the Red Dock, further delivering this message A beautiful idea I heard from the Red Dock actually says this In his Sefer Hashir Roshim, which, etymologically speaking, gives us the root of each Jewish Hebrew word, biblical words, and Azara, which was the courtyard and the base, unbeknownst to many, actually comes from the word Ezer, to help, to aid to abet, because that was the spot that we could pray and it would enable and help HaKadosh Baruch Hu and help us to be heard, for our Tfilahs to be accepted. Ki Beisi, beis Tfilah is what we are missing. We should cry and we should crave because we need the help in our tefilah. We need the clarity when we go to base hakenesses. What was the harabayis? It was a base tefilah. It was a house of prayer with clarity, with closeness, with divine attributes, in which a private conversation could be had with the Almighty, perhaps the avayda.

Speaker 1: 12:11

The motivation and encouragement today in preparation for Tisha B'Av, is to daven with that much more excitement, hisla avos to try to make up for what we have lost. And until that, har habayis and the beis hamigdash falls from the sky and is rebuilt, b'mheir b'yomenu amayn, let us be mechazik in our tefillah. Come on time. Da'avim pesukei dezimra, with a happiness like we're counting money, and at least pay attention in the first bracha of Shmona Esrei, and with this maybe it will help speed up the process of rebuilding that holy edifice, the base hamigdash.

Speaker 1: 13:06

Today is the very sad day of Tisha B'Av, a day that so many brutal and horrible tragedies have befallen the Jewish people. It's not a day for motivation. It definitely doesn't feel like a day to give motivation, but it's a day to sit on the floor and cry. And if you have nothing to cry about or you don't feel it well, then maybe you haven't heard the following story, and it seems very with the times, is very much what the Kinos are here to do to tell stories, to invoke feelings of destruction and sadness, to cry. How many stories are there of Tanoi and Amoiroim Talmidei Chachomim, our shield bearers, being torn apart and burned in terrible ways? But I warn you, the story will probably make you cry and I feel nauseous as I say it.

Speaker 1: 14:10

It was July 11, 2011, and little Leiby Kletzke was walking home from camp that day. He was in camp in Borough Park. He was walking home from 44th Street, between 12th and 3rd Avenue. It was the first day he was now big enough to walk home by himself. He didn't need to take the bus. He had practiced the route before. He had mastered the way home from camp back to his house. But little Labey Kletzke never got home that day, with panic in their voices mom and dad, rabbi Klepski and Mrs Klepski they phoned the police.

Speaker 1: 14:52

The Shomrim, the South Shomrim division of Borough Park headed the search, along with 5,000 Orthodox Jews searching for little Leiby, with signs all across Borough Park. Has anyone seen this little boy, leiby Kletsky? The search led them to the police department, to where they had located the little boy on the surveillance camera, and they saw that little Leiby was talking to a stranger. A very deranged individual, whose name we will not mention, struck up a conversation with this boy outside of a dentist's office, abducted Leiby, threw him into his Honda Accord and now the search was on for this man and perhaps they can still save Leiby. And now the search was on for this man, and perhaps they can still save Leiby. They went over to the dentist's office. The police department told them who they were looking for, going through the records, discovering who it was, sourcing the address of this individual, the police department. They show up at the house to an open door of this deranged individual and Leiby Kletsky murdered his body, undetectable, dismembered, torn apart by this crazy man, and the news broke that little Levy was no longer with us. But there's something that you should know about the story Before thousands of people showed up at his Leviah when Rabbi Kaletsky, levi Kaletsky's father, showed up at the police department and they were looking at the surveillance camera and they showed on the screen is this your son walking?

Speaker 1: 17:07

Father said yeah, there's my lady. And he was on 44th Street between 12th and 13th and he was supposed to turn on 13th Avenue. And as the father looked at the screen, he saw his little boy walking straight up 44th. He didn't turn on 13th Avenue and the father screamed out Labey, turn. But Labey didn't turn. He kept walking straight and Labey Kletsky murdered on that day.

Speaker 1: 17:57

How many tragedies have befallen the Jewish people?

Speaker 1: 18:02

Who doesn't have some intimate, close connection with a horrible pain that they're going through?

Speaker 1: 18:06

Who doesn't have some intimate, close connection with a horrible pain that they're going through?

Speaker 1: 18:09

Who doesn't have a reason to cry? When we sit on the floor on Tisha B'Av, we cry and we cry because all of the source of this pain, this confusion, comes from the lack of a Besis Hamikdash, the lack of clarity and the Almighty. What does he ask from us? He asks us to turn the Beis Hamikdash destroyed because of baseless and senseless hatred, the base of Migdash destroyed because of baseless and senseless hatred, because we don't give proper chashivas to the Almighty's Torah, because of our sense of self-worth, of how it's all about us and the development of our own indulgences. The Almighty asked that we turn, we repent, that we turn, we repent and we cry Because little Labie didn't turn, and we cry and we hope that the base of my goodness will be built. But until that day, what we can do to rebuild the base of my goodness is to turn, to turn our path, to repent and to do tshuva. We pray that the Almighty should bring the Besamigdash back and that we should know of no further suffering.