Tears and Torah for Tisha B’Av

Posted on | July 16, 2007 | By Guest Contributor | 1 Comment

My soul shall weep in secrecy for you pride (Jeremiah 13:17).

This teaches that G-d has a concealed place called “Mistarem” (secrecy), where He weeps over the pride of Israel that was stripped from them and given to the nations of the World. Some say G-d weeps over the Divine glory which has been concealed from this world.

But how can we say G-d weeps, are we not told that strength and rejoicing are His Presence? (Chronicles I 16:27).

No, this is not a contradiction! On the inside (in secret) G-d weeps; in the outside, He appears to rejoice (Chagigiah 5b).

The Maharal explains that the location of G-d’s secret hideaway is within the soul of every Jew and that the fundamental soul of man cries constantly over the Destruction of the Temple. The average person is not in touch with his inner soul, with his real self, so he is oblivious to this weeping. The average person is aware only of his external facade where everything appears to be fine and growing better with – abundant strength and rejoicing. (From the Art Scroll Tisha B’Av Service.

Many of us have trouble with tears on Tisha B’Av. Rabbi Dovid Schwartz has provided us with an mp3 file, where he goes through many of the kinnos of Tisha B’Av in order to give us a deeper understanding and help us get closer to the tears needed for redemption.

The audio file can be listened to on Tisha B’Av since a person is allowed to learn explanations of the Kinnos, even though there is a general prohibition against learning Torah on this day. If one is able, it’s probably best to prepare before hand and listen to the audio this week.

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