Radiated Pain

Here we are in the infamous Nine Days that precede Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av that commemorates the destruction of our First and Second Holy Temples, we start feeling an inexplicable uneasiness. Any person with the slightest sliver of a soul from Sinai feels uncomfortable and doesn’t realize why. It’s not exactly nausea and not an overt pain like a headache. It’s more like something aching deep down in the inner portals of our hearts.

What is it?

It’s our longing for the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and our lamenting over its destruction. No time soothes this pain.

Why in the heart? Simple – the Holy Temple and unified Jerusalem are the heart of the Jewish people. Let me explain with a parable:

A Ukrainian peasant felt pain in his left arm. He went to his local village doctor, and the doctor gave him an ointment to rub on his arm. The peasant felt better for a day or two, but soon the pain returned even stronger than before. The peasant returned to the local village doctor, who referred him to a big specialist in Kiev. The peasant made the long journey to Kiev, and after much searching, finally located the specialist’s address.

The peasant complained to the specialist about the fierce pain in his arm. The doctor took one look at the arm and told the peasant to take off his shirt. The bewildered peasant asked, “Doctor, why must I remove my shirt if my arm hurts?”

The doctor placed his stethoscope on the peasant’s chest, smiled patiently, and answered, “I must examine your heart. What you feel in your arm is only radiated pain. The root of the pain is in your heart.”

* * *

There isn’t a single one of us who doesn’t have an acute problem that hurts – some have health problems, others have financial difficulties and tremendous challenges at work, many have marital issues, quite a few have grief from their children. Some couples don’t have children at all, and still others long to find their soul-mate and are lonely in the meanwhile. If I haven’t alluded to your particular problem, simply fill in the blank. We all have our ills, whether physical, emotional, spiritual, or interpersonal. Most of us think that an “ointment” of a raise in salary or relief of our localized problem will end our ills. Wrong.

The root of our ills is Jerusalem – the lack of our Holy Temple and the Divine Presence within our midst. Rather than crying out to Hashem, all of us are tacitly agreeing to the dissection and ultimate surrender of Jerusalem, G-d forbid, the heart of the Jewish people.

Alarmed? “Lazer, how can you say such a thing!”

Many of our dear friends in London, Melbourne, Toronto, Miami Beach, Los Angeles, Dallas, Denver, Portland, Chicago, Atlanta and elsewhere – think that Jerusalem is the Israel’s problem alone. That’s not so; it’s just as much your problem too. Even if you’re in Dallas, Texas, or in Hong Kong, you are limbs that extend from the same heart that is known as Yerushalayim and Bet HaMikdash. When we here at the Breslev Israel are crying out for Jerusalem and Mashiach, it’s because our national cure depends on a healthy heart – Jerusalem and the full redemption of our people. With the Divine Presence within our midst, there is a limitless blessing of abundance for health, happiness, and everything we need.

The solution to Jerusalem and our national problems have nothing to do with politics or politicians, nor does military might determine when our Holy Temple will be rebuilt, soon, G-d willing. Emuna takes us way above politics, politicians, and their meaningless declarations. Thank goodness, Hashem decides the fate of nations, not politicians. So, by appealing to Hashem in personal prayer, we actually override the politicians, international pressure and military threats. If someone wants to directly influence current events, let him spend another hour in personal prayer.

With that in mind, what are we going to do about Jerusalem? Rabbi Shalom Arush suggests that each of us devote five to ten minutes of our personal prayer in begging Hashem for the future of undivided Jerusalem. In addition, we can cry our eyes out to Hashem, and between reciting Psalm 137 over and over again, beg Him in personal prayer to rebuild our Holy Temple in Jerusalem and hasten the full redemption of our people, speedily and in our days, amen.