By Chanita Teitz
I am writing this a week before Tishah B’Av but I’ve been thinking about this article since we bentched Rosh Chodesh Av last week. Av is my month. I was born on Tishah B’Av, in Israel during the early years of the medinah. My children and grandchildren have heard me tell them how my father took a gun with him when he drove my mother to the hospital, since the roads in those days went right past or through Arab villages.
I was born on a hot summer day in the middle of the fast in a country that was just getting on its feet, rejuvenating and rebuilding. We’ve both come a long way—hopefully now in the prime of our lives—me and my homeland.
Being that my birthday is on the saddest day of the Jewish calendar and we are fasting, I never had a real celebration on my birthday. I always had to wait for after the fast. I got to thinking whether there is some significance to fasting on your birthday.
We think of a birthday as a happy and exciting time, and that is the way it should be for young children. But as we reach adulthood, we should begin to understand that a birthday is more than just cake and ice cream, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, and presents. Our birthdays give us a unique opportunity to contemplate the past year, our past deeds and accomplishments, and look ahead with gratitude and thanks to Hashem for another year of health and with the hope that all our dreams come true.
For me, my birthday is always synonymous with the Beis HaMikdash, the day when the regal majesty of the Jewish nation fell. We live today in an imperiled world surrounded by enemies who want to destroy not only our buildings, but us as well—kill all the Jews and take Israel for themselves. What nonsense. For 2,000 years, foreign rulers did nothing with Eretz Yisrael but destroy and try to erase any evidence of Jewish history. While we build and get flak for it, they destroyed and didn’t even get a slap on the wrist.
When I read Eichah, I picture the scenes of Yerushalayim at the time of the Churban, with people running and screaming, children crying, the hunger, the horror, the flames. When I am in Israel walking through the narrow cobblestone streets of the Old City, I picture these scenes again and again. It isn’t hard to use your imagination. Just think of the ghettos and concentration camps of Europe, just think of the siege of Yerushalayim in 1948 or the relentless missiles from Gaza last summer with people running for their lives. Remember the years of intifada with buses blown up and bodies strewn all around. If only we would stop to think about these images, our fast would have more meaning and we would cry out for Hashem’s rachamim.
Make the Nine Days meaningful. This isn’t a time for gastronomical adventures in new dairy recipes. We don’t eat meat, because meat is a symbol of wealth, joy, and simcha. Meat sets a regal table. Our tables are missing something that all the gourmet milchig dishes can’t replace even with the finest linen, china, crystal, and silver. And sadly, we are missing this all the time, not just during the Nine Days, which is why at a wedding, we break a glass to remember that something in our lives was shattered and is missing.
Someday soon, G‑d willing, I will get my birthday celebration on the actual day of my birth, together with all of you, all of KlalYisrael, dancing in Yerushalayim when Mashiach comes and the BeisHaMikdash is rebuilt. In the meantime, have a meaningful fast and connect your soul to the soul of the Jewish people. May the majestic palace of the King rise up again speedily in our days.
Chazaq Lecture
With R’ Yossi Zakutinsky
By Esther Harris
On Thursday night, July 9, Chazaq hosted renowned lecturer R’ Yossi Zakutinsky at Congregation Beit Eliyahu in Fresh Meadows. The rabbi spoke to the crowd about inspiration for the Three Weeks.
Yaniv Meirov, operations manager at Chazaq, started off the night by introducing R’ Zakutinsky. R’ Zakutinsky then took the stage and spoke about the important lesson of turning bitterness into sweetness and darkness into light. He stated that according to the Torah, Hashem taught Moshe that while praying, turn what is bitter into sweet because this is the purpose of humans on earth.
He recounted a story about Eliyahu HaNavi. Eliyahu was depicted as having a bright smile on his face. He was smiling because there was a simple family in the town that replied to the question of “How are you?” with a straightforward, “BaruchHashem.” Even when things weren’t always going well and life was tough, they kept a positive attitude, and this is what makes Hashem happy. These simple Jews are turning darkness into light.
R’ Zakutinsky then spoke about how to find light in our sins. It is well known that the second BeisHaMikdash was destroyed because of sinaschinam, or senseless hate among Jews. According to the Maharal, this quality is against the nature of the Jewish people. Their nature is to be united and to stay as one, emulating Hashem’s quality of oneness. R’ Zakutinsky continued by saying that this senseless hate emerges when a person is angry on the inside. Usually the greatest people with the most potential are the ones who are angry because they are always striving for more and want to get closer to Hashem. They can only be at peace when they reach Hashem, but He is out of their reach.
By understanding where this anger is coming from, we can channel our yearning for something greater in a positive way. Eventually, Mashiach will come, but before he comes, we must find happiness by teaching ourselves how to enter the world of being joyful. For now we have to occupy ourselves by finding Hashem’s presence in everything we do.
Holocaust Lessons
For Today From
Rabbi Shmuel Klein
By Chaim Alper
It’s been 70 years since the rampage of the Nazis ended. We are increasingly looking ahead instead of looking back. But on Sunday, July 19, the Chazaq organization, in conjunction with Beit Gavriel in Forest Hills, hosted the renowned Rabbi Shmuel Klein to illuminate an important lesson for us.
He started by asking why we really try to remember the Holocaust. Is it to know the potential evil in humanity? He dismissed that, because we don’t need to look back 70 years to see that truth—we need just look to ISIS, an archetype of human savagery.
So why do we bother reminding ourselves of the Nazi regime’s crimes? Rabbi Klein recounted several stories that showcased the iron will that so many Jews possessed in the midst of the concentration camps. In one scenario, a German officer caught them but upon seeing their unbroken commitment and belief in their faith, he concluded that not even the Führer himself could ever destroy the Jewish nation.
He also mentioned the strong commitment of the survivors of the camps who came to North America, after so narrowly escaping death, and still found the motivation to fight for their children to get a Jewish education above all else.
It’s in the darkness that a candle shines brightest; in the unending suffering and evil of the Holocaust, the victims saw the true potential in all of us. They could see that the times of strife can truly bring out the best in us.
The real goal for us should be to find that inspiration and motivation without having to be subjected to their experiences, seeing how fortunate we are to be alive and well, while having the wonderful opportunity to serve G‑d in peace.
As another lesson, Rabbi Klein spoke about “the calm before the storm.” Germany, Spain, and so many other nations gave the Jews a golden era of peace and prosperity before exiling or exterminating us. No matter how comfortable and fortunate we are to live in the U.S., we must always know that we are still in exile, and we can never really be sure how long a calm will last and whether there is a storm coming.
Rabbi Klein mentioned that many rabbanim have called America the land of kindness; for a time, it was the only place where Jews could feel safer than they ever did in Europe. It was and is the place that fed the amazing comeback of Torah from the destruction of the yeshivos in Poland, Lithuania, and many other countries in Europe.
But Rabbi Klein also recounted that when the Nazi leaders set the plan to exterminate the Jews and other minorities for good, there were plenty of highborn and well-educated men involved in the decision; yet they overwhelmingly decided to go through with their barbaric plan. It goes to show how even at the height of civilization, there are always people willing to go to extremes to slaughter us.
We are here now, and we remember the Holocaust to remember these lessons. The lesson of our great potential, shown in the midst of the horrors of the camps, just waiting to be given a chance, and the rival potential of humanity to commit to evil despite all of the sophistication.
May we understand these lessons and merit the coming of Mashiach speedily in our days.
Upcoming Events
Free Weekly Summer Shiur for Women. Rabbi Zvi Lew, popular limudeikodesh educator, will deliver a new weekly summer shiur for women on various interesting topics in halachah and hashkafah for eight consecutive Tuesdays, June 30–August 18, 8:30 p.m. This free lecture series is open to all women and is held at Congregation Etz Chaim of Kew Gardens Hills, 147-19 73rd Avenue. For more information, call 718-575-0594.
‘A Woman’s Ticket To Eternity: Hidden strengths within you that you didn’t know you had.’ Mrs. Chana Silver will speak Wednesday, August 5 for Chazaq in conjunction with Beth Gavriel Center, 66-35 108th Street in Forest Hills. Refreshments at 8:15, lecture at 8:30. For women only.
The Women’s Amen Group of Queens Presents Rabbi Daniel Glatstein,marad’asra of Congregation Toras Emes and esteemed lecturer on torahanytime.com. Rosh Chodesh Elul Sunday, August 16, Young Israel of Hillcrest 169-07 Jewel Avenue in Flushing. Birchos HaShachar at 8:15 a.m., lecture at 9:30 a.m., berachah party to follow. For more information, call 347-453-2539
Chanita Teitz is a real-estate broker at Astor Brokerage in Kew Gardens Hills, serving the entire Queens vicinity. For all your real-estate needs, call her at 718-263-4500 or e-mail chanita@astorbrokerage.com.