“I hate my world”, she insisted, her graying arms waving obsessively. “Everything about it is depressing. The longer I’m around, the older and crankier it means that the world is getting!” “
At some point all of us have experienced the pain of rejection, whether it was social, professional or personal. None of us likes the feeling of being considered inferior, unloved, unwanted or unvalued. MRIs have shown that social rejection activates the same areas in the brain as physical pain.
ל. קטעים משיחות ש”פ בלק, י”ז (טוב) תמוז תנש”א (3) 30. Tammuz 17, 5751 − June 29, 1991 (3)
When I met with Yochai Shamron it was nearly midnight. We were both after a long day’s work, and we wanted to get it done as quickly as possible. “Here take it; before we even start talking, first take a look,” he said to me as he pulled out a set of 3D goggles and a pair of large headphones, and began to fix them to my head. “Just hang on to the chair and don’t let go, so that you don’t get lost on me.”
It is not correct to say that the thought of redemption in the time of exile is a dream, but the exact opposite: when we think about exile – that is the dream! * It is specifically when one accepts the illusion of exile, that it is a dream; it is only during the (dream of) exile that one fools himself into thinking that it is reality
This Shabbos, Parshas Pinchas, is the first Shabbos of the Three Weeks. During this time we focus on the Beis HaMikdash. The Rebbe writes in HaYom Yom (21 Tammuz): “It is written: ‘They shall make Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell among them’ — that is, within each and every Jew. For the innermost point of every Jewish heart is a Sanctuary in which G-d can abide. Now, the site of the Beis HaMikdash remains sacred even in the period of exile and desolation. As is written in Shmos Rabba, Chapter 2, ‘Rav Acha declared: The Divine Presence will never depart from the Western Wall.’ The desolation relates to the buildings alone.
One of the most popular speakers on the topic of the Beis HaMikdash is R’ Mordechai Persoff, director of the Midrasha L’Yeda HaMikdash, or as it is known in English, the Mikdash Educational Center. * For twenty-five years he has been making all aspects of the Mikdash accessible to the public. He has many stories that show the deep connection we have to the Mikdash, and that includes those who are not yet religious. * For the month of Av and all year round
The lively and cheerful music stopped with an abrupt, sharp bang on the drum. Dancers took the moment to chat amiably. Dina stood in the now broken circle, watching her former classmate Chava laugh heartily. With a tug at her heart she recalled miserably that that ’s how it had always been. Chava. Popular Chava. The heart of the party, charming, fun, well-liked Chava
For some people, yearning for the third Beis HaMikdash did not remain in the realm of emotional longing but drove them to undertake personal projects to create models of the Beis HaMikdash. Dozens of these models have been made over the years and have inspired countless Jews. * During the Three Weeks, as we learn the Hilchos Beis HaBechira, as Chazal say, “Whoever delves into the laws of the Bayis is considered as though he built it,” we take a look at the stories behind many of the models that were made of the Beis HaMikdash. * Part 1 of 2
The message conveyed here about the redemption is (not about the correction for the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and exile per se, but) about the special quality and perfection of the redemption unto itself, the redemption in its purity. * From Chapter Six of Rabbi Shloma Majeski’s Likkutei Mekoros (Underlined text is the compiler’s emphasis.)
Tziporah Piltz is a tour guide and master educator who lives and breathes the Hilchos Beis HaBechira not only during the Three Weeks. Her home is on the Mt of Olives, but she is eagerly awaiting the day that the earth will split beneath her (a Messianic prophecy). Although she makes her home on a holy mountain, her true yearnings are focused on the neighboring mountain where we will soon see our true home rebuilt on the other side of the Kosel.
When one considers the truthfulness and majesty of what was once there upon the Temple Mount, how can one look at the pathetic, crumbling segment of a haphazardly reconstructed retaining wall that remains and feel inspired? Then I came to appreciate that it is not the Wall that makes the sanctity of the place. It is the energy of the people who come here, the precious souls of all colors who merge together in the fading twilight and become one, embracing the oneness and each other, if even for a brief momentary taste of what could be, of what must be.
During these days of Bein HaMeitzarim, at all the special shiurim about the Beis HaMikdash that I attended, after a description of the avoda of the Kohanim which was accompanied by the singing of the Levites I took out a fifty shekel bill and read what it says on it. It’s Agnon’s Chassidishe dream…
August 1, 2019