Diver Hitorerut - HaRav Michael Rosensweig | Torah Efrat 2026

Um firstly again postkinvoda as we heard before. So I want to thank the um um Orthodox Union for in Israel for hosting and moatz who morasra um I don't know if we've met before but if we haven't I've certainly heard a lot about him. I know one of my uh prize talidim is associated with the schemstein um who is very dear to me. Um so you know I've heard a lot of wonderful things. Um I'm here really this evening with a little bit of mixed emotions. Um on the one hand inevitably um there's a sense of joy to be here. Uh I look around I see uh good neighbors that I've known for many years literally neighbors and tamidim uh in the crowd who are very dear to me who I cherish relationships um and friends um and of course uh that's a source of joy and of nas but the timing of course and the topic um obviously is one which is mixed with the emotions of aos aus durab We're in a period of we're about in a few days to focus to commemorate the moade of tishabove. It's called the moed lish bakurai. But as we'll discuss very briefly, Khazal understood the word moed um to be taken somewhat literally. It's a kind of a moade. Um and particularly as we are at a time of great difficulty for clal Israel both internally in terms of things happening here in Eris Israel um which are very painful um and especially the danger um from you know from without which has u you know gone on for several years but has not uh been resolved um and leaves us in a state of um anxiety. Tishab this particular year takes on or assumes new proportions. But the Kosovishi is really the nature of tishabove um itself. The assode of this particular moade of Tara really um embeds within it um a sense of national identity as we'll discuss um and the capacity to um feel national identity and a sense of hashkah alluded to a little bit in the dra hakama that we heard a couple of moments ago. um even though it focuses on sara and aos um is also a source of tikva of hope um and really of of unity and that's uh what we would like to discuss a little bit and that forms of the seeds of tikun and of gula as well. It's for that reason that kazal tell us that khisel kio anybody who properly is able to muster proper level of ael of mourning um for yushim for the mikdash exactly what we're involved in right now um is also someone who be zoh veroa bibana and of course the connections to the apex of joy a simka a wedding reflects this dialectic um as well. It's important to know that we are obligated to feel the full uh implications and the full pain of the period in which we find ourselves this moade and at the same time to recognize that the ability to properly internalize a itself um has the capacity to be transformative and to lead us ultimately to a gula and to a sense of sim which is why The sukim and zakaria which speak about all of the different somos um speak about them as ye s and ael on the one hand but at the same time um as days which in the future will be um foundations for yumtove and for simka. So let me begin beginning um those of you who are familiar with me know that a half an hour is quite a challenge um for me in terms of kaimsum I can fill the half an hour it's sometimes a little more difficult to complete the topic but we'll do our best I understand that there is a larger program here u but let me at least try to ground what I want to say in in the mccoros um of kazal so the mission and masaka Brashana very interestingly discusses the issue of Misha says there were six of the months of the year where they would send out messengers to inform the people in the diaspora exactly when Roshesh was. In all cases they were concerned about a particular date that would happen during that month to make sure that there was a precise knowledge of the calendar so that um the particular day would be observed properly alashim the one I skipped is the one I'm interested in because of tishab. So the gamarra was troubled. The gumar says if you're going to send out schlukim to make sure that tishab is observed on the proper day I mean there are several sos that are mentioned in zakaria and have seemingly a parallel status. The mission tinus speaks about these mod these sos rather together. So the lifunami vet why don't they send outlim also in tamos you have shivasamos you have why don't they take the same um you know care to ensure that those days would be observed appropriately according to for I was referring to just a minute ago. There's a certain dialectic in the way that the Na'vi speaks about these days. They're days of their sad days. They commemorate tragic um events in Jewish history. But in the future, they will be transformed into days of Son and Simha. So shalom where there's peace there'll be happy there'll be days shalomar says shalom terrible times dire uh uh events shalom in more neutral times. So if Claius accepted nonetheless to commemorate those days they would fast. But Ratsu Amosan it was up to the Bezden the community of the time when there was neither a time of tragedy nor a time of peace whether or not they would observe these tanos. So the garamar says but if that's the case then tishabove nami we still haven't explained why they would send him out specifically it sounds like tishabove is unique and singular it has a different status than all of the other tomos so the garamar says and this is the key line shiny tishabove hilubos tishabove is unique tishabove is different because halubo tauros it was a double or magnified is a better way to say it. A magnified um sarisha both mdash were destroyed on tishab and not only that but venil. So since there were multiple and very intense calamities on tishab it is singular it is unique. So the baltosis immediately asks a very pertinent question. Tulsa says, if you look at the the Mishna in the Mishna uh quotes the um five things that happened you know on Tishab but they're also also very calamitous events right actually the Mishna highlights that tamuz and tisha both had five calamities and you'll see they're not small matters I'm not going to translate because we're already running late everybody here is probably very fluent in Hebrew and Then the Mishna continues and says even the mission itself really foreshadows the Gamarra that we spoke of in that it highlights that Tishab is unique because even though five things took place on Yudamuz and five things and the and the Mishna explicitly equates them in that respect. The continuation of the Mishna doesn't zero in on other requirements or an expanded denim of Shivasamos, right? There's no uh tamos. There's no equivalent of tishayamim or or or shakalo or and there's no den post after till the next day of katos. So even the mission and tightness which equates and tishab subtly distinguishes them. Nonetheless, Toss is asking the question. Toss is saying what what do you mean? There are five here, there are five there. What's the difference? Why are we more, you know, focused on in terms of the more than that, the Garash seems to be saying that when it comes to the other, the prevailing conditions, you know, are going to dictate. If it's a time of crisis, then you're obligated to fast. If it's a time of peace, you're not obligated to pass. If it's, you know, neutral, you get to decide. It sounds like tishabove. That's why they send out theim. No matter what the circumstances, you know, until Yamosa Mashiach, until the build rebuilding of the basikdash, Tishab is on the books. No matter what the circumstances and the question is why five calamities, five calamities. So Tossis gives two answers. One is number one answer. It's true that five different calamities took place but and they were terrible things as you s as you heard but nothing compares to the destruction of the Basamed. The Mesa Mikdash is obviously the epicenter of Jewish life. Moreover, it is the you know quintessential uh embodiment of of sanctification of time. The Misha says there are 10 kadush and of course you know the number one kadushes where the you know would be everything radiates out of that and is part of the mikdash the 10th or the 11th depending on the different iss to say the fact that it's in Mishna in Caleb shows even that aspect even the aristo aspect radiates out of the connection between it and the basikt. So on one level qualitatively the destruction of the basikdash is unparalleled. It is a national calamity which has no analogy and therefore it has a special status. There's an interesting second answer in Tossis which is the other thing that's unique about tishabove is the same event repeated itself to B mikdash and what Toss clearly had in mind both cases is not that tishabove was worse tishabove is even more you know a basis of despair obviously what the what the Balitosis were trying to say in terms of the nonparel status of a kurban or the focus on a particular date in the calendar which is a anniversary of a double tra or the same tragedy that repeats itself. What baltos was trying to say was that tishabove is a qualitatively different. It's a different kind of tome and that of course would also explain the Mishnant tinus which even as it equates them differentiates them in this significant way. There's a preamble. There's a preparation for tishab which is what we're doing right now of tishab audas. There are denim that are unique on tishab. You can look at the ram. You could look at the tour and shukar. All this is highlighted as well. What what is the idea here? The ritvah if I had time I would read it because it's a fascinating piece. The ritashana on the one hand narrows the gap between tishab and the others. The Ritva couldn't abide the simple reading of the Gabbara which is that there are years in which Clausro could choose not to commemorate Shivasamos um Assar Betavves to Gdalia. Uh the Ritva said Latinu we never found that they were care you know the observance of those days even in neutral times. what he meant to he says however the difference between tishabove and the other toos is that even though they were always all applicable the status of the to as a tinist seabore with everything hakically that goes with it which I'm not going to elaborate right now but it's a more expansive kind of a tinus it begins at night it has other isurum as we're familiar with when it comes to tishab a tinus seabore is qualitatively different than a tinus this and the idea says all the somos are publicly um commemorated but essentially in their character bismanu they're treated as a tinus shy but tishabove is inherently a tinus so that's a third distinction in addition to the ones that are cited by all of which are intended to show a qualitative difference between tishabove and the other Somos and the question of course is you know what is the bigger idea here but if we look at several gamaras it becomes clear that there is at least a double status to tishabove the other toos are fast days and again we don't have so much time so I want to cut to some of the chase at least the rambom in the beginning of hl's tinness and again in parake hook's tinus explains that every tiny is based on the obligation to do chuva. The Ramom calls a tiny atom a an opportunity of dark hatch. The Ram says basically when you commemorate a fast day, it's not an anniversary. You're not really mourning or desparing about what happened in the past. What you're doing is you're looking to the past in order to be inspired to understand, to contemplate, to reflect what could happen if you don't address your current behavior. According to the Rambam, it's a bit of a kesh. Theam Sophair in several chuvas actually addresses this of the Rambam where he got it from. But the Rambamita in throughout Tinus is that every tiny is really focused on the present and the future. It is essentially um a call to Chuva. The fact that Tishabove is a tiny is clear that the Mishna talks about it in terms of the others we just read at the Mishna and Tus the Gabara compares them Zakaria compare them as well. But there's another aspect of tishab which we don't have in other and that's the theme of of mourning the inus which is a problem because that's not a typical of that's part of the issue but also lanos. All of the or parallel to many of the denim of aos for yed apply on tishab the gara in on the one hand compares tishabove to yam kipper that's also an important theme and at the same time speaks about anybody who doesn't properly observe the aus of tishov same gamarra as somebody again who you know will be exclus excluded from the future. Gaul knows the garra conflates a veos and the tinus aspect of tisha. A veos is typically about the past. It's about mourning and feeling in the present the absence of a powerful force in your life. Usually personal avail who's no longer there and you're nostalgic. you're you're reeling, you know, about the relationship that existed in the past that doesn't exist in the present. It's not mid hatchua. The concept of tinus as the raom understands it and the notion of aos are totally different ideas and in some respects at least in direction they are opposites. One is present and future oriented while the other is very much inconstanced in the past in reconciling the pain of the past in order to be able to move forward into the future and the kusha grizzam I don't have time to develop this revel suggests that um that is what makes tishab unique the fact that there are two completely different dinim and he kadaro charts the alah implications of this. There's an availance aspect, there's a kindness aspect, etc. But if you ask me, in addition to all of that, there's also the crossover. I alluded to it a moment ago. Tishabove is not just a veus and a tinyus. It's a tiny of ais and it's an aos which is marked through. In the list of aos issues that we speak of in tishab the garra includes akila normally are not part of a typical ais rashi in actually says it's a wrong deer so you should take out the words ailia but if you look at and the riff and the raam they have as the garra has a garamos on And Gimlase discusses some discrepancies between regular ais and the ais of tisha. And the way that the garra characterizes it is the garam says in a regular veilis we're talking about a kadasha aos we're dealing with a personal individual new aail something that just happened. You're raw from it and you're reeling from it. Khan when you're talking about tishabove you're talking about aus yashana something happened thousands of years ago right and a dab not a personal loss but a loss that is shared by cl Israel if you look at rashiantosis we're not going to do that specifically now they discuss some of the discrepancies baltosis point out and kras if you want to know like which is more lenient or which is more stringent the ais of tishab ais to avail or a vehisa. The answer is it's not so simple. They're different. They're fundamentally different. The idea that a t which looks forward and an ais which looks backwards can converge and the idea that there can even be an ais and a veist at seabore is the kdesh of tishabove. Indeed, I mentioned before the sukim and aha speak about tishabove as a moade. Moade indeed bakurai a terrifying moade but a moed nonetheless. Kazal understood that because tish is a mo there's noon and there's no tishabove or nokas theamuva suggests that even if a person is not fasting on tishabove say a and he can't fast tells a story of himself he says one year he was ill and he had to break his fast and he started wondering or worrying a little bit o what if they call me up you know, can I take the aliyah or not? This is an issue that speaks about about yam kipper and others. Um, if you're not fasting on a fast day, can you get an aliyah? Can you get an aliyah atal or not? So Sam Sofur very fascinating says that in his opinion you know whatever the the whatever the halak is in general about that issue he says when it comes to tishab which kazal took seriously the language of a moade theatra for shak and for mka he says is like a ma of oay he said it would be comparable to let's say somebody had a kindness on shabas so you had to fast because it was uh tinus shalom was an emergency. So you wouldn't be able to give him an aliyah for shabas. It's a strange comparison but the the point is that he's comparing the crea of mena for tishabove which is connected to the ts as if it is almost like the crea of a and therefore it doesn't matter says whether you're fasting or not. There's a debate among the postkim. If a person is ill and he has to eat on tishabove, should he say nahim in his bench? I mean he's not fasting. That's the whole point. Comparable to the question about yam kipper. If you're fast, if you're not fasting on yum kipper, right? Should you say yo there was a minus that they used to say in every single of tishab not just in min meaning there's a lot of evidence that we treat tishabove not merely as a to but as a moade we treat it as a an unhappy a sad moade but a moade nonetheless and therefore we don't say takun and therefore we treat the creassan tora differently etc and the question is why well While some of explain that's because the sukim zakaria say that in the future this is going to be uh uh you know a a yuma maybe even the day of uh the bringing of the msiach. However, others explain or sort of hint at the idea that I'm suggesting which is it does in the end of the day it's a moade and a moade doesn't have taken and a moade has a ka and a moade um in the end of the day is is an anniversary which highlights the importance of what it is that you are commemorating. I have to wrap it up. So let let me say the following the concept of a Sha and a dab itself is extremely challenging. How do you get educationally? It's challenging. Personally, it's challenging. Something that happened so many years ago, we go through it every year. Young people, you know, we show them pictures of the Ba Mikdash. We heard before, you know, all of the, you know, activism, you know, we hope, we believe, you know, that we're on the cusp of of great things, but in the end of the day, we're still talking about a collective ais. And we're talking about something that happened many years ago. very difficult to compare that to a kadasha and a which is why there are in the however the of and the reason that there's preparation and the reason that it's so critical that even in neutral times we treat it as a tinist seabore and all of the other humr of tishab is because tishab is a symbol of hashkah and of the identification with theore and with the history of theorem Rashi tells us this is our became our practice that on tishabove the minis to speak not only about the but all the other calamities of Jewish history as well. I remember when um Minakim Dean when he was prime minister of Israel came you know to New York one time and he went to visit the Rav Zatsal in his apartment in in the yeshiva and uh discussed with him the possibility you know of moving Yoma shawat to tishab which they didn't do in the end although the ro was for it but based on this principle uh which is mentioned in the keynotes and rashi and dbra yamim tishabove is not just a calamitous day. It's a day which highlights the collective identity of Kal Israel and which encourages the capacity of each and every Jew no matter how far removed historically from the event no matter what our own personal situation is for at least one day or at least in the preparation period of nine days to put Clius's future past and present as the most important, the most indispensable fact, the ability to take tishabove and to treat it and really experiencing it as a aoshana and a veos durabin makes tishabub a moed a moed lishbar bakaray but one which holds the which also holds the glimmer of hope because if we can unite and we can actually experience the hashkaha the divine providence in Jewish history. And if we can see ourselves collectively as one despite all of our differences, then indeed we have planted the seeds of the gahula as well. So while tishabove is a day in which we have to work hard in a way to feel the fullness of the tragedy, there is tikva in the fact that that capacity itself is really something which you unifies and ultimately therefore plants the seed of negating and neutralizing the tragedy as well. Kihi, thank you.