Mourning for Yerushalayim on 3 levels | Rabbi Yossi Goldin | July 7 2026

this shear and our shear in general is sponsored by Hetti and Ben Lipchit. So, thank you to the Lipchitz family for your sponsorship and uh and as always we we dive in that our learning this morning should uh should be a Rafua should be a protection first of all for our should be a rafua and is for all those who continue to be impacted by by the ongoing war and uh and we dive in that hashem should give guidance to all of our leaders and to all of world leaders to make the right decisions hashem. Um what I wanted to do today um was to take a a quick break from some of the learning that we've been doing regarding we did last week we did something connected to Shivas Tamuz and I wanted to talk a little bit today about about the three weeks um and specifically to talk about the various or the multi-tiered model that Khazal have created for how we mourn for. Um, we did do this a few years ago, so I apologize for those of you who have been here a few years ago may remember. Um, if you do, you have a very good memory, but uh, but either way, I think it's very good for us to to go over it because it's really fascinating. And we'll start we'll start with source number one. Verse number one is a is a is a excerpt from the from the says vido mikdash. Okay, that it is appropriate for anyone who is that he should be upset or be bothered by the destruction of the mikdash. This is again remember that the is a and so he's not just giving us a hashkaf an outlook on life but rather he is telling us something practical and the practical thing that is being told to us here is that we are meant to on some level incorporate this concept of not just during the three weeks we're going to talk about the three weeks spec specifically but also throughout the year and that's something that not everyone is fully aware of or we're not fully conscious of which is that we we often talk about mourning the destruction of the beta mdash specifically during the three weeks but there really is an aspect of mourning that we are meant to uh to have and to be thinking about throughout the entire year and what I wanted to do today was to take kind of take a step back and take kind of a global look at the multi-tiered model that kazal have created for how we are meant to approach or how we're meant to commemorate mourn the destruction of beta mikdash not just during the three weeks but also throughout the year and I think what's really fascinating I call it mourning for your shale on three levels past future and present and you'll see what I mean as we go on but what's really incredible is how kazal crafted this multi-tiered way that we are meant to throughout our lives think about the destruction and commemorate the destruction even when we don't always realize it and then intensify that morning specifically during during the three weeks that we find ourselves in today. And there are really four different models or four different tiers for this model of how kazal have encouraged us to think about and to be aware of the destruction of the beta mikdash. And the first is what I call mourning the past. Morning the past is what we know as and there's a there's an that I'd like to I'd like to do with you in source number two that I think really very clearly or really captures in a beautiful way the debate regarding how exactly that the debate that went on in the times of the garra regarding how we are meant to achieve this concept called it's really a fascinating gumar look at source number to when the second mikdash was destroyed. There was a group of people called the pushim. The pushim were people who were the meant to be people who kept the mitzvot in a very very serious and very religious way. And the pushim decided they decided that from now on because of the destruction of the big mikdash they were no longer going to eat meat and no longer going to drink wine at all. Not not just during the nine days, not just during the three weeks. This was they decided that's it. The mdash has been destroyed. We're no longer eating meat, no longer drinking wine turns to them. Why are you not eating meat and why are you not drinking wine? And they responded the following. How could we eat meat? The meat represents for us the on the no longer a misbak. How could we possibly eat meat? How could we drink wine? Wine for us represents the wine libation that was brought with each corban. And how could we drink wine anymore? And therefore, because of that, they said, "We're no longer going to eat wheat meat. We're no longer going to drink wine." Now, listen to Rabbi Aka's fascinating response. Says, "If that's the case, if that's your approach, well, then how far are you going to take this? You shouldn't eat meat. You shouldn't eat bread. So, don't eat bread anymore." They responded, "Ah, but we can still eat fruit." And then he said, "You shouldn't even eat fruit because there's no longer we'll eat other we'll we'll eat other fruit that aren't because the was only for the for the for the meaning we'll eat other fruit." Then he says, "Then don't drink wine because if you're going to take it that far, there's there's sorry water, sorry. There was no there's no long there's no longer any which was the special that was done on on sukus and therefore you shouldn't even drink water. Obviously they could obviously they couldn't respond by saying okay we're not going to drink water. Shutu they got quieten says to them the following I want to tell you a very important secret and a very important balance that's going to be a key to to how craft our own observance. You we can't I can't tell you not to mourn. The concept of not mourning. That's impossible. Of course, we have to mourn. We've had the decree of the mdash has been destroyed. Of course, we have to commemorate it and we have to mourn it. But then he says on the other hand you can't take it too far because if you take it too far there is a rule that we don't put a decree on the community unless it is a decree that the community can stand by. We don't put something that's too hard. So we have to find a balance says Rabos Yeshua Raboshua is turning to these pushes and saying you're taking it too far not to eat meat, not to drink wine. You might as well just stop drinking water. you might as well stop stop eating bread. That's too far. We have to find the right balance. We have to mourn. We have to be sad. We have to certainly have this concept of but we can't go too far because if we go too far then the community won't be able to won't be able to keep it. So rather what should we do? This is what kazal established for us to do. When a person is building a house or repling his house, you leave a certain area what's called we leave and that way you're commemorating the continues the when you're making a meal. When you're making a fancy meal, leave something out. Don't serve everything you were planning on preparing as a way again of continues the we're four lines from the bottom in the Hebrew those who are following along in the English that's also great a woman when she puts on all of her jewelry she should leave something off she shouldn't put on everything again as a way of commemorating continues the later on my what is mean when it says that refers to the ashes that we put on the head of the of the when he gets when he gets married as where do we put it and the answers the answer in the place where where he places his so what what Rabbi Yeshua has outlined for us as a result of this gimmar. Again, I wanted to see this gimmar inside because you see the gum itself captures the conversation that was taking place at the time of the destruction of the how do we commemorate how do we achieve this how do we commemorate the destruction and where some people wanted to take it really far and comes up and says no we can't take it too far because if you take it too far it's going to be too much for the tabore and rather kazal outlined four different ways now again those of you who are thinking wait a second I don't do all four of these this was what was recommended in the garra we're going to see that only two of them are we more mach about nowadays but the four that were that that were chosen war were number one when you build a home leave a certain area number two when you're making a big meal a fancy meal don't serve everything leave some out leave some of the food out and don't serve everything number three when the woman adorns herself in honor of something special she shouldn't put on all of her jewelry I don't know how many women wear all of their jewelry that would be quite a sight but again I think The idea is everyone understand leave something out. Don't put on everything you would have put on again in in in commemoration or memory of the and the fourth was when the katan gets married we put ashes on on the head of the katan. Now why do you think kazal picked these four? What's unique about these four? Excellent. Okay. I think the simple understanding is this is what many rishonin point out that again it's from the imlo right that I have to whenever we're we're at moments of happiness intense happiness you build a home you're making a beautiful meal the woman is getting dressed up in honor of something special the is getting married at those moments I have to remember those are the moments where said we should be taking a moment to remember we should remembering the destruction, taking a moment in order to remember what has happened, remember what has occurred. Now, interestingly enough, yes, please. >> Usually they say when the steps steps on the cup, everybody's going. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. You're you're making you're making a very good point. uh the point that she's pointing out she's pointing out that very often at weddings what one what aside from putting the ashes on the the the the head of the katan the other mug that we do as again is we break a glass and the kassan steps on the glass okay now what's happened is is because that tends to often take place practically that often tends to take place at the very end of the wedding ceremony because it's the last step right after that everyone wishes masleto now the problem is >> why is it not the last Okay, one sec. So, one second. One second. So, again, what's happened is ironically at a moment which is meant to be a moment of sadness. Right after that, everyone yells masletovs just simply because practically that's when the wedding has just ended and now we're going to start celebrating. What some people have done, I think, in order to in order because it sounds a little bit funny that you break the glass and everyone shouts mazletov. It sounds a little bit right a little bit funny. So what some people have done is start to move the breaking of the glass to a little earlier and then they sing mesh or they do something else or they they break the glass in the middle of singing the mesh and that's the reason they do that is again so that you're ending off not with this mazle that's taking place right after but rather mazle after we finish the song. Some people get confused and they sing and they say mazle when you break the glass even in the middle of the song because they think you're supposed to say mazle after you break the glass. That's just confusion. That's just classic uh confusion. But the answer is you are correct. The answer is is that is that really it's just it's just practically how things played out. And that's why some people now will even make an announcement. Please do not say masletov until the remain until the end of the song or please do not say masletov right after wait until we properly mourn and then and then shout mazletov. It's just it's it's just a funny practical thing of how things how things played out. Okay. Now what's interesting that I want to notice here as well is that is that Rabbi Yeshua on the one hand he limits the way that the pushim wanted to commemorate but he also expands a little bit of how they commemorate. Why? Because if you think about it, the pushim the pushim wanted to limit their commemoration of to food comes and says on the one hand, well, how far are you going to take that? If you're going to not eat meat, you're not going to drink wine. You might as well not eat. You might as well not drink water. You might as well not eat bread. But at the same time, he also says, don't think that our commemoration of the beta mikdash is simply limited to food. I mean, we are Jews and we like to eat. That's true. But that's not it's NOT JUST THAT. WE ALSO HAVE to separate. We also have to commemorate the beta the beta mikdash when we build a home. We also have to do it when we make food when we have a suda. We also at a wedding. And so what you're what Rabbi Yeshua has done interestingly enough is he has taken it even as he's limited it in the way and how the pushim were doing it. And we have these four ways that we commemorate or four instances when we commemorate what's known as commemorating the destruction of the of the beta mikdash. Practically, we're not going to get into the conversation today, but practically in terms of nowadays, our general min is to keep two of these minim when they build a home, they do have an area that they leave without plaster, not painted, and that's meant to be or they put up a sign that says, okay, something of that sort. That's again remembering the destruction of midash by not by not totally filling your house, by not finishing your home. And we have the minhug at the wedding to put to put ashes on the head of the katan and to break the glass. Regarding regarding the meal and regarding the the women and the jewelry that I have not seen to be a minhug. I don't know. I wonder if there are communities where there where there is where there is a minhug to do so. Not to either not either not to serve all of the food or not to prepare an elaborate meal or not to wear all of the jewelry that you normally would. I don't know. But I haven't seen them that practically we generally don't have that have that midnight. Yes. What about the salt for >> salt for hamotzi? So salt for hamzoti I understood was more connected to the fact that our table is like a is like a misbeh is like is like an altar and we're and therefore the salt is like the salt on the corban. Yes. >> Yes. >> Oh, I knew that. I knew that. I knew that she did that. I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure why. Thank you. Okay. So, what's her name? I'm sorry. >> Bella. >> Bella. Sabella is pointing out that there is a min that the kala takes off her jewelry before she walks down the aisle and that is also meant to be a commemoration of I did not know that. I knew that she did that but I wasn't sure exactly exactly why. Okay, thank you. But what's very very interesting is that this idea of is really only one again one model that Khazal have created. There is a parallel model also part of our morning for the beta mikdash that is not called but is called zer mikt mikdash is an entire category where we do things not to remember the destruction of the beta mikdash but rather we're doing things to remember the beta mikdash itself to remember the times of the beta mdash to remember the beauty of the beta mikdash to remember what was during those moments of of of beta mikdash. And there are a few different examples of this in the Gar. We'll go through a few of these examples. Again, some of them are a little bit more involved. We'll just try to tease out the most important points so we don't >> I'm sorry. Is one of them, but that's what we do nowadays is is a for the but it's not brought down in the Gumarra. That's more of a min that we have. But yes, but there's a there's a few actual min. >> Excellent. Good. We're going to see those. So look so look at source number three. Source number three, the Gomorrah is discussing exactly that exactly what you just said. What is the mitzvah of mozzy matzah? How should a person eat matzah? And the gummor quotes two opinions how a person is supposed to eat matzah. One opinion is you're supposed to eat the matzah by itself to fulfill the mitzvah of mozzy matzah. And the other opinion was hill's opinion which was which was that you should eat the matzah together with the maror and that and that and and with the maror and also the koset but the kosa is was a min. So says the which one do we do? The answer is we do both. Since we don't know whether the is like or the is like meaning whether we should the matzah by itself or eat the matzah together with with the mar. What do we do? We do both. We make we eat the matzah. And then we eat make a we eat the And then we eat both of them together. But this time we don't see a because the brah we said before is meant to also go on the mikdash says the garra. Why do we do this? We do it as a mikdash a reminder of what was done in the mikdash. So here you have an example of where we're doing something to remind ourselves of what was to remind ourselves of the beauty of what was during the times of the beta mikdash. And there are a few other examples. The next is most people most people don't know this but the fact that we take that we actually do the lula we take the lulah of all seven days of sukus that itself is is only mikdash. It used to be in the times of the beta mikdash that only that we only took the lulv on the first day and only in did they take lul all seven days. Look at the look at the garra source number four. It's a mishna. Initially the lulv was taken in the beta mikdash or inim according to some opinions all seven days and outside of it was only taken on the first day of mikdash mikdash was destroyed made that nowadays even Outside of we take of all seven days again to remind us of what was done in the beta mikdash. Source number source number five. A third example. This has to do with Abay says the following. There is a mitzvah for us to count not only days when we count. We're supposed to count weeks, right? What we we do is we say we're counting the days and we're counting the weeks. Right? The rabbis in the house of Raashi also used to count days and used to count weeks. Amar was of a different opinion says he said we should only count nowadays we should only count days and we shouldn't count weeks. Why according to our counting is not nowadays is only it's only and therefore we should only count days and we shouldn't count weeks even though the main mitzvah is to count both nowadays we should only count one according to so that's whether or not nowadays we have the to count both that's what we do but aar's opinion was to only count days and not count weeks what's the reason that he mentions again zer limit mikdash. So we have two parallel concepts both connected to the concept of mourning the beta mikdash. One where we remember the destruction we commemorate the destruction and the second is what we call sorry one was we commemorate the destruction and the other wasd where we commemorate what was but there's another step to the mikdash. It's not just about remembering what was, but there's something more. And this we can see, excuse me, source number six. Source number six, the Garra asks an interesting question. The garra says the says, "How do we know that there is such a thing called mikdash? How do I know that there's a category called mikt where I should do things commemorating what was done in the times of the beta mikdash? brings a because the inah says sorry the initially describes how is going to take care of us. He says I will heal you from all of your injuries. You have been called meaning you have been pushed aside. Why do it is and there is no one who is seeking says the what does it mean? No one is seeking that implies that when it comes to when it comes to or it comes to Israel we need to have this thing called disha. What's disha? yearning. Okay. Now, there's a something very strange happening in this gamarra. The gamarra asked, "How do we know that you're supposed to be mikdash? How do I know that there's this category called the mikdash?" And the gamarra answers by telling us that needs needs yearning, needs. What's the connection between the between the question and the answer? What does that have to do with the mikdash? What does yearning for have to do with remembering what was done in the beta mikdash? The answer is it must be that when we talk about mikdash the purpose isn't simply to remember what was but what's supposed to happen when we think about what was >> it's supposed to create a yearning within us that says wow so the whole point of mikdash is not just simply to be hey that was nice back in the day but rather it's to create this sense of disha to create this sense of yearning we want to return to what was look at source number seven ramon in a in a in a couple of years ago in in in magazine discussed this connection. What's the connection between and this concept of why do we need a verse to teach us that we must make that we must make a mikdash? Shouldn't it be obvious? It seems that the verse is not simply allowing us to create a mikash. It is defining what mikdash actually is. The simple understanding of mikdash is that we remember that we once had what we once had in the past. But with remembering there is great danger. In general, most people remember things that existed in the past and can no longer exist in the present and future. The most prominent example of such remembering is remembrance day for someone who has died. Of course, we look forward to the revival of the dead, but in the simplest, most immediate sense, it is a day of remembering the past. The verse here clarifies that remembering Jerusalem is not remembering of the past but rather a looking ahead to the future. Requires seeking out. We remember in order to seek out and to demand to remember at all times that Jerusalem is ours and that she will God willing in the near future be entirely returned to us. This is not merely remembering the past but yearning and seeking out a cry of may the mikdash soon be rebuilt. And so what we have seen here so far is we have two models. We have two parts of the of two parts of this modeling of of how we commemorate. One that we call remembering the destruction. The other we call what I call remembering the past but anticipating but but looking towards the future. It's remembering the past in order to look towards the future. Now one second I'll take a question and comment in the second. What's very very interesting about this is that these two models of how we commemorate the past, whether it's remembering the destruction or remembering and anticipating the future, are actually two models that have that are that are always not necessarily in conflict, but are always a question when it comes to memorials. And I brought for you here a fascinating conversation in source number eight or fascinating essay by Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamb regarding a big question that came up in how to commemorate the tragedy of the Twin Towers. And he captures how these the the debate that raged regarding what was the most appropriate memorial for the twin towers for the tragedy that happened on 911 very much mirrors these two types of remembering the mikdash and the on the one hand there was one group that said we should leave ground zero totally destroyed in order to show look at what they did look at what happened and then there was a whole group of people that said no the opposite we should build even bigger we should build even greater. We should remember what was and continue to yearn for that, continue to search for that, continue to try to show we're not going to let terror beat us. And that was a huge debate that raised regarding regard regarding the Twin Towers. Look at source number eight. Let me now turn to the question of what shall we remember and how do we remember? There's a great debate that is still raging as recently as this morning's newspapers and has been raging for the past year here in New York City. How and what shall we do to remember the tragic events of September 11th? There are two opinions about the story. One of them is that the place should be left as it is, destitute, except for a museum or a monument, an everlasting reminder of the cruelty that struck us, and an everlasting tribute to the close to 3,000 people who were killed. The 300 who are still alive but who were wounded for life and the thousands upon thousands of relatives who will never forget this day of infamy and who were wounded psychologically and emotionally. There is an opposing attitude and that is just the reverse. They are saying yes, it is important to remember the tragedy, but we Americans are optimistic and we have to go ahead and forge our own future and not allow ourselves to be dragged down by this one terrorist strike. And if we have to rebuild, then let us rebuild. If this was the financial capital of the world, it must again become the financial capital of the world. We must show that we are not only going to survive, we are going to thrive and that we will not allow the terrorists to determine our future. So which one ought we to emphasize? The recollection of the tragedy or the overwhelming of the of the overcoming of the tragedy? Excuse me. Historically, we Jews have experienced both each in its own context. These two themes are called in memory of the of the destruction and the other is called mikdash in memory of the temple itself. The emphasized the pessimistic, the negative thinking. We remember the pain, the shame and the national anguish. We must never forget. We owe it to the people who were destroyed. We owe it to the temple that was ravished. We owe it to the people of Israel who had to suffer through this national cataclysm. The other memory was mikdash. We will never forget the beauty of the temple. We will never banish from our collective memory the glory, the sanctity, the holiness of the temple. The the service that took place and how it united our people and therefore our hope that it will be reestablished, rebuilt and resurrected. Hence, we have two divergent themes struggling with each other. On the one hand, we remember the negative, the destruction. On the other hand, we recall the beauty, the glory, and our unrepressed and eternal hope to overcome the destruction and relive our ancient glory. So the arguments, both talmutic and contemporary, are reflections of the deeper ambivalence of the universal human psyche. The universal human mind at heart concerning catastrophes, whether natural or man-made. As a result, we have a paradoxical reactions. On the one hand, a deep grief, mourning bordering on despair, a sense of defeat. on the other hand, defiance, struggle, healing, hope, and a striving to overcome and reattain the glory that once was. We'll skip now just to the final the final paragraph. We must determine that this awful and dreadful antihuman event be preserved in the collective consciousness of America. But the memory of the destruction must not dominate us for all for all the future. Indeed the as we go on must be transformed dialectically into its opposite into mikdash and the mikt can never afford to express itself without always having at its side the is the way of maturity that is the way of the sages the guardians of our heritage understood the reaction to the destruction of the beta mikdash and how we must understand the reactions to any and all such catastrophe. I would also just note that this balance or this debate The mikdash is something that has been also somewhat more contemporary. Right now, no, many of many of us are familiar with with with the destruction that took place down south on October 7th and the months following. And there's always been a there's been an interesting debate regarding each of those communities. What is the best way for them to rebuild? Should they leave some of the destruction there so that people can come and bear witness to what happened? How do you commemorate what happened at the Nova Festival? what's the best way to build these different types of memorials and you always have this debate on the one hand leaving something so that people can have we have the aspect but you also have this concept of no we need to rebuild we should rebuild better than before we should we should rebuild something greater the mikdash and you have these two competing uh ideas in the end usually as kazal have done for us we find a balance between the two but as pointed out both of them need to feed off each each other. You can't have mikdash without also having and and vice versa. And so those are the first two models of what we've seen so far of how we relate to the destruction of the mikdashban and mikdash that are at the one hand opposite but also mutually enhancing. Yes. >> Well, when we talk Certainly part of part of why we do remember the destruction is for us is for us to to think of it. Exactly. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. I saw a couple of more. Oh, okay. Yes. itself. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. So, so she's asking she I think I think what you're what you're asking is I've been talking mostly about about about the sadness and the destruction and yet how do we balance that with an optimism that we have for the Messiah coming? We talk about the Messiah coming. We believe that Msiah is coming. I think that number one that is that is 100% true and that's true about Jews in general is we always have to find the right balance between our optim our our reality and our remembering and our the importance of doing chuva remembering what has happened while on the other hand moving forward I think what you also have is is different points of the year where certain themes are stressed more than others so for example I think during the three weeks as we're going to see soon right now it's important to note what we've been discussing so far and these are two categories that are meant exist throughout the year. They're not related simply to to to uh to the three weeks. They're just but they're there. They exist. They're more in the background. And then there are moments or times of the year where we focus more on the destruction and on the morning. And I think these three weeks, as we're going to see soon, are moments where we focus more on that. Not because we shouldn't have optimism, but because as with anything, there are always going to be times where you're focusing on one more than the other. Because if we don't have those moments, then then then they get lost and that's I think what what we're stressing here. So we have two so those are the two two models that we've had so far. But then there's another there's a third aspect. There's a third part a third tier to this to this model. And that is something that I call anticipating the future. It's not just yearning for the future. It's anticipating the future. And this is something very fascinating that I I only discovered a couple of years ago that I find to be incredibly incredibly meaningful. The Gammorrah says something amazing. This is just just to give a quick a quick background. It's a little bit technical so bear with me because I think the idea the message is incredibly important. The garra discusses the gamarra discusses that on the second day of pes we have something called the corban omare. Many of us are familiar with it. That's why we that's when we start spirat omare and what the what the hak states is that once the corban omare is brought the new crop which is known as kadesh is now allowed to be eaten. The bringing of the Cororban on the on the 16th of Nissan is what allows us to eat the the new crop what's called the kadesh the new the new the new rain crop that was just brought. The problem is the Garra tries to understand what happens when there's no beta mikdash if there's no corban then when can we eat the new crop. So there's a mahocus in the garra. One opinion says well if there's no corban we should be allowed to eat the the morning of the 16th. Once the 16th, the day of the 16th starts, I should be allowed to eat the kadesh already because I don't need the corban. If there is no corban, I don't need to wait for the corban. And therefore, on the 16th, I can start eating khadesh. But then comes the opinion um I don't remember who it is, forgive me, who says, "No, you can only start to eat the new crop at the end of the 16th, not the morning of the 16th, the end of the 16th day." Why only at the end of the 16th? of the Benzak. Why only at the end of the 16th and not the morning of the 16th? Because Zach is worried for the following scenario. Look at the look at source number eight. Meaning the day of the 16th says you can only eat at the end of the 16th. Why my bet? Because he's afraid that in the middle of next year the beta mikdash is going to be rebuilt. And and if the year before we allowed you to start eating on the morning of the 16th, everyone's going to get into a routine of eating on the morning of the 16th. Once the beta mikdash is rebuilt, when are we only allowed to eat the kadesh? >> Once the corban is brought, which is later in the middle of the day. And so he says, "I'm afraid that if everyone gets used to eating it in the morning, all of a sudden the beta mikdash is going to be rebuilt and everyone's going to get confused and they're going to start eating kadesh the morning of the 16th when really you're only allowed to start eating the eating it once the corban is once we have the beta mikdash you have to wait until the corban." So what am I going to do? I'm going to be careful. I'll tell everyone wait until the end of the 16th because by waiting until the end of the 16th at least by then once the beta mikdash is going to be rebuilt everyone will at least be waiting and they'll at least wait until the corban is brought. Now this is an amazing thing because Zakai is basically saying is we have to establish now with the assumption that what's going to happen that the beta mikdash is going to be rebuilt next year that right now and when I'm establishing when can you eat the corban right now when can kadesh be eaten I'm going to say better to wait because you we should anticipate that next year the beta mikdash will be rebuilt this is a new level this isn't just without remembering before so that we can yearn for the future. Here you have an actual that is established with the intention of we should assume the betish is going to be rebuilt next year. It reminds me of the famous story of the say the always used to have a suitcase packed in his closet. Why? Because he was waiting for Mashiach to come. He was ready for whenever Mashiah was going to come he wanted to make sure he was ready. That's someone who lives according to the antic with the anticipation that the bet mikdash is going to be rebuilt. Now this is a new model. This model is basically saying that there are certain there are certain things we're going to do in order under under the working assumption that the beta mikdash will be rebuilt by next year. Now again I want to point out you have to be very careful of how with how far you take this because if you take this too far a person could start to be leaning to bet a lot of different things and say oh is coming and therefore and you have to be very careful and kazal were very careful about they didn't they didn't they didn't establish this in in in many other places. This is one of very few areas where Khazal were extra careful and they still did it with the with the understanding and anticipation but yet they didn't take it too far because if you take this too far it could be dangerous. Someone says, "Ah, the B of Mesh is coming tomorrow. I don't have to do X, Y, or Z." And that's not what we believe. But yet the the message, I think, is incredibly important because what we have here is now we have a an actual that's basically telling us that you should live our lives with the anticipation the beta mdash will be rebuilt. And now brings us to the last the last tier, the last the last part of our model of how of how we're meant to and that is what I call mourning the present. And that is the time we find ourselves in right now. The times we find ourselves in right now is what we call the three weeks uh coming up to to the nine days. And in order to really understand what what we're doing now, I think we have to see an important Gamarra. Look at source number 10. The garra is discussing the act of ka. Ka is the act of tearing that a person does when he when he when he suffers a loss of a close relative. So part of the act of mourning that a person does is he tears ka. He tears his clothing and the gimmar and the mission uh the the Mishna excuse me discusses when what are what are scenarios where a person should tear ka and this is an important this is an intense career that it can't even be reti retied you can't retie this ka the following tearings cannot be retied aliv if a person is is tearing for their father the alimo or for their parent for their mother. The al raim do or for their teacher that taught them a lot of Torah. The al-n or for the president. President doesn't necessarily mean modern day president. It meant the president of the community. The al again someone of leadership role. The almot or for we we hear about bad things that are happening. Alashem if somebody hears someone else curse the name of god. The alafer toash is and the safer tora that is burnt. The alhud the alhamd. And in addition, a person needs to tear if they see the uh the cities of Yehuda, the Mikdash and Yushalai. Now, we're not going to get into practically if this still needs to be observed. Most opinions do believe that you should observe if you haven't if you haven't seen if you haven't been to the Kotel or to the Harabayat area within 30 days. Most have the opinion that you should a person should tear ka person should tear their shirt upon seeing it. Some say that if you live in you, you don't need to. Others say that nowadays we don't necessarily need to. There's different minhagim. Not going to get into that, but I want you to look at this list. Of this list, as they as we like to say, which one is not like the others? There's a few that are fundamentally different from the other ones. >> One one is a personal family and one is not. Good. But even more than that, if you look at look the last few, har Yehudah, mikdash and yushim. Why are those fundamentally different from the other ones? What are all the other ones about? When am I tearing ka? >> When the when the event happens. When the event occurred. Okay. All the others are when this happens, you tear ka. What is the ka? The crea is a visceral reaction to the to to some kind of horrific event happening and you're mourning that. the other three which are really all about basically what we're talking about which is the beta mikdash did that did that just happen now no so then why are we tearing again remember tearing ka is meant to be a visceral reaction to an intense emotional state and all of a sudden here we have a situation where the Mishna is telling me that when I see I haven't seen it in 30 days or I haven't been there in a long time I should tear ka what what what's going on here why is the Mishna telling me that I should be doing something which is usually an act that I only do during intense at the moment that the tragedy happens and here I'm doing it thousands of years later. >> Good. So what so what so so I would say two things first of all what what's being highlighted here is something that very important which is as we enter these moments of the three weeks the nine days and the right the tearing that's going on here is meant to is meant is what's called there's two what's known as two different categories something called autad and aut is a reference to new ais when a person mourns a tragedy that happened to him right now it's new aut is a reference to mourning that takes place over something that happened many many many years ago and that's the mourning that we're that we're experiencing now during the three weeks nine days and points out famously that the the way that we mourn aut and the way that we mourn aut starts out most intensely and then it waines the most intense time of the aut when a person when a when a person is you start with right start with right right before the burial the shiva thought the day of the burial is the most intense. Then you have the shiva, then you have the schllo, then you have the year. It tends to wayne over time as hopefully naturally a person's pain tends to become less and less. The opposite happens with autish. We start with the three weeks which is the most lenient and then we build up to the nine days which is more severe. Build up to right before tishab which is more severe. Tishab itself is the most severe. And so what says salvich? Why do we do it that way? Because when it comes to it's happening automatically. It's automatic. When a person suffers a loss, the most intense is going to be right then and there. He suffers from the he's suffering from the from the intense just shock of it all. And as time goes on naturally, it somewhat waines. When it comes to a shah it's not natural to feel sad. And therefore, what do we need to do? We need to create it. We need to build it up. And that's why we have the three weeks and the nine days. We're building up our sadness. We're educating ourselves regarding what has happened in order to build ourselves up up until the day of a which is meant to be the most the most intense. But what once but again we have to understand why is it that here we're meant to tear ka when we see yushim tearing ka is meant to be the most the most emotional aspect of of our experience. I think the answer is exactly what you what many of you said. There's two two possibilities. One possibility is simply that sometimes you have a loss that is so extreme that is so big that is so great that it breaks all rules and that would be the the the beta mikdash. The destruction of the betach was so was so catastrophic that even though it happened thousands of years ago we still commemorate it nowadays and we still tear ka nowadays. The other way to say it is that when we tear ka nowadays or when we fast antishab why are we fasting not just because of something that happened 2,000 years ago but rather because it's still happening now and that you see the famous in source number 11 any generation where the beta mikdash has not been rebuilt it is as if it has been destroyed and so what we're doing nowadays the three weeks the nine days is we are now mourning the present. We're not just mourning the past. We're not just mourning what was. That's and that's that we do all year round. All year round we mourn the past. What we're doing now is we're mourning the present and we're we're mourning the reality of the fact that today we still don't have a beta mikdash and that's because of us and that's because of our actions and and what we have done wrong. And so what we have here, if you put this all together, I called it mourning yushim on three levels. You have you have again a multi-tiered uh model for how to mourn. What have created is something that is very powerful and very beautiful at the same time. We have two ways that we mourn throughout the entire year. Then you have what I called um anticipating the future where we don't just yearn for the future but we anticipate the the the eventual the eventual eventual rebuilding of the beta mikdash. And then the last model is what I call mourning the present which is what we're in right now where we take to heart and we recognize and we realize that e that the that our reality of not having a beta mikdash is not simply about something that happened thousands of years ago but it's also about what's happening now. And therefore the actions that we do are patterned after actual aut because of the mourning that we're doing nowadays. >> All right. You know what? We'll stop. We'll stop there. >> We'll stop there. I Yeah. Yes. Sorry. One one quick question. Yes. >> Are we supposed to be coming out and going right away? There's no difference in Shabbat. >> Correct. Yes. Yes. Once Shabbat once Shabbat once Shabbat ends, then we go we go we we go into our morning. And not only that, but there's a whole there's a whole conversation during the nine days on whether or not we can even drink the wine because the min is not during the nine days specifically is not to drink wine or eat meat. And even though we eat meat and drink wine on Shabas, what about Havda? Because Abdullah is really when we transition from Shabas to the toul. And therefore the minug is that is is to have is to have is is that is that the person who makes tabell doesn't even drink the wine. He gives it or grape juice. He gives it to a katan to drink again because the second that chabas is over we transition into >> what whatever whatever we do during the three weeks. Yes. Correct. Correct. Okay. So again, I hope that that that that that that this conversation is enhances our understanding of overall how kazal related to the morning of the beta mikdash and certainly specifically the time period that we're in the the nine the three weeks the nine days and tish aba um next week unfortunately I won't be here next week and I think that that next week is already la the last week of the session so uh looking forward to seeing everybody after after the break wishing everyone uh a meaningful fast and meaningful summer.