A Nation in Tears: Introduction to Eicha and Eicha

as everyone finds their place everyone finds their seat their space on the floor as always it's hard to transition from the hustle and bustle of the week into sitting on the floor of the avus the Deep grief and mourning of Tish so to put us in the mood to get us into a space to focus our minds and to tug on our hearts we always begin with a niggan before we do I want to acknowledge Dr David Nelly Steinberg who sponsored our remarks this evening in memory of Shalom mosha mayor who saved countless lives on October 7th Alia we thank them please join us as we open up our hearts and our nishas to enter into this sad and tragic day together [Music] I'm this [Music] is this is here [Music] [Laughter] if he said [Music] of they are [Applause] [Music] I [Music] I I take [Music] amen [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] shall [Music] am [Applause] [Music] our I am love [Music] our s [Music] is and his soon [Music] is go isra and his [Music] I [Music] [Applause] [Music] God love is m [Music] Jonathan Deutsch 23 years old from ban Commando and maglan part of the security forces who heroically scrambled on October 7th to kibal O who since then has been fighting in Gaza on the front lines during this ongoing war was just released from the Army and together with his unit offered the most moving BR Benin G thanking Hashem for surviving October 7th and this war in the months that followed Yan was scheduled to be married next month to his kala to his fiance amuna but instead yesterday just yesterday Jonathan was murdered killed by Kamas terrorists in a terror attack on the highway MO shabas two nights ago M dein young man who came to Crown Heights to learn in 770 just to immerse himself in Torah learning in a Torah environment was walking on Kingston Avenue when a man shouted free Palestine confronted him and asked him do you want to die before stabbing yel and trying to kill him guilty only of the crime of being a Jew and walking the streets of New York so we sit on the floor tonight Jews around the world are sitting on the floor to mourn to grieve and to cry so we do and we've done every year for the last decades and centuries and Millennia for the calamities and the tragedies of which there are no shortage beginning with the destruction of the T mikdash the Crusades the Holocaust and so much in between but tonight is different because tonight we're not sitting on the floor because of something that was something that happened something that occurred in the past because of a piece of History sitting on the floor tonight because we are in the middle of HBA we're sitting on the floor after having seen the pictures this afternoon of heroic and precious soldiers in Rafa and in Gaza interrupting their battles to sit on the floor to hear in that place in this time on those front lines sitting on the floor with the image seared in our mind of a packed hostage Square filled with fam sitting on the floor tonight we're listening to a counting the days and the minutes and waiting giving new meaning to waiting and waiting and waiting and longing desperate for some news for the return of their family sitting on the floor because we saw a picture of Jews sitting on the ground listening to in the very spot where yonatan de's life was cut short just yesterday he tells we're crying tonight Jews around the world for the suffering of the past for the suffering in our present and also with angst for the unknown about what suffering might come in the near future because as we sit here countries peoples Iran Hezbollah Hamas Yemen the very people who deny our claim to our homeland are poised and threatening a potentially unprecedented coordinated attack specifically on Tish because of what that date means for our connection to that land not knowing what will happen through tonight tomorrow and the days to come so this isn't the Tish about the past this is the first time in my life that Tish it's not only about the present but it's a tissue book filled with fear about the future we're sitting on the floor but our tears didn't start tonight our tears have not stopped flowing for 311 days they've been pouring out for the families of 1,588 whove been killed on October 7th and since then our tears are streaming for the5 hostages whose fate is unknown we shed tears for the 16,000 and 93 who have been physically wounded in this war over 16 seen thousand people whose lives and the lives of their family members forever alter missing Limbs and fighting to recovery just hoping to resume some some sense of Life sitting on the floor and we cannot stop crying for the many more the millions in Israel and around the Jewish World with invisible wounds the wounds of trauma and the wounds of pain and the wounds of loss as we reflect on the Jewish condition in the world today we think about the hate and the animosity and the bias and the discrimination and the explosion of anti-Semitism on campuses by faculty and students and the halls of Congress a world in which a Jew gets St in the streets of New York simply for being a Jew were're sitting on the floor because tonight we could hardly get up it's hard to rise to stand to fight and to march on so in a moment we will ask and we will wonder a question we've been asking for 2,000 years how how did a people how did our people a people of given the world so much so much light and so much truth and so much medicine and so much technology you've given the world so [Music] much how could it be we're so alone and so isolated and so abandoned and so betrayed seemingly so quickly tomorrow will say in the Kos everything happened seemingly so suddenly out of nowhere Jewish people are a pariah on the international stage treated that way not only by our enemies a double standard and abandonment by our friends just this week alone just this week Swiss man was arrested after pouring gasoline on a Sho trying to light it on fire a Frenchman was assaulted on a tram by someone who screamed dirty Jew and beat him up another Frenchman was arrested after assaulting a taxi driver he was planning on attacking a sh and taking hostages two Jewish men were refused service at a gas station in New Jersey with the owner insulting them for being Jews and the list could go on and on that was this week the last few days alone for 2,000 years we've sat alone and we sit alone and that is enough of a reason to sit on the floor tonight cry on the the night that we cried for no reason and hasem promised and he fulfilled that promise of giving us so many too many reasons to cry but why the double language why the double description the double language of crying other years kinos are about the past and a sh an old old mourning and old grief stories of burnt books stories of destru destroyed communities and Crusades stories of B mikash so many thousands of years ago but this year this year these last 10 months been 10 months of TI North and the South it's located from their homes communities so bad impacted and affected hostages who aren't home when you think about the significance of October 7th and the 10 months since we try to place it in the context of History which is what Tish does and if you think about it simply numerically quantitatively tragedy of October 7th and the month since it says a lot about our people doesn't even make it in the top 10 doesn't make it to the French page front page on the list of the massacres against our people of course every single life that was lost each precious mishama that was extinguished is a world onto itself and is a reason to sit and to cry but in the context of History the numbers as large as they are as many the most in any day in any event since the Holocaust but in the context of history sadly that total number of casualties any isn't anywhere near the top of a list we lost so many lives these last 10 months but we lost something else we lost the false sense of security we lost that feeling of superiority the feeling of Independence we lost that sense of permanence we lost we lost that illusion that we were in control October 7th robbed us of so many precious lives but it also robbed us of our feeling of Safety and Security and comfort October 7th and the months that have followed have shaken us to our core and he forced us to confront the uncomfortable truth and that uncomfortable truth my dear friends is that we are still in Gs that we're still in Goos as much as we've lived in miraculous times as grateful as we are after 2,000 years of waiting for the beginnings of redemption as much as we can taste the end we are still so far away from it we are in gas and as long as we are here here not geographically but here existentially as long as we are in this state of being as long as we are in this Godless world as long as we are hated by so many as long as we continue to hate on one another as long as we are pushing Hashem away not closer as long as we are underachieving spiritually failing to be and to create a community of people living our best selves towards one another and towards Hashem as long as we continue to live such lives that Hashem says it is not yet time we will not have that safety and that Serenity and that security that we so badly crave and among so much else that is what we are crying for tonight beh cry over the loss of lives cry cry cry from the bottom of your heart for the fate of the hostages cry over the rise of anti-Semitism B but also cry because this is the Jewish condition in the world while we are still in a state of while we wait for and long for Mia in the but there is a crying for the physical reality and there is a crying for the metaphysical reality that allows I saw one of the picture just before Tish began and it really startled me there was a picture this afternoon of Defense Minister Galant sitting on a low chair at the Kota listening to a and it struck me because every image for 10 months of this man dressed in black stoic strong Israeli Minister of Defense every press conference he has given over and over he has exuded strength and resolve and tenacity and determination Israel will be [Music] Victorious and even he is brought down to a low Chair by Tish listening to the story of the suffering of our people hope and connecting the dusts that what we're going through now goes all the way back to them and that as long as we are living in this world without without without as long as we have failed to fulfill his plan for us and His World the defense minister sits on the ground before the true minister of defense how do we change going into for us to think about tonight and tomorrow are we just sitting on the floor giving up we're passively crying surrendering to the isolation the loneliness to the hate any generation which not built in their day it's as if not it was destroyed but it's as if we destroyed the you understand what that means if there were a b mikash right now Hashem would look down and he'd see the way that we talk to one another and treat one another the choices we make our priorities our values Our lives our lifestyles he would look at our world and if they were a based on mikash right now he would destroy it wonders the holy what does it mean be called any generation which the b m was not built we already said Kor we said any generation what were what were the rabbis adding with the word in their day and furthermore says the we said moments ago build it when speedily in our day once again seems super it's redund and if we said build it the speedily then what is be and listen to what the rups or answers it's what I'm thinking about it's what I've been thinking about since I saw it a few days ago it's what I'm working to think about tonight and tomorrow so what I think if all of us think about we can change our reality our condition we can get up off this floor and we can finally make things different says theem builds sh he builds the the phys he's going to bring the B with what does he build he doesn't go to Lo and he doesn't go to Home Depot what are the materials what are the building blocks of the Bas be the answer is how we fill our days who we are and what are our priorities what are our values what takes up our time what are our dreams what are our hopes what are the Ambitions we communicate to our children and our grandchildren how do we allocate and designate our time and our resources what role do we have in contributing to this building any generation who doesn't build the Bas of mikdash how would they build it by using their dayso you've destroyed you've wasted you've squandered your days mourn and grieve because you killed time you killed potential you killed who you could have been you killed friendships and relationshipss and family you killed community and unity you killed what could be you've destroyed y we ask build it speedily how who use our days in the way we use and we fill our days 311 days the hostages haven't had y may have their days have not been their own they haven't had control over their time they haven't seen the light of day they haven't had freedom they haven't seen their families they haven't had self-determination for 311 unimaginable days the who've been snatched from their families from us from this world their time is not their own they haven't been able to decide what to do we don't begin to understand what that means tomorrow before we'll have privilege of Hosting sap here in person it will be streamed together with her fiance were kidnapped on October 7th she spent 55 days 55 days in captivity she interacted with sinir in the tunnels her fiance is still there his fate is unknown do you know what it means to have yam the day to wake up a free person to choose to choose where to go and who to be and what to do and how to speak and how to spend your time the Jewish condition in the world isn't just a problem of the soldiers and their families it's not just the problem of H Po and Goldberg's family or the bbas family or the family of any of the hostages this isn't just a problem of those who are missing limbs are still struggling to recover this is not just an issue for those who are afraid to walk now in Crown Heights or in France or Switzerland this is all of our problems and these last 10 months have reminded us don't dare get too comfortable don't indulge in that false sense of security not in this Gus never feel wherever you are and however you're living and whatever blessings you have that this doesn't affect you this is all of our problem problem because this is our people and this is our family and this is our Collective reality and so Tish reminds us that our lives have to be disrupted and maladjusted that we have to be disturbed and worried and anxious over the state of things in Israel and around the world so Disturbed and so maladjusted that we're ready to do something about it if you're comfortable with where you are if you're complacent with your Jewish life if you're satisfied that you're doing okay you have to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are connected to the Jewish people the very first chapter in sh from the code of Jewish life says ending will begin moment end with this it's a as much as a fast on Tish to keep sh and koser there is a if you count yourself a God-fearing person you need to be what do those words mean means be pained be pain see that number when you walk in our lobby that changes every day how many days it's been these hostages these soldiers are fighting be be pained but the has another word not just matar be pain matar the do what does the word do mean it means be worried be concerned have angst if you're complacent and happy and secure and satisfied if you're not living with existential angst over what's happening to our people you're not you're a in the words of the Ang over the we're living over the loss of the Divine protection and then take and channel that angst and pour it into action do something about it consider how many soldiers and reservists have interrupted their lives and put everything on hold to fight in the front lines and take AAS fight on our front lines D harder learn more be kinder and nicer reach out and resolve a conflict heal a wound with another person take a lead a charge an action think about the these hostages who have no control over their days and become determined to fill yours with being part of the solution sign up there's so many incredible opportunities write letters Advocate D harder be kinder love deeper take on more mitzvos take be worry and be anxious and channel that angs to action I'll end by asking you a simple question we just di in in the AM you said a few minutes ago did you in your own words ask Hashem to help did you say just the words of the sinner do you even take on to say extra but do you pour your heart in a way that reflects your mates are VD didn't or the end of your you sayem bring the house to home let the soldiers return to their families give us a sweeping victory over our enemies let the earthquakes open the ground to swallow those who are determined to destroy us moments ago in the just the last are we mates our Vio are we disrupting our lives are we maladjusted are we so as we listen to tonight and as we sit tomorrow say Kos and cry let's not only shed a tear and cry for the loss and the suffering but let's channel that into taking upon ourselves to be bigger and better and improved to take a to grab on to the blessing of having our days and to fill them in a way that will soon be Z to get up off the floor we built the speedily because we fill our continue with for [Laughter] [Music] May [Music] believe [Music] with [Music] make to for [Music] all I [Music] show [Music] ad for come [Music] is call is m [Music] t Al go Al for [Music] no love for [Music] for [Laughter] [Music] for forom for yes for foron [Laughter] El for [Music] [Laughter] so [Music] [Applause] for for Adonai [Music] for you are C [Music] as for nashim raos is Bel [Music] who sh Al our [Music] is [Music] for forain for for [Music] Al [Music] Haso we continue with Keynotes and conclude just a reminder of the schedule tomorrow tomorrow morning shaas and Kos without explanation at 6:15 7:45 shakas at 9:00 a.m. with explanation of kenos until 1:20 p.m. at 1:30 we'll have the conversation with sapir K and her brother aiv former hostage held byas a modern day Kina really impacting our Tish is 126 tomorrow at 2:15 and at 7:15 there Tisha videos all afternoon at the the children's Tish program after the 7:15 tomorrow we'll have some words of inspiration to conclude Tish Mar at 8:00 and the fast ends at 8:35 reminder as you exit tonight the is we don't greet one another so impacted and affected by Tish love we so abused that power of greeting but in Tisha love we don't offer Shalom we don't greet one another and immediately following the Kos the few Kos we say tonight anyone would like is invited to remain as we spend some more time singing together you