How is Israel Still Alive? 10 Martyrs and Tisha B'Av

One of the central keynote that we say, one of the central keynotes is 21 that we speak about the RZ which is the famous the 10 martyrs who died from the and they were put all into one but you should know that it really spans over 70 to 80 years. They were not all martyed all at the same time. Some were during the time of the B mikda. somewhere in the time of the rebellion of bar and some even afterwards and what's required is introspection is to know for what reason are they put into the same gamut why do we say them all together and what is the meaning behind doing such a thing first of all we know that they come as a kapara for yadik as a result of the brothers who went ahead and sold yadik the midrush actually brings down brings down the midrash that asked the sanhedrin he said what's the what's the din of someone who killed kidnaps someone and goes ahead and sells him. And they said, "What do you mean?" That's one of the ten commandments the death and then and there he was decreed on all 10 of those a death for the 10 brothers that sold Ysef. If it was gilgulim there's always a question in the post game how it was permitted from one to the other but that is what resulted and the question is what's the reason why the pew puts it all in one shot if it didn't happen altogether and it really was spread out and the answer is because yes many times we speak about the bas mikdash and it's difficult a little bit to cry about the bas mikdash it's 2,000 years away how can we relate to it but the truth is there's one kina that should be you directly connected to the of the bas mdish That's this one because besides the of the physical body of the B mdra that's there or the aod if you will and the corbonus and the kohan the kohanim the biggest is the it's the loss of terra that happen as a result of that every time we have a there is a distancing from the tra we go down a rank we go down a level another plane in our in our connection to our seni in our connection our relationship to the terra that we received And that's the seml. That's what this put is coming. That's what this kina is coming to tell us. It's coming to tell us that when we lost the base of migdash, don't just cry about sticks and stones. And don't just and not even it was a big thing. The amount of blood that was spilled and the amount of people that were killed, which is a tremendously big thing, but there's a lot more of that than the loss of the of what we lost is the level of Torah that we used to be and the level of the of what used to be there. A good example of this would be after Europa after we know it happened in the Holocaust and of course we cry and we sit on the floor and we s and we say aa about the shawah about the 6 million people that were martyed the 6 million people that died but we have to realize that even bigger than that we have to realize the amount of terror that was lost the level of terror that existed pre-level Europe let me tell you some names the or Benish Kai or the or the covener of or the tremendous amount of ador that were walking on this planet or of brisker these people were things that we can't even say their names we don't relate to them we have no connection to the that existed back then to what exists now in front of us at this stage let us have a little smell a little whiff of what prewar Europe talid looked like we got a little bit of a scent we got to have a raosha Feinstein or Cutler or of Jacob of a little bit of remnants of what happened to Kazanh of remnants of pre-war Europe which we don't have those either anymore but the idea behind it is just to make us realize that when we're worried about sitting Shiva today we have a lot to sit Shiva about the amount of Torah that we are distanced from how far we are and how much has been destroyed as a result of the previous uh catastrophes of what what has occurred should make us sit and cry should make us realize how far we are from what we really need to be that connection that we have to t that used to be and with that we understand a very important idea and that is that the only way to rebuild and the only way when we're talking about destruction we talk about going ahead and having hope and rebuilding and building our strength and going back to what we used to be it comes with a rebuilding of Torah going ahead and being far and pushing and trying to back up any type of Torah institutions that we can when people go to Poland and they do these um these tours which is a good thing to remember about what happened in Nazi Europe and everything that happened. Many talk about rebuilding and how we've rebuilt in Brookem. We've done a great job and we always fight back and the Jews are capable of doing it and we have that strength to do it. But when it's limited to go ahead and getting married and building a family, having kids and going to school and etc etc it leaves it very shallow. It kind of defeats the purpose. The real building that we do is what the Pavvich taught us. He went around with no end. He made his life mission. He dedicated every ounce of his body. Even though he's a tremendous and he would have preferred staying in the base of Midash to go ahead and rebuilt all of Juri here in Israel and the amount of dreams that he had, people thought he was nuts and he's only done 10 times more than what you would have expected. People didn't realize the incredible capabilities that he had and it's only because of the Torah. The Qur is what keeps us alive and that's what rebuilds us and that's what we get to as the moral writes in everybody has a goof and in we have a physical body and we have our spirit when a person dies we sit sha we sit a veos and that's what we're doing right now we're sitting shiva on the goof the body was lost the ba mikdash was the physical body it was the manifestation of what was there it was a body that disappeared that we don't have presently you wanted to come back you want to you want mashia and to come So we need a n to be very very much alive only comes when the goes back into the goof and it's able to be reinvigorated and revived and brought back to life. How does that happen? It happens when we keep the alive. That's the nama of Israel. That's something special that we have that nobody else has. Every other nation is a goof without an a country. their civilization on a piece of land with one amamato and it's fine with one idea. But when they are finished, they're finished. The Nazis were busy building a museum. They were building a few museums to remember the Jews after they're finished with their job that they were so set on. They were building a museum so we remember this people that once upon a time were called Jews that we took care of. That's what they were building. Well, guess what? We have a lot of museums with the Nazis inside that we remember what happened during the Holocaust and the Nazis did, but they're not around anymore. They're gone and we're still here to speak about it. And just like every other nation in the past that we know has and they had their heyday and they've disappeared, it's because they were a goof without an you want to stay on and you want to live on. It's only with that we have. It's when we go ahead and revitalize the Torah institutions. Like I said, building our families, having children, of course, it's beautiful and that's what we're here for. But we have to realize that our support and our and where we send our children only go it mainly has to go to the to the yeshivas to the we have to the incredible amount of manifestation of that's why the beginning of this kina is called what's in this week's paran is the base of mikdash always represents I mean that's referring the ba mikdash what is the roots of the b mikdash the arazim the cedar tree the stiffness What keeps it alive? That's the the people who are learning as it brings over here in the in the kina. The people that are sitting and learning the ones who are the are the people that we look up to are the the people that are sitting and learning in the base midras. These are theim. You look at a tree and it's phenomenal and it's beautiful. You go to you go to Yellowstone and you see fantastic beautiful trees and they're very impressive. But in the end of the day, those trees are absolutely useless. They will absolutely fall within a second if they don't have the roots underneath the ground that are keeping them instilled in the same place. Keeping them there that no matter what wind or hail passes by them, they will be stiff and hold on tight and never fall to the wayside. Why? Because of the arim, the roots that are underneath the tree I the roots are hidden. They're not impressive. You don't see them. They're not getting the heyday in the shows. They're not the ones who are winning the mandial or the Knicks or all these things that everybody likes to talk about in the sports or all the people that people are so impressed and are getting the front page. No. No. They're not the people that you see and they're the ones sitting in their little room that people don't notice. But in the end of the day, they are the roots that are hiding underneath the ground that are holding up the tree from falling underneath every type of situation. That's the reason why we're here. That's the reason why we've survived until now. And I don't have to tell you a bigger kdish than ben zakai himself. The big t the greatest tan who lived at the time of the destruction of the b mikdash. He was given a one wish. He was given three but one of the main wishes that he was given that he was asked by the king who was very impressed with him said I'll give you a wish. And you know what? He didn't ask for he didn't talk about the mdash. You know what he asked for? I want you to keep around Yavna with all its because I know that that is our sigula for that's where we're going to vanquish. That's the only way that even after this temple is burnt, we'll still be able to live on for another 2,000 years. Without it, we're nothing. Without it, we dissipate to a nebulous like every other country and every other go in this place has been a happened to them. But we've been able to last for this only and single reason. theem we have the nama that lies behind us the which is rampant in our by us by us in areas in Israel and America and other places that has been able to spread like wildfire and it's only because of request the place where eventually canonized the all of was written because of this idea that he knew that after the mdash it's got to last on and without it we're not going to the building blocks. We built the base of mdash. You know when because when the every daff of garra that was written by raashi every daft of that was written was another block in the base of mikdash. Every ma that was completed was another chamber another in the beta mikdash and finally we made a we went ahead and inaugurated the temple. You know when it was when they had a seal mash when Raven and Raashi finally completed the shass that we have been able to review and review over and over again since those 1500 years when it was completed that is the that's the inauguration of the B mikdash that lives on we go to the cot and we and we weep and we go ahead and connect to there and it's a fantastic thing but you have to realize that every cot lasts inside of every basement. Those are the places that we support. Those are the places that we live by. These are where we send our children. And this is how we're supposed to live. For anyone who's a real, if I could say, Zionist, one who connects to Yadud, one who cares about Judaism, then you should realize that this is the connection that we have to be able to find this connection. And that will be what keeps us living on forever. You know, the Kyak writes, and I'm coming to a close, an incredible thing. He says that as said as said by the when he was waiting for his father to die and then I would go ahead and kill YaKob. Why? So you know what the kakaker says not like Rashi he says he was waiting for Yakov to be an because when an is not learning Torah then I can go ahead and get rid of him. But as long as he's learning Torah I can't get him. As of Arasha knew the sword. He knew the power of Torah that keeps us alive. As of Russia, he wasn't a good guy, but he's the one who knew. I wish people in this country would know. Some people over here would be able to realize this secret. You don't get worse than that. He was the one who destroyed the first base of mdash. He would did a tremendous anim animalistic things. And was one of the meanest kings that ever walked this planet. And you know what he did? A very intelligent act, a very smart man. He got rid of the Mazir a few years before the destruction. Who are those? Theim. He made sure that the were not in Israel. A few years before he was go them to bubbly, put them in bubble and that's how they were able to stay in bubble and build the yeshivas over there in bubble at the time. But he did a very impressive act, a very smart act. Got rid of the he said, "Now I've got you cold. Now I know I'll be able to take care of you." That's what he did. As of people who are on a certain level, I just read now in mid Russia said was asked how do I get rid of this nation? He said as long as you have those as long as you have those children that are still that are still learning in the they're still learning in the and they're still learning what they do. You can't get them. You've got to stop their learning. You got to keep them away from Torah and that's the only way that we'll be able to finally take advantage. That's that's the lesson that we learned. This is the tishab and like I told you we read through many the kina and it's hard to connect to crusades to worms to a mdish of of the thousand years ago of so many times and how much blood has been spilled but when we connect to the the to what we're not there relating to how much is missing I think everyone can feel a piece of that. I think that's something that we all can relate to. I'll end with a story from Rav Gifter. Rav Gifter came to America and he went to a Judeica store in Manhattan. He went and found a Judeica store in Manhattan. There wasn't so many at the time. We're talking about right after the war. We're talking about probably 1950 or so. And most people were there buying Judeica items. Obviously classically a manura if you will maybe muza box for the front door not for all the doors or maybe a titus and he went and he asked for a koshen aos you know what aosen is well the guy behind the counter didn't really know he said what do you mean he says you got to have somewhere in your pile of books there in the back he wanted to be able to learn so he went ahead and the shop the shop owner said oh look he went ahead and went filtering back and forth through the books filing and he finally found one copy of the Koshen had a lot of dust on it. He brushed it off and he brought it to her gift. He told her of that this is a very emotional moment for me. I can't believe this. He goes why? What's so emotional about buying a sushion? He says this is the last that will be sold in America. What are you talking about? You're at the golden medina. This is a place where people come to make money. People not keeping shabas anymore. You can't I had to open my own store because otherwise people are going to be shabas. I can't keep a job. You have to go ahead and do that. You'll be lucky if people even keeping kosher here in another decade or two. You're talking about learning a difficult safer from intriguing safer which is only learned in yeshivas and barely opened up and the lettering look how small it is. Ah this is a joke. It'll never happen. Little did that uh little did that uh store owner know that he was arguing on a p. This is what Gifter said that the p tells us that that uh as we all know and this is what he was thinking in his head that we know the Torah tells us that it will never be forgotten from amongst us. The Torah will always be around and we will always be there to be connected to the Torah and because it will not be nishk will not be forgotten by us. We will always be around. On the contrary, Gifter said there will be more Torah learned in America than there was even in the previous generations. It will become so rampant here because yes, we went through a shawah. We went through holocaust. But from the seeds of destruction, we know how to grow. How do we know how to grow? It's not by just building and creating families. It's because we have a kadosha. We have a nama that takes it and regenerates. It rejuvenates things that looked the dead. It looked like it was stale. It looked like it would never regrow. and we go ahead and make it 10 times better. He made tells I don't have to tell you about Lakewood in America and it spread like wildfire from purvich from the pvich to all of Israel. There are more people learning in a base now than has ever been existent before because Jews know how to keep the flame alive. It's not only about a destruction of a base mdash. It's about a creation and a recreation of the kada what keeps our nama alive, keeps the Jews alive and keeps us here until this day.