This article first appeared on meaningfulminute.org One of the core challenges of our generation is our inability to be present with our pain. Being present with pain means to be brave enough to walk into the destruction of our lives, to take ownership of our mistakes, to give language to our feelings of devastation, to give those feelings over to Hashem, and to feel His love in return. The job of leadership though is to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. In the wake of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, Rav Yosi did just that. The Gemara in Berachos (3a) tells the story of when Rav Yosi entered one of the abandoned ruins of Yerushalayim. Eliyahu HaNavi stood guard at the entrance of the ruin. After he finished davening, Eliyahu HaNavi asked Rav Yosi what happened in the ruin. Rav Yosi replied, “I heard a heavenly voice cooing like a dove and saying: Woe to the children, due to whose sins I destroyed My house, burned My Temple, and exiled them among the nations.” Eliyahu responded, “By your life and by your head, not only did that voice cry out at that moment, but it cries out three times each and every day. Moreover, any time that Hashem’s greatness is evoked, such as when Israel enters Shuls and Batei Medrash and says Yehei Shmei Rabbah Mevarach (May His great name be blessed), Hashem shakes His head and says: Happy is the king who is thus praised in his house. When the Beis HaMikdash stood, this praise was recited there, but now: How great is the pain of
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