Tisha B'Av - Stare At The Devastation If You Want To Find The Light

2:32 So then It's not about doing tshuva. At least for today, the avada is avelos. What's the pshat of that? I want to go back to a gemara that I know that you guys have heard so many times in your life. I know that you've heard this gemara so many times that sometimes when you hear an old story, you almost turn off your brain. I've heard this before. But I think especially today When we're in another Tishavah, old stories have to become new stories. We have to go back and look at the old stories and see them in a new way. So I want to go to a Damar that I know every one of you knows But I want to go through it carefully, line by line Because I think the story holds a profound message At least for me, I know that I've missed it.

3:31 And I hope that it'll be meaningful to you also. So rather than just say the story quickly, let's say the story slowly. And I'm going to read the story inside But I want you to try to listen Not just with your mind but with your heart. I want you to try to listen to the story again. And I'm going to read it line by line. There was another time where Rabbi Amiel Rav Elazar ben Azayahu, Rav Yosheu, and Rav Akiva were going up to Yerushalayim. Kiv and she gilah Harat Zophim Karu b'gdayim. When they got to Harat Zophim You guys know where Harat Zophim is. You passed Harat Zophim. In English, it's called Mount Scopus. If you were going to Yerushalayim, you probably went through Harat Zophim. When they were standing on Harat Zophim They tore their begadim. Most people, when telling the story, skip this line. You'll see that it's important.

4:38 Kivin shei gui laharavas. Now they eventually get to the temple mount. Raushul sheyaksumi beis kate she'ekadosh. He's chilu ha'yubeichen ve'rivikivin mitzafim. So they started crying. And Rivikiva started laughing. So for the chaver that just came, I'm sorry we started a little early. We didn't know more guys were coming. But we're just looking at the Gemara in Makos a little bit deeper than the way that we've always looked at. So now they tore their begodim and harat sofim. Now they come to Harabayis. They see a fox coming out of the Kodesh Hakodashim. Rav Elazar ben Azayir, Rav Yosua started crying, and Rav Kiva started laughing. So they said to him, "Rav Kiva, why are you laughing?"

6:13 They said to him, "Why are you crying?" In the place that the Torah says. The Zar Anan Cohen If he goes into the Kodesh Hakodashim Will die. La'achshav shul emochuba. And now foxes are walking in it. Nolai nifkeh. We shouldn't cry. Amaleh and Vekiva said back to them. It's exactly why I'm laughing. Because it says in the pasuk, "V'ed le'edim ne'eman." Na'avi Yeshaya said that I'm going to have Adin Ne'emanim, faithful witnesses. Who are the faithful witnesses? Esuria Akayim Eszachay Ben Yechayah. So my faithful witnesses are Uriah and Zachariah. B'chimai Nini Uriah, it's a Zachariah. What does Uriah have to do with Zachariah? B'miktashri shoyin, Zuria b'miktashri shoyin, Zachay b'miktashin. Uriah lived in the time of Beis Hamikdash, the first Beis Hamikdash. Zechariah lived in the time of the second Beis Hamikdash. Elatolah akas in the nevusah shal Zechariah ben nevusah shal Uriah. The nevua of Zechariah is dependent on the nevua of Uriah.

7:45 BaUriah ksev lacheim beglachem tsia in sade techarish. By Uriah it says Zion shall be plowed like a field. When it comes to Zechariah It says, "There shall yet be a time when elderly men and elderly women sit in the streets of Yerushalayim." Until such time that I saw that there was a kiyum of the Navi of Uriah, Rav Kiva says, I was afraid that the Navi of Zechariah would not come true. But now that I've seen that the Navi Uriah was right, and that Yerushalayim has been plowed under like a field Now I know that the Nivuah Zachary will be mekuyim. A Yisrael Zakenim Zakenes for Chav Yerushalayim. There's going to be elderly men and elderly women sitting in the streets of Yerushalayim. The lashna zet. And in this exact formulation Amrulav and Amliav of Elazar ben Azayin and Yehoshua said, "Akeiva nechamtano, Akeiva nechamtami." Akeiva, you have consoled us. Akeiva, you have consoled us.

9:10 It's a Gemara that we grew up with. It's a Gemara that everybody knows. It's not just a Gemara that everybody knows because we've heard so many siyumim and makos. It's a Gemara that's quoted so often. The message of the Gemara has perhaps become lost. So I want to ask many questions on this Gemara, not one or two or three, but seven or eight or nine questions on this Gemara, just to try to bring something out a little bit deeper for us this Tishah B'av. Because we tell the story so fast And I'm sure you've heard it a million times. Where they already jump to the end of Akivan the Chamtanu. The story starts by Harabaias. As we pointed out before The story doesn't start by Harabaias. The story starts by Haratzofim. Haratzofim does not seem to be an important detail in the story, which is probably why so many people skip it when they're telling over the story. It doesn't seem to tell us anything.

10:15 So they tore their begadim by haratzotim when they saw our rabbis. They say, 'That's the halacha. The halacha is that when you see our rabbis, you tear kriya.' What does that have to do with the entire story? Famous question. Rav Akiva starts laughing. We understand where Rav Amliya, Rav Elazar ben Azaria, and Rav Yoshua say to Rav Akiva, 'Why are you laughing?' That's a good question. But why does Rav Akiva say back? To the Chachamim, why are you crying? Why they're crying is obvious. Of course they're crying. Who wouldn't cry at a funeral? What's Rav Akiva's question, Mechla? And it's interesting. What's their response? The response of the Chachamim is not because of the desecration of the Beis Hamikdash. They form a puzzle. It's like what do you mean? Halachically, something is being violated here. A tsar is not allowed to enter into the kedusha and kadoshim, otherwise they'll die. Now we see that foxes are running in and out. Why don't they just say we're crying?

11:21 Because the base of mikdash isn't here. There's a terrible churba. And Rav Kiva responds in a very strange way. Rav Kiva says the nevuah of Uria and Zachariah go together, but you should know they lived in two different times. Uria lived in the time of The first Beis Hamikdash. Zechariah lived in the time of the second Beis Hamikdash. Rabbi, say, who are we talking about here? We're talking about Rav Ammiel. We're talking about Rav Elazar ben Azariah. We're talking about Rav Yishua. They didn't know when Uria and Zechariah lived. These people knew Tanakh. They knew when they lived. What's Rav Ekevah telling them? Every detail of the story is important here. Rav Ekevah is saying you should know they didn't live in the same time. They didn't live in the same time. I know they didn't live in the same time. The Gemara is not talking to us.

12:15 The Gemara is recording the story that happens between Rav Kiva and the Chachamim. And then the most powerful question by far: Rav Kiva lived before the Rambam. Rav Kiva knew the Yud Gimel Ikhra. Rav Kiva knew that one day Mashiach was going to come. Rav Kiva knew that the Beis Hamikdash was going to be rebuilt. He understood that very well. In fact, who was it that held up the armor for Bar Koziva to get dressed? It was Rav Kiva. So Rav Kiva obviously believed in Mashiach. So how could the Gemara possibly say that Rav Kiva said to the Chachamim, "Until the time that Uriah's nevuah was fulfilled" I was misyare that the Navi Zecharyah's nevuah wouldn't come fulfilled. How could that be? Rav Kiva really thought that there was a possibility that Mashiach wouldn't come. Rav Kiva really thought there was a possibility that the Beis Hamikdash won't be rebuilt. Efray, not possible Not possible.

13:12 And the nevuah itself needs to be understood. I'm going line by line here in the Gemara. You have to listen to every question here. Why dafka old people? Why is the nevuah formulated in that way? Why isn't the nevuah I see today, and it's so beautiful, that little children are running around in the streets of Yerushalayim. Why the old people? Why not the young people? And even after Avikiva gives his answer, we're still left wondering Why are you laughing? Imagine somebody Chassid Shalom is at a funeral. Let's make it real. Imagine we were at one of the funerals of one of those Kadoshim who was killed in battle in Gaza. And let's say you had here a tzaddik. Let's say you had here a tzaddik. And he's aware. Imagine the parents of that soldier sitting and crying over their son who's being buried in that moment.

14:19 And there's a tzaddik who starts to laugh because he sees tchias amesim. It's not funny. It's not funny. Somebody, there are people who are grieving right now. What is Rivakiba doing? And the Gemara says a very strange thing. At the very end, the Gemara doesn't just say Akiva Nichamtonu. The Gemara says he said it exactly in this way. All of a sudden, the Gemara pauses the story. Up until now The Gemara is just recording what happened between Rav Akiva and the Chachamim. And the Gemara all of a sudden shifts to us. You should know he said it exactly in this way. He said it exactly in this way. They said exactly in this way: "Akiven nechamtano." Why does the Gemara have to tell us that? Why didn't it just tell us the story? We already know what's going on. We're paying attention. And then the famous question: Why did they say it twice? Why did they say 'akiven nechamtano'? I want to share with you a deep tirah, Rabbi Sayyid.

15:27 But to hear it, you can't just open up your mind. To hear it, you have to open up your heart. Some tirs you could listen to with your ears. Some tiras you have to mamish, open yourself wide open to hear. The critical part of the Gemara that everybody misses is that the story doesn't begin at Harabais. The story doesn't begin at Harabais. The story begins where? Haratzofin. What does the word haratzofim mean? Haratzofim means to anticipate, like tzebically Yeshua. It means to anticipate, to see something from afar, to see something from a distance. This story is called Zooming In. You start off very far and zoom all the way in. They have a piece of technology today. I'm sure some of you have used it. It's like that thing where you could zoom in on a specific neighborhood. You could start all the way up in Shamayim and zoom in all the way on a specific neighborhood. You could zoom in all the way on a specific house.

16:44 The story doesn't begin from close. The story doesn't begin from Arbaiz. The story begins when you see the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash from afar. And with Tsarenu, that's the way we see the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. We see it from afar. So when they're standing at Haratz Ophim, anticipating coming to the Beit Hamikdash, standing in that distance They start to they already start to teirkria. The Gemara is not telling us the halach. We know the halach. The Gemara is telling us what avilos looks like when you're at a distance. It's the difference between paying a shiva call and being the one who's sitting in mourning. There are people that stand at Haratz Ophir And from a distance they terkriya. What does terkriya mean? For those that are in avelus It's a terrible thing. For those that are coming to pay a shiva call, is empathy A sense of amimo anochi but zara.

18:01 But that's not what these chamim do. These chamim are on a journey. It's a journey for every one of us. It's a journey to come to Harabayis. It starts by aras open, seeing it from afar. But they say we're not content to see it from afar. We have to get in close. It has to be real to us. We have to examine it. That's why. That's why it's possible. And I don't mean to be maotzi las on any yid Chas v'shalom, especially not today. But that's why it's possible for some yids to live so far away And in a certain in a certain way to go about their business. To go about their business. Right after October 7 A person that I was close with, and his mamish not their fault. I don't hold them accountable at all. I understand where it comes from. Right after October 7th, in November, at the beginning of November Somebody sent me a picture of their family on vacation in the Bahamas.

19:13 It broke me in so many ways. I can't possibly describe to you what it was like unless you were here. You have no idea what it was like in the weeks after October 7th. Nobody could possibly describe it to you. Everybody was doing whatever they could to support every single soldier, every single person. The whole country was in a state of terror. Children were being called up to the army. Miluniks. Everybody was in a state. We didn't know what was going to be. Is there going to be some crazy anti-B mission? Is everything going to be okay? We didn't know. The lack of sensitivity for a yid who lives in Chutz LaAretz. I'm not saying that they can't go on vacation, but the lack of sensitivity to go on vacation and send a picture of the Bahamas, Rabbi. I just want to let you know where I am.

20:09 You're so far. You are so far. I don't even know if they were standing by Haratz Ophir. Distance. Distance is not an excuse for cognitive dissonance. Just because you live in the five towns, or Muncie, or Florida, or Los Angeles, or Chicago You cannot be on any level disconnected from what's happening here in Eretz Yisrael. You cannot be disconnected from Harabayis. These holy tzaddikim that we have These four tzaddikim—Rav Amliel, Rav Lazar, Rav Azari, Rav Yosher, and Rav Kiva—tell us it starts by Haratzufim. You have to look at it. You have to gaze upon it. And then you have to zoom in. You have to get closer. You have to go to Harabayas. But when they arrive at Harabayas Something dramatic changes. They have two very different reactions. Their avelus increases And Ruvikiva He's not at a funeral anymore. Ruvikiva is laughing. What happened? Why does Ruvikiva change course?

21:23 Why, as Rabbi Akiva gets closer, does he have a fundamentally different experience? Jews are known for being people of laughter. Zadik Yitzchak, his name was laughter. But Titzchak Diomacharon, we're going to laugh ultimately in Olam Habah and the times of Mashiach. It's going to be tremendous laughter. It's not an accident that some of the great comedians were Jews. We are a people who know how to laugh. What is a joke? A joke is an unexpected ending. A great joke comes out of nowhere. When you hear the punchline. I didn't see it coming. That's why, if the setup isn't so good, what do people say? I saw that punchline coming from a mile away. The best joke is when you didn't see it coming. The comedian was taking you in one direction, and then all of a sudden you ended up somewhere completely different. So now we understand why Rava Kiva turns to these chachamim and he says, "Why are you crying?"

22:33 You know what he's saying to them? In this ma'akam ha-mikdash, in the Kodesh Hakodashim, when you see that fox coming out of the Kodesh Hakodashim Rabbeinu Yisrael, didn't you get the punchline? Didn't you get the joke? So it's understandable now that Rava Kiva. Is laughing. To Rivka, something changed dramatically. The joke was told. The punchline was delivered. He's belly laughing. They can't understand him. Why are you laughing? They didn't get the joke. He says, seriously, you didn't get the joke. Why are you still crying? You didn't get the joke. I understand when we were standing at a distance. When we were standing at a distance, it looked terrible. But now that you're here, don't you understand what's happening? We have no idea what's happening. So he said, "Have a wife crying." So their response was not just churban. Because churban was something they already experienced by haratzotchem.

23:42 Churban was something they experienced from afar. Now they get closer. What do they say? The hazar akar of yumas. If you walked into this place, you die. It gets worse as you get closer. They're describing more than just korban. They're describing the pain of not just stam. It's destroyed. It's desecrated. We got closer and it got worse. Rav Akiva says, "Chevre, you missed the punchline." Lekhach ani metzachik. Exactly the reason why you're crying is exactly the reason why I'm laughing. The fox was the punchline. The fox was the joke. You saw the fox and you saw desecration. I saw the fox and had a completely different understanding of the situation. It's not churban into desecration. As we'll see in a moment. It's not even churban anymore. Something dramatic changed. When Rava Kiva saw the fox coming out of Yerushalayim So what does Rava Kiva explain?

24:53 He says, "Chaver, if I'm going to explain to you the joke" Then I need to explain to you first the setup. Of course, Rabbi Gamliel, Rabbi Lazar, and Rabbi Yishua. They knew when these neviim lived. They knew Tanakh. That wasn't the question. Rav Akiva wants to show them, Chaver, look how far apart it is, and then you're going to see how close it comes together. This one is prophesizing in this time, and this one is prophesizing in another time, and this one is saying Betsiom Betsiom Sade Techaresh, that its mamash is going to be plowed under And this one is saying you're going to see that the elderly people are going to be walking in the streets of Yerushalayim. What's one got to do with the other? He says it's the zelbazach. It's the same thing. These things that you think are very far apart are exactly the same thing. That's the joke. The joke is that these two things that seem to have nothing to do with each other are exactly the same thing.

25:54 And what does he mean? So it goes like this. Of course, Rav Akiva knew that there was going to be a binyan bayis shlishi. Of course, Rav Akiva believed in Mashiach. That was not the question. Question was like this And this is the deepest Torah in all of Torah. Rabbi said, "There's such a thing as a black hole." What is a black hole? A black hole is a star whose gravity is so strong that the star collapses in on itself. And the gravity is so powerful that the illumination of the star doesn't come out of it. A black hole is filled with light. A person could make a tragic mistake. And they could think to themselves, "I look at the black hole. What's the definition of a black hole? By definition, what's a black hole? It's the absence of light. A black hole is a star.

27:05 A black hole is illumination. It's not that you have to illuminate a black hole. It's when you understand what a black hole really is. What do you find? That's where you find the greatest illumination. It's a star. It is illumination. Rav Kiva says, "Chaver, you missed it. You missed the joke. The joke is that the korban that you are seeing, it's not a korban. It's a black hole." When the Navi said that in Zion it's going to be plowed under, Rav Kiva says I didn't realize what that meant until this moment. That the darkness itself becomes the nevuah. It becomes the nevuah that there are going to be elderly people standing in Yerushalayim. There are going to be elderly people walking around in Yerushalayim. It's not two different nevuahs. It's one nevuah. The destruction, the gravity of the star collapsing in on itself. It only appears to us to be a black hole. It is illumination.

28:13 This is the secret of Yiddishkeit. This is the reason why all of our grandparents and great grandparents, for generation upon generation, were able to survive in the greatest darkness. How do you survive in the darkness? How do you rebuild after a Holocaust? How do you rebuild after a Crusades? How do you rebuild after October 7? Those yidden that sit and cry That they stay from a distance. Chaval, they stay from a distance. Those yidden don't know the secret of the darkness. They don't know how to look at it. They don't know how to come close to it. All they see is churban, and then they get closer and they see desecration. Where the kiva teaches us the most important lesson in the world. Rabbi says, stare at it. Stare at it and look deeper. And when you don't want to look because it's too vulnerable to look When you don't want to go to Nova because you're scared to go to Nova, when you don't want to go to that soldier's levaya because you don't want to see that mother tearing Kriya, because you don't want to see that father who'll never get to give his son a bracha again before Shabbos.

29:22 You want to look away and you want to walk away because maybe Maybe they were your neighbors. See if you see from a distance If you're living comfortably in Miami, or comfortably in Monsey, or comfortably in Chicago. So you read about it in the news. Mach soldier was killed. Mach soldier was killed. You continue eating your cereal. What can we do? You're not even standing by Haratz Olam. You're not even looking. You're not even gazing a little bit. Those are somebody's children. They're your cousins. They're your brothers. They're my neighbors. They're your neighbors. Nobody wants to be by that shiva. I didn't want to go to Mrs. Knoll. I didn't want to have to look her in the eyes. To watch her put on a brave face To watch her smile at all the people that came to be menachemavol She sat there like a tzadegas Like a heroine Giving up pictures of her son.

30:53 We came to be menachim her, and she was menachim us. She kept trying to make us feel better. You think I didn't want to run? I didn't want to stay there. I didn't want to go to Eli Moshe's Lavaiah. Eli Moshe's littlest was the sweetest boy in the world. Imanes grew up in my parents' house. And I couldn't stay by the Lavaiah. I went, but I couldn't stay. Because it's so hard to look. I didn't want to see Mr. and Mrs. Zimbalist. When I was walking down the stairs to the basement hall, I wanted to run. Cause who wants to look at it? Who wants to stare? It's easy to keep eating your cereal because you could just pretend everything is okay. We don't do that. Our grandparents didn't do that. Our grandparents kept walking. They went from Haratz Ovim to Harabayas. And they saw the light.

32:08 They understood that a black hole is just light trapped inside. There is no darkness in a black hole. It's just light that can't get out. The darkness is the light, like Vizara Kader says. That's why they were able to be rebuilt. A yid is never defined by its tragedy. After the Holocaust The hidden came to America and they came to Eretz Yisrael and they rebuilt in ways that were unimaginable. If you would tell our grandparents, go back to Maidanek If you would go back to the Warsaw Ghetto and you would whisper in the ears of your great grandparents and you would say to them, "You should know" Your great grandchildren are going to be in Beit Meir on Tishah B'av in a beautiful country. And in just a couple of hours, they're going to be at the kumsitz of the world, and they're going to be singing at the Kotel.

33:10 They're going to be singing Ani Mamen. Our great grandparents would have said, "Of course they will be" Because we're going to get out of this. Netzach Yisrael lo yishakir. It's not the end. It's just the korban right now. But of course they're going to rebuild this. Was always going to be the end of the story. If you have the courage to look That's the big secret of Rav Kiva. It's the great punchline that all of the darkness of all of the exiles for all time They were the greatest light. That's why Rav Kiva is laughing. It's not an appropriate frame to laugh. Like I said before, that we're at a levaya, but Rav Kiva says, but one day there'll be tchiasa mason. He looks at the nifter and he says, he's not dead. He's not dead. You think he's dead? He's not dead. And one day it will be revealed that he was never dead.

34:14 One day it will be revealed that all of that korban was just a black hole, just the gravity didn't allow out the light. We are not at a funeral. We are. And the only reason we're at a funeral is because we don't have the courage to look beyond the desecration. Why is it dafka the elderly? Why isn't it the young? One of my favorite things in the world is to watch. When we went to the old city just a couple of weeks ago for Shabbos, isn't it the most precious thing in the world to see these little Yerushalmi kids running around in the rova on Shabbos afternoon? Isn't that the sweetest thing? Five-year-old and six-year-old and seven-year-old kids are growing up in Yerushalayim itself, a stone's throw away from the Beis Hamikdash. Why doctor the elderly? The deeper the roots, the taller the tree. This is what Rivka was nervous about.

35:18 He said, "Of course, there's going to be a Mashiach, and of course there's going to be a binyan by ishlishi. But if you want binyan by ishlishi to be eternal, we need to see how deep down the roots will go. If the roots go all the way to the bottom" The bais hamikdash will be eternal. Now that I see that the destruction was so exceptionally painful. Now that I see that was mamish plowed under, there's nothing left of the field. Now I know the Beis Hamikdash will be eternal. It was never a shaila that the Beis Hamikdash would be rebuilt. It was never a shaila if Mashiach would be coming. That of course, Rav Kiva himself wanted Bar Koziva to be Mashiach. The shaila was how in the world will it be eternal? How can it last forever? How will it be that even the old people will be walking? Rather, there'll be young people. But how will the old people last?

36:09 The answer is the destruction was so absolute that the building was so absolutely strong. The deeper the darkness, the more profound the light hidden within. Says the Gemara, now turning to us. This is exactly their response. Akiv v'nichamtanu, akiv v'nichamtanu. There's two nechamazir. There's the nechama of the darkness and there's the nechama of the light. In the end, once you see how everything was just one long joke. At the very end, now I see it was all one joke. It was all one long joke. How we got here? Totally unexpected end. At the end, it's good. Nevaledik. At the end, it's good. Talmud Abad Rakhon le'Tavavad. Everything is good at the end. That's one level of nechama. But there's a deeper level of mecham. The deeper level of mecham is this: in the end You'll find out that there was no darkness. That's the deepest mecham.

37:15 That everything you thought was painful, it was really just light. That's the highest mecham that we have. Why was Vekiva Zeicher the one to such an unbelievable revelation? Why not Rabbi Gamliel? Why not Rabbi Lazar ben Azariah? Why not Rabbi Yosheua? Rabbi Gamliel was the nasi of the Sanhedrin. His father was the nasi of the Sanhedrin. His grandfather was the nasi of the Sanhedrin. He was a descendant of David Hamelak. Rabbi Lazar ben Azariah was a Cohen. He was a tenth-generation descendant of Ezra Hasofer. Rabbi Yosheua was a lady. He's saying in the Beis Hamikdash. Says the Megala Amukos. You know where Rabbi Akiva's neshama was from? It was in the heel of Esav. Yaakov Avinu was named Yaakov Avinu because he grabbed onto the heel of Esav. What's the significance of grabbing onto the heel of Esav? He took out the soul of Revaqiva. He extracted the soul of Revaqiva from the heel of Esav.

38:19 Why can Revaqiva see the light in the darkness? Because Revaqiva is the light in the darkness. The darkness of Esav is where Revaqiva is born. Those chachamim, those tzaddikim They live up on top. They see the darkness and it devastates them. But those people born in the darkness know its true nature. When the star collapses and you can no longer see the light, Rav Kiva is the one inside of the collapse. He understands it, so he starts to laugh. Rav Kiva is Ben Gairol. Rav Kiva wasn't from until he was 40 years old. Just like Moshe Rabbeinu, we lived until 120. How did Rav Akiva reach that level like Moshe Rabbeinu? The Targum says he was born in the darkness. He understands the darkness. He is the light in the darkness. So Rav Akiva can discern it. And so I say to you On our level and in our way and in our time.

39:24 Which of course is not exactly like our grandparents had it, Baruch Hashem. But it is the biggest bracha in the world to be living right now in the darkness Because now you too have a quality of revakiva. You're living in the darkness. You're being brought up in the darkness. You're 16 years old and you're here in Eretz Yisrael, looking at the darkness. You went to the Levanon. So you have an element now, like your bekiva inside of you. It's not a day to do tshuva. It's not a day to go around doing chesed. Every day is a day to do chesed. If you have the chance to do chesed today, you should do it. It's not a day of chesed today. It's a day of staring. To be misavel in Yiddishkeit doesn't mean to sit on the floor and just go through the motions. And because kiddush are hard for us Because we don't necessarily understand what's really being said inside of them, it's very difficult for us. It's very poetic; we don't get the messages, so we have to have rabbanim that get up and give speeches to explain each one, and that's good and that's understandable for our generation.

40:37 But a yid could chas v'shalom make a terrible mistake. They could go to shul, sit on the floor, and listen from a distance. That's not what it means. To be misaval means to stare at To mourn, to grieve, to pay attention to the loss. Moshiach was born on Tishavah. It's a moed. Akivin lichamtanu. Rabbi Yisrael, we're not sitting in the darkness right now. We're sitting in the light. The aveilus tells us you're sitting in the light. The only way out is through. Want to understand what's happening? Sit down. Focus. Grieve. Feel it. You know that feeling after you have a good cry, and then afterwards you just take one deep breath. You know that breath after you just let it all out, and then you return to yourself. That's avelos. Avelos is watching people over and over again. Cry and cry, and keep taking that breath. That breath is born of the crying. That breath is the purest breath that you could possibly take.

41:54 It's the light that you discover within the darkness. In a couple of hours from now You're going to be by the Kotel. So you're going from Haratzolim, and by the way, I think you'll probably literally pass through Haratzolim on your way from Beit Meir. Don't sleep on the bus. Don't put in your AirPods. Don't watch. Don't listen to a she'er. Don't do anything. Look out the window. When you see the sign Parah Tzofim Spend a moment thinking about the destruction. And when you're at the Kotel and you look up Desecration. That's our mountain. That's our mountain. They put that big thing on it. It's desecration. There's a shul on Har Abayis. There's a fox going out of the Kodesh Hakodashim, and you could see it today. So you're going to have a Reuven Ammiel of Elazar ben Azariah of Yehoshua type of experience where you're going to say, How could it be? There's foxes running around on Har Abayis. Azarah Karov Yumas. How come they're not dying? How come they're not dropping like flies from being in that place? When you're singing Ani Mamin, stare a little bit deeper. See Ruvakiva. You are children who were born in the darkness. Don't let yourself miss the light.