Tisha B'av 2017.
Enemies are the primary obstacle to quality of life. If they would just disappear, we could finally focus on our soul work instead of getting sidetracked by the need for self-defense. But it's not so simple.
During the three weeks our obligation is to decrease simcha. We focus on what is missing, bewail those lacks, and downgrade our devekut. That is what it means to mourn.
TISHA B’AV 5772 / 2012 By searching out the sliver of truth in contrary perspectives we acquire daat (the joiner of polarities) and build the Temple in our day.
How do we hope for mashiach with certain faith that he REALLY could materialize at any moment and yet also find a way to embrace our present moment with unconditional acceptance.
If it is true that causeless hatred prompted the Temple’s demise and only its opposite can save us…then we have got to find another way to disagree among ourselves.
In the month of Av, says Sefer Yetzira, the sense of listening is up for tikun. Our test is to not get hypnotized by voices that claim authority but do not embody Torat Emet.
The spies understood that crossing into the holy land would initiate a new era—now they were princes, but across the border, in the new world, they’d become obsolete.
Av is the month that includes the most fateful day in the Jewish calendar, Tisha B’Av, which is distinguished by its extremely fallen state and yet its extremely great potential.