Parshas Nasso (5779)
As the holiday of Shavuos (the “Festival of Weeksâ€) was leaving us this week, we were all sitting around the Shabbos table enjoying a Ne’ilas HaChag.-- [lit. “locking of the festivalâ€, a small celebratory meal marking the end of each of the “Three Festivalsâ€, Passover, Shavuos and Sukkos, replete with food, drink, singing and shared words of Torah – when one of my kids shouted out, “Hey! Now that Shavuos is over, there are no more Jewish holidays all the way until Rosh HaShanah!â€
This got me thinking about the next holiday in the Jewish calendar … and I realized that my kid got it only partially right. You see, as it stands right now, there are no more Jewish holidays until Rosh HaShanah.
However, should the King Messiah reveal himself this summer, build the Third Temple in Jerusalem, and gather to Israel all the Jews in exile (hey, anything’s possible!), then according to Jewish tradition, the saddest day of the year, the Fast Day of Tishah B’Av, (this year Tishah B’Av begins on Saturday evening August 10th), upon which we presently mourn the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and the exile of the Jewish people from their land, will become a Jewish holiday and one of the happiest days of the year!
As Maimonides writes in his Mishneh Torah, Laws of Fasts (5:19):
“All these [commemorative] fasts will be nullified in the Messianic era and, indeed ultimately, they will be transformed into holidays and days of rejoicing and celebration, as [Zechariah 8:19] states: "Thus declares the Lord of Hosts, 'The fast of the fourth [month], the fast of the fifth [month], the fast of the seventh [month], and the fast of the tenth [month] will be [times of] happiness and celebration and festivals for the House of Judah. Judah. And they shall love truth and peace'â€
Now wouldn’t that just be incredible?? Another beautiful Jewish holiday smack in the middle of the summer?!
Problem is that there is a reason why the Messiah hasn’t shown up yet (although I am sure he would love to if he could). As the Sages teach us in the Talmud in Yoma 9b, “Why was the Second Beis HaMikdash (Temple) destroyed? Because of sinas chinam, senseless hatred of one Jew for another.†And so long as we continue this sinas chinam, and can’t get along with each other as we should, the Messiah can’t come and rebuild the Temple.
Now just to get technical here for a moment about the parameters of the sin of sinas chinam, baseless hatred:
One of the 613 mitzvos in the Torah is the negative commandment not to hate your fellow Jew. As the Torah commands us: "Do not hate your brother in your heart…" (Leviticus 19:17). This means that even if we do not say a word against our fellow Jew, if we harbor hatred in our heart when it is prohibited to do so, we have violated this commandment.
What is the minimum measure of the violation of this commandment? The Chafetz Chaim explains that according to Halachah (Jewish law), if the person is someone we generally speak to regularly and we do not speak with him for three days because of our feelings of hatred or anger toward him, then halachically, that already constitutes sinas chinam. and we have violated the commandment of hating our fellow Jew.
So it looks like the only way we are going to have a Jewish holiday on Tishah B’Av this summer is if we can quickly rid ourselves of sinas chinam … and I have just the remedy.
The Chafetz Chaim writes in his Mishnah Berurah (239:1:9) that before retiring for the evening it is proper for one to examine his deeds of that day; should one discover an ill deed he should pray for forgiveness and undertake to correct his ways. It is also proper for one to forgive those who have wronged him. In merit of this one will attain long life. Accordingly, many recite the following prayer before beginning the Bedtime Shema and going to sleep:
“Master of the universe, I hereby forgive anyone who angered or antagonized me or who sinned against me - whether against my body, my property, my honor, or against anything of mine; whether he did so accidentally, willfully, carelessly, or purposely; whether through speech, deed, thought or notion; whether in this incarnation or another incarnation – I forgive every Jew. May no man be punished because of me. May it be Your will, L-ord, my G-d and the G-d of my forefathers, that I may sin no more. Whatever sins I have done before You, may You blot out in Your abundant mercies, but not through suffering or bad illnesses. May the expressions of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart find favor before You, G-d, my Rock and my Redeemer.â€
Imagine what would happen if each and every Jew would say this prayer (in Hebrew or English or any other language) before going to sleep at night, and sincerely forgive anyone who sinned against him. If no hatred or anger lasts for three days because everyone forgives his fellow Jew after one day, then sinas chinam will be abolished … and this summer we will all celebrate together in Jerusalem the brand new Jewish holiday of …Tishah B’Av!!
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