by Editor
On Tishah B'Av, we sit on the floor and we cry.
There's a famous Gemara at the end of Makkos, where the Chachamim and Rebbe Akiva were walking,
when they reached Har HaBayis, the Chachamim began to cry. They saw a fox coming out of the Kodesh HaKadoshim. But Rebbe Akiva was laughing.
They asked him, “Why are you laughing?”
He answered: “If the nevuah that Tzion would be plowed like a field has been fulfilled, then we can be confident that the nevuah of Yeshaya, that the elders will once again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, will also be fulfilled.
Look around us today.
Am Yisrael has returned to Eretz Yisrael.
We have the elderly sitting in the streets.
We have children playing in the streets.
We’ve returned to Yerushalayim, and we are standing on Har HaBayis.
If Rebbe Akiva laughed back then, he would be singing and dancing now!!!
So, how can it be that our avodah today is to sit on the floor and cry?
Get up from the floor.
If you’re still in galus, get out of the galus. Come to Eretz Yisrael.
Wherever you are, come to Yerushalayim!
Let’s build the Beis HaMikdash!
As Chazal say, "Any generation in which the Beis HaMikdash is not rebuilt, it is as if it was destroyed in that generation."
By sitting on the floor and crying, we are perpetuating the churban.
We are keeping it going.
Why would we want to continue the churban?
The time has come for us all to come together, and rebuild the Beis HaMikdash, B'Mehara B’Yamenu.
And then, we will truly be zocheh to hear: Akiva Nechamtanu, Akiva Nechamtanu.
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