MISC section - contents: Q Besides refraining from forbidden activities, how should one spend Tish'a b’Av? A The answer depends on the individual for a few reasons. As usual, some matters depend on the local minhag. In this case, it is even more individualistic, as different people arrive at the correct frame of mind in different ways. Furthermore, we have to be realistic. Not everyone who will refrain from a given practice will be sitting all day, crying about the Beit HaMikdash. I remember a group of people who were careful not to learn Torah on Tish'a b’Av, but they used the afternoon for an annual softball game. A little “leniency” on something more appropriate might have done them better. In any case, we will use halachot to arrive at a general approach to that which is more appropriate or less so. On Tish'a b’Av, two major concerns are behind various halachot that govern activities (other than those that are fast-related). One is to keep one’s mind on the aveilut (atmosphere of mourning) of the day. The other is to refrain from things that we categorize as joyful. The mishna (Pesachim 54b) brings two minhagim on whether work is permitted on Tish'a b’Av and instructs to follow the local minhag. The main reason not to work is apparently the desire to keep one’s mind on aveilut (Mishna Berura 554:43). The Shulchan Aruch (OC 544:22) leaves the matter of the minhag open. (In the Beit Yosef, he reports a wide- spread practice of stringency, which some Sefardic poskim accept as a final ruling- see Torat HaMo'adim 8:24). The Rama (ad loc.) brings clearly the Ashkenazic minhag to refrain from work of an even moderately serious nature until chaztzot (midday). (The halachot are similar to those of Chol HaMoed and are beyond our present scope.) This leads us to the conclusion that until chatzot one should act in a way that keeps his mind on aveilut over national destruc- tion. This is supported by the minhag to refrain from preparing the night meal until chatzot (Shulchan Aruch 559:10), to sit on or near the floor, and to recite kinot until close to chatzot (Shulchan Aruch and Rama, 559:3). After chatzot, the main focus is on not doing things that are joyous. Of course, there are different levels of happiness and there is some distinction between activities that are formally forbidden and those that fall within the realm of the spirit of the law. Torah study is formally classified as something that makes one happy and is forbidden even for those who do not feel a strong, conscious joy. Only Torah topics that are objectively sad or aveilut-related are permitted (see a (partial?) list in Shulchan Aruch OC 554:1-2). There are sources and logic in either direction on the question of whether works of mussar (literally, rebuke) are permitted on Tish'a b’Av. The matter may depend on the nature of the work (the extent to which psukim, midrashim, and interesting philosophical insights are incorporated- see Riv’vot Efrayim I, 386). The spirit of the law is also expressed in the law. The Shulchan Aruch (ibid.:21) says that one should not stroll in the marketplace, lest he come to frivolity. The Mishna Berura (559:41) urges those with the minhag to visit the cemetery to do so in small groups to avoid it turning into “a happening.” These are just a couple of halachot which help set a tone and direction. A practice has developed to have daylong programs of talks on topics of soul-searching. While Tish'a b’Av is intended to be more a day of sadness than of self-improvement, most people are better served by taking part in such forums than staying home, attempting the difficult task of maintaining the proper frame of mind on their own. While the morning should focus on the kinot (recitation and/or explanation), the after- noon can be spent on forums of contem- plation and soul-searching. Lecturers and participants should do their part to ensure that the content and atmosphere are somber and do not foster socializing, which is against the spirit and halachot of the day (Shulchan Aruch 554:20). Ask the Rabbi Q&A is part of Hemdat Yamim, the weekly parsha
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Ask the Vebbe Rebbe is partially funded by the Jewish Agency for Israel "I will tell you a story", said R' Yoshe Ber. "Once there was a fire in a town and many people lost all their possessions. Some went sifting through the ashes to see what they might yet salvage, while others left everything as it was. Almost inevitably, whoever went through the ashes rebuilt his house soon after the fire, while the others generally never rebuilt their homes. "As long as we mourn for Yerushalayim and the Temple that
was destroyed, we can be sure that it will be rebuilt one day.'' Devarim is always read the Shabbat before Tish'a b’Av, which commemorates the destruction of both Temples. Our Sages tell us that any generation in which the Temple is not rebuilt must see itself as the generation in which the Temple had been destroyed. The reason is simple: if our generation has not merited rebuilding the Temple, it is because we are guilty of the same sins which caused the destruction. (This is especially true of sin’at chinam, needless hatred, which was the cause of the destruction of the Second Temple.) Facing the generation that was to enter the Land, the
generation which had not been involved in the sin of the spies, and
addressing it as if it were the guilty generation, Moshe means to issue a
warning not to repeat the sin of the previous generation. In essence, Moshe
is saying: if your generation fails to appreciate the Land of Israel and the
unique Divine Providence which the Land enjoys, then you indeed will be as
guilty as your fathers’ generation. This should not be understood as a prophet telling us a new aspect of Torah from G-d. This, we believe, cannot be. The Torah is not in heaven - as the Torah itself teaches us, and this means that a prophet cannot state in G-d's name something new in Torah. What Eliyahu HaNavi will be able to do is tell us that a Sanhedrin of old resolved a specific issue a certain way and that the resolution was lost somewhere along the chain of generations. Another way to understand Eliyahu's role in this area is not a a Navi but as a Rabbinic scholar. In other words, Eliyhu might be a Talmid Chacham and Posek of the highest order, able to paskin halacha (render a halachic decision) in areas where previous scholars were not able to do so. A prophet can tell us facts in G-d's name, but he cannot
introduce a new aspect of Torah. This for a prophet would be a capital
offense. Why, the commentators ask, was it necessary for the text to tell us that Moshe elaborated on the Torah when, as the beginning of the text asserts, he had already narrated everything according to G-d’s instructions? Harav Zev Soloveitchik responds by alerting us to the notion that each aspect of Moshe’s address was unique. Moshe initially spoke in the personal style of the prophet portraying the pitfalls that would befall the people as they adapted to religious life in a new land bereft of Hashem’s open miracles and fraught with idolatrous neighbors. But there was more than a Mussar lesson to be learned. The Rav explains that Moshe needed to teach the people how to observe the commandments, how to conduct their lives according to Halacha. He achieved this by speaking in a parlance that the people could understand. Rashi indicates that Moshe even repeated the laws in several languages; thus, the universal message of Torah would transcend time and place. O that in our times our contemporary teachers would follow suit! Shabbat Shalom Menachem Persoff [The Parshat D'varim Homepage]
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