Sinas chinam is still among us and is holding back the final Geulah, just as it brought about the Churban itself
IThas been both humbling and a bit stressful when people have approached me over the last few months asking why I haven’t written any articles in quite a while. Truthfully, it wasn’t a bout of writer’s block, but rather something much more difficult. The topic that I want to, or rather need to write about, is challenging and distressing. Challenging in that it is very difficult to be perceived as being mekatreig on Yidden, and even more so, distressing in that the message never seems to resonate with those who need it the most. But the words I’m writing come straight from my heart, and with Hashem’s help, will enter into the heart of at least one of the column’s readers.
While I don’t have any more knowledge of Heaven’s ways than the next guy, prior to the Three Weeks, deep down I thought we were finally here. After close to almost 2,000 years of suffering, wandering, and the fulfillment of every word found in the Tochachah, galus was finally coming to an end.
A careful study of the Mishnah at the end of Maseches Sotah describing the events preceding Mashiach’s arrival seems to read like a report of current events. We’ve suffered incomprehensible tragedies, like horrific car accidents and out-of-control buses; people without any political following are rising to top leadership positions; issues that have not surfaced since the founding of the State of Israel are now being debated; and the chinuch of our children here in the US, the medinah of chesed, is being called into question.
The past few months have brought so much pain to virtually every community that makes up the magical tapestry of Klal Yisrael. We’ve suffered the loss of the Sar HaTorah, Rav Chaim Kanievsky ztz”l; the Gaavad, Rav Yitzchok Tovia Weiss ztz”l; the rosh yeshivah of Yeshivat Porat Yosef, Rav Shalom Cohen ztz”l; and Rav Uri Zohar ztz”l. Klal Yisrael lost pillars of tzedakah and chesed with the passing of Reb Benny Fischoff z”l, Reb Yaakov Rajchenbach z”l, Reb Yankie Meyer z”l, and Reb Zecharia Wallerstein z”l, among others.
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