– on the eve of Rosh Chodesh Kislev I was at the Kotel to daven Micha. Upon my arrival before the time of davening, I discovered a large amount of Yidden in what appeared to be a session of mourning for the giving away of parts of Eretz Yisrael to others. Initially I felt somewhat turned off by the droning sadness of the man leading the davening. However, I was eventually overcome by a deep longing for the end of exile and felt the pain of generations of Yidden. Then in a moment that is all too rare at the kotel these days, almost everyone there prayed mincha together. I was extremely moved . Unfortunately, though, my moment of elation was shattered by the sadness of the person leading davening. Later, after the yeshiva prayed the evening prayer, I was again uplifted when we began to sing a beautiful niggun. I saw a frail old man whom I often see there, begging for money. As soon as he heard us singing he rose, smiled, and began to dance with us. What a sight to see! In my limited experience, one thing I have realized is that the dark side hates light. Have you ever been confronted by an angry person and smiled at him? He goes CRAZY. All of the wind is taken out of his sails. Yes, there is a place for mourning, but we must remember that it is simcha that will bring redemption. There is no place where this is more relevant than in Am Yisrael - mourning for so long. But for good reason; we’ve lost our Holy Temple. What reason could be stronger than that? Or a more relevant question: What can we do about it? As long as we stay separate and disjointed, as long as I can still blame other Yidden for preventing redemption and can shirk my own responsiblities, then we will continue to be in mourning, sadness, and exile.
This week’s parsha is mainly about the activities of Ya’akov. In the beginning of the parsha it says “Va’yifga Ba’makom”, read as “he encountered the place.” Rashi explains that the word Vayifga implies prayer. Our sources teach that Ya’akov instituted the evening p. Rashi also explains that all of the Land of Israel folded up under Ya’akov as he slept that night, bringing the Temple Mount under his head. The Sfat Emet explains that Ya’akov, in instituting the evening prayer, brought about the ability to bring light into dark places and was able to bring the Temple Mount to his place through prayer. How can we learn from this? What would it mean to bring the Holy of Holies to our personal space in prayer? Perhaps we must direct our prayers toward the geographical and emotional center of the prayers of all Yisrael, Jerusalem and the Holy of Holies, and through this work come to truly desire the wellbeing of all Israel in our prayers and actions. At that point we might merit that Hashem bring opportunities to us to be the ladder that raises up the lower worlds by understanding them to be very much in Hashem and His Will, and brings down the lights of the higher worlds into this world through words of Torah, active Mitzvot, and spreading Simcha in the world. This opportunity must be an opportunity for action, for Ya’akov used more than just prayer.
We are all the children of Ya’akov, children of Israel, each and every one of us intimately connected to each other and to the land. If there’s a problem with part of us, then there is a problem with all of us. Let us begin by joining together and express as one our sadness over not having the Temple, but also join together in action to do what we can to spread simcha, to give Hashem a joyous vessel onto which He will want to rest his Holy Shechina again.