Shavuah Tov! Wishing everyone a blessed week with open and revealed good.
Today in the Jewish calendar we begin the three weeks before the 9th of Av, the saddest day in Jewish history, with the fast of the 17th of Tammuz.
These three weeks are a time when the Jewish people mourn the destruction of the first and second Temples.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe once visiting Camp Israel, was taken on a tour. Everything looked impressive, but as they were passing a storage room, the Rebbe asked for it to be opened. It was full of tables and chairs and covered in graffiti. The tour guide felt embarrassed and said “this graffiti was made to commemorate the destruction of the Temple.” To which the Rebbe responded: “to commemorate the Temple itself.”
The Rebbe was pointing out a fundamental concept-not only regarding the storage room, but about our outlook on destruction and life in general. The “Churban” (destruction of the Temple), is a temporary event. The Temple, however, is eternal. It is expressed in every single one of our thoughts, deeds, and actions. It is constantly being built in a spiritual level, and although they were once destroyed, in essence it still exists on this level.
Look at the world and your life as a construction site, look at the potential that lies within. Use the tools H”S has given you to build a part of the future redemption.
Although there is both exile and redemption. In exile we both mourn the destruction of the two Temples and what they represented, and at the same time we build the Third Temple with the new vision and lessons learned from the past.
Some excerpts taken from “Celebrating Destruction” by Chaya Strasberg @chabad.org
#easyfast #exileandredemption#17thoftamuz
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