Lessons of Tisha B’Av

The Torah reading for Tisha B’Av comes from Parshat Va’etchanan. It speaks of the time when we will be living peacefully in the land for an extended period of time. It is described as a time when you will be, “Old in the land.”

There is a warning here to stay away from complacency. There is a natural tendency of forgetting the source for the good life we are living. When things are going well, and we are living on a high standard, we might forget that it is Hashem who is providing us with all of our needs.

We must not become haughty and attribute our success to the work of our hands. We must never forget that success also comes from Hashem.

This is a lesson in Jewish History. We have seen this scenario play itself out on numerous occasions. The Rabbis pointed out אין אדם מורד בהקב״ה אלא מתוך שביעה, that man only rebels against Hashem, when he is filled up.”

Arrogance and haughtiness is never tolerated by Hashem. He wants to give us of His שפע, abundance. He only asks that we create within ourselves a type of vessel, to receive His abundance. When the vessel is full of our feelings of grandeur, there is no room in the vessel to receive this abundance.

This was the reading chosen for Tisha B’Av. It is meant to wake us up and realize that all of the suffering connected with this date, came about for this very reason.

It began with the spies losing faith and demoralizing our people. They cried for nothing, and this became a date of crying for generations. The formula is so simple, but it has eluded our people for so long. If we would only rely on Hashem, and serve Him diligently, there would be no more days of mourning or sadness in the Jewish calendar.