"Tu B'Av,Torah and the Generations of the Spies"
*Tu B'Av is a great day for the jewish people.The date commemorates a number of joyous events in our jewish history.And one of them is that On this date the generation of the wilderness ceased dying.Due to the sin of the Spies,600,000 jews of The generation of the midbar were not permitted to enter the land except Yehoshua, Kalev and the newborn generations.As we know the 600,000 Jews who were subjected to the penalty of "In this wilderness you shall be destroyed(bemidbar 14:29)." 15,000 would die every Tisha B'Av.The people who sinned in believing the spies used to dug holes for their graves and laid down in them on Tisha B'Av night to wait for Hashem to take away their lives.But on the last Tisha B'Av in the wilderness,fifteen thousand men dug their own graves and waited.But God granted them a reprieved and they survived.However,when they arose on the morning of that Tisha B'Av,they did not know that they had been spared.Instead,they concluded that they must have been mistaken in calculating the date.They therefore lay down in the graves every night for the following five nights.When the fifteen of Av arrived and they saw the full moon, they knew that their calculations had been correct and realized that since Tisha B'Av had passed, the decree must have been rescinded.They therefore observed the date as a day of celebration.
It is said that whenever R'Mordechai Leib Kamenetzky happened to wake up at night---even if it was just an hour after he had gone to bed---he would immediately get out of bed and sit down to learn Torah till morning.Once, when asked about the meaning of this custom, he replied simply,"what is there to be surprised about?"
He went on to explain that,In his youth,he was stricken with a serious illness,so serious that he was near death.The doctors despaired of finding a way to save him---but Hashem willed otherwise.R'Mordechai Leib recovered completely.
"I learned an important lesson from that episode,"he said."I deserved to die at that point,but Heaven put off the decree for a later time."
He went on to speak of the Generation of the Midbar,who sinned in believing the spies who spoke badly about Eretz Yisrael.The people dug holes in the ground and laid down in them on Tisha B'Av night to wait for Hashem to take away their lives.Many of them fell asleep in those holes.when they awoke in the middle of the night and they saw that they were still alive,they understood that they would continue to live for another year.
Did they remain in their holes until morning?Of course not!They jumped out at once,and dedicated to Torah and Good deeds the year of life they had been granted.For through "Torah" and "Good deeds" Hashem is happy with Us and It will help in the coming of Messiakh and the rebuilding of Beith Hamikdash.
That same feeling comes over me every night,"R'Mordechai Leib concluded,smiling."When I wake up and see that I am alive,I can't just go back to sleep.I jumped out of my bed at once,and learn Torah till the morning light."
To all my Baalei Tzedeka Members, And so it is.Tu B'Av is not a simple day.Its a great day for us meaning jewish people and especially for us as we all know that It is our anniversary day.From Tu B'Av,Hashem is near to us and It is good to add periods of Torah study at night from this date through the end of the winter--over and above the periods of study set for the day.Khaverim!!Lets be strong in every good we do and May Hashem through this day help us begin a new start in all our spiritual growth once again.
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