As we prepare for the national day of mourning Tisha Ba'av, it is important to try and reflect on what we are really missing with the destruction of the Holy Temple and the exile of our people. We are generally involved in our daily lives and engulfed in our own personal struggles and difficulties. We lack the understanding of what it means to have the Holy Temple and for our People to be living an uplifted, spiritual existence.

The Chasam Sofer- related a parable to illustrate this idea:

There was a boy who lost his father and mother, and his family house was taken. He was left orphaned and destitute. A man saw him in the town square weeping and went over to him to ask him what was wrong. The boy said that his favorite toy just broke. The Jewish People have lost the most important things in our existence but we don't realize this, instead we are concerned and cry about our favorite toys that are broken. Of course we should cry out and ask Hashem to fix our "broken toys" but we must understand our true situation and not make the broken toys our main focus. 

A similar parable is related by the Dubna Maggid: 

There was a very wealthy man who sent his five sons away to study. One day one of his sons Reuven became ill. The doctors who evaluated Reuven said that he has a rare fatal disease and the only way to cure him is by administering a very expensive medicine. Reuven's brothers assured the doctors that there is no reason to worry as their father is very wealthy and would be able to send the money needed to pay for the medicine. The brothers sat down and started to write a letter to their father asking him to send money. They began the letter "Dear honorable father- we ask you to send $100 dollars to pay for Shimon's (one of the five brothers) glasses that broke, $500 dollars so Levi (another brother) can repay a loan, $200 for Eliezer so he can buy food, and a very large sum so we can by life saving medicine for Reuven". When the father read the letter he was happy that his sons were asking to help their brother but he couldn't believe that all of their other requests were primary and the life-saving medicine for Reuven was the last of their priorities.

Let's try to focus on what we are really missing and understand the situation that our People are truly in.

May we all merit to see the Final Redemption and the rebuilding of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

May these words be a merit for a speedy recovery for Miriam bas Gittel.

Shabbat Shalom,

Heath