Community Magazine August 2019

20 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE Home&Stone FIXTURES FAUCETS HARDWARE ACCESSORIES 1663 Coney Island Ave Brooklyn NY 11230 Valet Parking Appointments Welcome 718.787.1000 homeandstone.com @homeandstone לעילוי נשמתם של משה בן עליזה, יצחק הלל בן עליזה, והנרייט לאה בת עליזה, דוד בן גילה, רבקה בת גילה, יהושע בן גילה, משה בן גילה, שרה בת גילה, יעקב בן גילה, ואליאנה בת גילה. ולרפואה שלמה ליוסף בן אהובה מסעודה, שילת אהובה בת עליזה, ודניאל בן עליזה. level of joy on these days. But in the future, the festivity of these days will be restored, and they – like Sukkot – will be exuberantly celebrated as “ zeman simhatenu .” Another “match” which I found has to do with the final day of each of these two 21-day periods. The final day of the Three Weeks is Tishah B’Av – which thus corresponds to Shemini Atzeret/ Simhat Torah. The saddest day of the year – Tishah B’Av, which we spend in the synagogue sitting on the floor and mourning, is associated with the most joyous day of the year – Simhat Torah, which we spend in the synagogue dancing with great excitement and joy. In our state of exile, these two days are polar opposites of one another, but in the future, Tishah B’Av will be returned to its original state, to its essence, and will be observed as a day of great festivity, like Simhat Torah. In truth, the association between Tishah B’Av and Simhat Torah is even more fascinating. When Gd speaks to the prophet Yirmiyahu to inform him about the impending destruction, He shows him the image of a branch of an almond tree – “ makel shaked ” (Yirmiyahu 1:11). The meaning of this vision, Gd clarifies, is that the destruction would unfold rapidly. Rashi explains that the almond grows very quickly, and thus symbolizes the haste with which Jerusalem would fall to the Babylonians. Specifically, Rashi writes, it takes an almond 21 days to grow on the tree after the tree’s blossoming – and thus the “ makel shaked ” shown to Yirmiyahu symbolizes the 21 days from the siege of Jerusalem, on the 17 th of Tammuz, until the city’s destruction on Tishah B’Av. On this basis, we understand the cherished custom in our community to distribute mlabas – sweetened almonds – to the children in the synagogue on Simhat Torah. We firmly believe that our sacred, ancient traditions are not random or arbitrary; they are all anchored in Torah principles. And in light of what we have seen, we can explain why this particular food was chosen as the treat given to children on Simhat Torah. This holiday is the 21 st and final of the 21 special days – and is linked to Tishah B’Av, the culmination of the period of the destruction, which unfolded rapidly like the growth of an almond. And so we coat the almonds in sugar – representing our hopes and prayers for the “sweetening” of the harsh exile which we now endure, that Tishah B’Av will become a day of fervent celebration like Simhat Torah, and the bitter “almonds” of Jerusalem’s destruction will be transformed into the sweet “almonds” of joy and festivity. The Rabbi Who Wanted to Cancel Tishah B’Av The Gemara in Masechet Megillah tells that once, when the 9 th of Av fell on Shabbat – as it often does (and as it does this year, 5779) – Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, the redactor of the Mishnah, wanted to “cancel” the observance of Tishah B’Av. His view was that if Tishah B’Av cannot be observed on its actual date – the 9 th of Av – then it cannot be observed at all. And so in his opinion, in a year when the 9 th of Av falls on Shabbat, when it is forbidden to fast