July 30, 2025

Uncovering the Root of Jewish Mourning: Torah's Place in Our Lives

The Nine Days leading to Tisha B'Av stand as a stark reminder of loss, reflection, and spiritual reckoning. Through the discomfort of these days—likened to the feeling of putting sweaty socks back on after golf in scorching heat—we're called to confront the deeper discomfort of our spiritual priorities. Why did the Temple fall? When the sages posed this question directly to God, His answer was clear: "They forsook my Torah." The Gemara elaborates that this refers specifically to failing to m...

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Season 8

The Nine Days leading to Tisha B'Av stand as a stark reminder of loss, reflection, and spiritual reckoning. Through the discomfort of these days—likened to the feeling of putting sweaty socks back on after golf in scorching heat—we're called to confront the deeper discomfort of our spiritual priorities.

Why did the Temple fall? When the sages posed this question directly to God, His answer was clear: "They forsook my Torah." The Gemara elaborates that this refers specifically to failing to make a blessing before Torah study—a seemingly minor oversight that reveals a profound misalignment. When we treat Torah casually, when we don't credit its significance in our lives, we create the conditions for spiritual exile.

This perspective transforms our understanding of the Nine Days. Rather than simply mourning what was lost, we're called to examine what we place first in our lives. Do parents ask children about their Torah learning before anything else? Do spouses encourage and support each other's study? Is Torah truly the focal point of our existence, or have creature comforts and physical pleasures taken precedence?

The path to redemption lies not in elaborate rituals but in the simple act of blessing the Torah with true intention and making it central to our daily lives. When we demonstrate that we've learned from past mistakes by prioritizing our spiritual commitments, perhaps then God will see our teshuvah and rebuild what was lost. The Nine Days thus become not just a time of mourning, but an opportunity for realignment, renewal, and return.

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Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com



00:00 - The Nine Days Experience

00:57 - Why Zion Fell

01:37 - Blessing Torah First

03:13 - Call for Teshuvah

WEBVTT

00:00:01.762 --> 00:00:12.115
Nothing reminds you that it's the nine days, more than after a round of golf in the 98 degree liquid heat, having to put your sweaty socks back on before you run to Mars.

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Nothing else reminds you that it's the nine days and the pain, the suffering that we now endure because of previous decisions, like my job is being a Rebbe in the morning for 36 liquid boys.

00:00:24.250 --> 00:00:27.789
Say it facetiously, but we're not in a very facetious time.

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We're in a very somber time.

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We're at a time of the year that is a coming together, a closeness with God, that will be climaxing this Sunday, Tisha B'Av, the 9th of Av, with the saddest day of the entire year.

00:00:39.869 --> 00:00:45.203
We are going to mourn, to weep and to cry, and there's lots to cry about.

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I'd like today to wet our pot palette, to understand just a little bit about why we are crying, to earn a perspective, to make the days meaningful, make them real for us and for us to begin our talk.

00:00:57.710 --> 00:01:01.112
We don't need to imagine why we are crying, we don't need to make it up.

00:01:01.453 --> 00:01:15.170
The sages when they were perplexed, when the prophets were perplexed about why the land was lost, why Zion fell, why the base Hamikdash was burned and the children were exiled from the land.

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Nobody could answer it.

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The Gemara in the Dharam says until they proposed the question.

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They posed the question to the great Almighty and they said why is it that the land was lost?

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And Hashem answers Hashem Himself answers they forsook my Torah, they forsook my Torah, they forsook, they turned their backs on, they walked away and they did not hear my voice or nor follow my laws.

00:01:55.730 --> 00:01:57.947
The Gemara explains what does God mean?

00:01:57.947 --> 00:02:02.432
Not following my voice, nor following my rules?

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It means, in a very interesting turn of events, they did not make a blessing on the Torah before its study, and over the coming days we will elaborate upon what these words mean and how the Rambam understands it.

00:02:17.681 --> 00:02:42.050
But the most basic approach is that there are certain haphazard, lackadaisical under-crediting our perspective on Torah, Not making it as significant in our lives as it should be, Getting too caught up with our own creature comforts and physical pleasures During the nine days that we remember our poor decisions, a mold back then that led to the destruction If you don't need my temple or come to visit me, then hey, I'll burn it down.

00:02:42.050 --> 00:02:54.943
And it's therefore the time that we remember to bless the Torah first, meaning to make it the most important things in our life, that we wake up and we ask our children, before anything else, how was your day?

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The basics and how was your learning?

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When mothers send off their husbands to learn?

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Now go, enjoy learning and I hope it goes well and I hope you come back enthusiastic.

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And fathers, it's their job to be energized from their Gemara study and to make it exciting and to be first thing that they bless in the morning, the very first thing that they care about, and it should be the very focal point of our lives.

00:03:16.966 --> 00:03:18.730
It's what we are, it's what we do.

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That's the morning that we have these days of what are poor decisions in the past, and the immediate response is to wake up in the morning and to bless Hashem's Torah, to say it with kavanah and to continue to live your day, making Torah the most significant thing in your life.

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And maybe, if Hashem sees that that we followed His ways, we heeded His call and we blessed, we made a blessing on the Torah first, maybe then Hashem will see our tshuva and rebuild the Bes HaMikdash from here.

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Be a man.