Feeling The Shechina’s Pain. Guest Vaad by Reb Sabra

The Talmud (Chagiga 5b) brings the following passage said to Yechezkel the Prophet. B’mistorim tivku Nafshi ,Hashem says “I cry in a hidden place”. The Talmud explains that Hashem has a place called Mistorim where he cries. Cries over what? Hashem is in pain and He is crying over the destruction of the beis hamikdash, and the long exile.

During the Three Weeks there is a lot of talk about feeling the pain of the Shechina. Hashem is in pain and we should feel it in us. How does one feel the pain of the Shechina? We don’t even understand the personal pain we’re supposed to feel over the churban, how are we supposed to feel Hashem’s pain?

(When the Jews were sent to Babel after the destruction of the first temple and they sat at the river of Babylonia they cried, what were the jews crying over? Bzuchrainu es Tzion, when we remembered the glory of Zion. They lost their homes, were exiled from their land, thousands upon thousands were cruelly murdered, yet what was their pain? Eich nashir es shir Hashem al admas neichor, How can we sing Hashems holy songs on foreign soil, the pain of Hashem, that is what they were crying over.)

On a national level its easier to feel Hashems pain. Israel is under attack, soldiers are in danger, and Jewish homes are being destroyed. The pain of kids-at-risk, or thousands of Jews intermarrying that we still can feel some pain over. But when our sages said “whoever the beis hamikdash wasn’t built in his lifetime it’s as if it was destroyed in his lifetime” they were talking on an individual level. Did you in your lifetime do anything to rebuild the beis hamikdash? Did you on a personal level connect with Hashems pain?

So how do we connect in our own personal way to Hashems pain?

R’ Shimshon Pincus relates a beautiful mashal: There was once a young man ,who needing to support his family, decided to become a singer at weddings, this way he can make money and be and gladden the bride and groom(a mitzvah no less) at the same time. Realizing that the bride and groom are the center of the show and he is just a hired hand he performed in such a way as to be performing for the bride and groom while not drawing attention to himself. As time went on and people started hiring him more and more he started forgetting himself and started thinking that people were hiring him for his performance and he started to put on a show at the weddings he was hired for. His performances were first class and slowly people started paying more attention to his performances than to the bride and groom. This being the case his business started faltering and less and less people would hire him till he was totally without work. This singer approached a friend and asked him why did people stop using me my performances were top rate what am I doing wrong? His friend answered him the following “Your right your performances are first class and if anything you’ve gotten a lot better than when you were when you started out, however you forgot one thing. What is that? asked the singer. You forgot that you’re performing at a wedding not a concert, at a wedding the singer is not the center of attention no matter how good he is, it’s the young couples night and your just hired to enhance their simcha, that is what you forgot to remember and that’s why your out of work now.
R’ Shimshon explains that Hashem created this world Lchvodo, for His Honor, (Avos 6-11) everything, including man, was created to serve Hashem. We were created to be the “singer” in Hashems world, through our every move that we do our every action we are supposed to bring out kvod shmayim, honor for Heaven, and help bring the world to its ultimate purpose which is to be centered around Hashem. However as time moved on and we became comfortable and successful in this world we forgot our purpose and started thinking that we are the center of everything and Hashem is just there to give us what we need ,food, health, money, family, in order for us to be the center of the show.(R’ Shimshon points out that in perek shira(a song composed by king david where all of creation sing a song to Hashem) all of creation is singing to Hashem, except man(for man isn’t mentioned in this song), all man does is ask Hashem for things but doesn’t think of praising him, for isn’t man the center of it all and doesn’t he deserve it all??)

Most of us live our lives in this way, we work for our next vacation, to see pleasure and pride from our kids, to be able to enjoy life, everything is about me and my pleasures and my enjoyment (or my pain). We all daven three times a day, learn our our daily learning schedule (whatever it is) and even give lots of charity , because without that Hashem won’t give us what we need in order for us to enjoy life, but that everything we do should be to add to kvod shamayim there are very few amongst us that live that way.

However there comes times(usually around yomim norim(days of awe rosh hashana and yom kippur) time) that we get that feeling this isn’t the way its supposed to be and we get this voice within us going “Hashem we really want to serve you that you are really what its about”. Sometimes we even feel a bit of pain and regret that we aren’t living the way it should be, that we should be focusing more on connecting with Hashem through our davening, learn a little more, speak less Lashon Hara and teach our kids with the right torah values. That voice, that pain is Shechinta Bgalusa(the shechina in galus) the shechina is crying from within us that we are heading away from our purpose and to please return back and make Hashem the center of our lives and worldview. Usually this voice and the pain are pushed back down and out of our minds, after all life goes on.

Our job during the Three Weeks, in feeling Hashems pain is to focus on that voice and let it scream out and feel that pain in your heart. Listen to your inner voice and even if you don’t do anything to change (that’s a job for Elul and Rosh Hashana)at least you are feeling the pain the Shechina is feeling, and then we can focus on what it would take to actually do something to bring the Ultimate Complete world where Hashem will be the center of the world, and we will merit to see in the Shechinas joy.
Kol hamisavel al yerushalyim zocheh vroeh bsimchsah bbm”a
Whoever mourns for Jerusalem, will merit and see it’s rebuilding.