So it is that time of year again, the three weeks. (starting from the 17th of Tamuz until Tisha B’av, where we mourn the destruction of the two Batei Mikdash and we long for the rebuilding of the third Beit Hamikdash)
What should be on our minds at this time? (no, not the elections! BELIEVE ME, THERE ARE NO POLITICAL SOLUTIONS FOR THE WORLD’S PROBLEMS….THE ONLY SOLUTION IS MOSHIACH)
And yes, that is what should be on our minds. Bringing Moshiach. Bringing the redemption of the Jewish people.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe once wrote in a letter the following:
From the time that I was a child attending cheder, and even before, there began to take form in my mind a picture of the future redemption–the redemption of Israel from its last exile, a redemption such as would explicate the suffering, the decrees and the massacres of galut…
That is a true Jewish leader. Even as a child he was worrying about how to alleviate the suffering of the Jewish people and bring the final redemption.
So how can we bring Moshiach?
Adding in deeds of goodness and kindness.
Adding in charity (which is a good thing to add during the three weeks anyhow)
Adding in ahavat yisrael, brotherly love (the main reason for the destruction of the Second Beit Hamikdash was sinat chinam, hatred without reason. The solution is to love everyone above and beyond reason, and to respect each other)
Doing teshuvah for any wrong doings
Let’s all add light. There is so much darkness in the world. We know that a little light dispels much darkness. Darkness has no real substance, no real existence. When we add in light it automatically gets dispelled . So let’s add in the light of Torah and good deeds and may we truly merit the coming of Moshiach now.
The three weeks are the time on the Jewish calendar commonly thought to be an “unlucky” mazal. It is a time when , G-d forbid, many calamities and problems befell the Jewish nation.
But , as we know in Chassidut, nothing “bad” comes from Above. Is this really a negative time?
It may look negative on the outside but the greatest down is for the greater up.
After Tisha Bav, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, we come to Tu Bav, the happiest day. From the greatest low point we come to the happiest time of the year.
So what does this mean practically speaking?
In your personal life, when things are down, when things are difficult, when things look terrible and we feel totally thrown off from all our problems, we have to realize it is all truly hidden good. Perhaps what is happening is an exchange. Something worse was meant to happen so it goes into these things. Perhaps it is so that we grow into better people. Perhaps it is so we develop a much better relationship and connection to Hashem.
But we can be sure that all the down times are going to lead to much greater happiness in the long run, both in this world and the next.
Therefore there is only goodness: some that we can understand and some that we have yet to understand. But it is all good.
When we look at life with that perspective, we realize the difficult times have a lot of hidden good inside them. We often grow the most from the most difficult situations. Nevertheless we pray everything in life should be with chesed, with rachamim, and not with gevura or harshness. The three weeks are a time we often associate with judgment, but in reality the Lubavitcher Rebbe said that now in these days so close to the redemption, we need to transform these three weeks into times of simcha, times of happiness. Then we will reveal how everything is truly good and we will merit the greatest good, which is the coming of Moshiach.