"Let Us Search And Examine Our Ways And Return To Hashem."

"Let us search and examine our ways and return to Hashem.

Let us lift our hearts with our hands to God in heaven.

'We have transgressed and rebelled -- You have not forgiven...'"

-Eicha 3:40 - 42

We have a bunch of things going on in this country now. The building freeze, pressure from Obama for everything, Gilad Schalit deal/no deal, stupid supreme court, etc.

You know, some people are for giving away terrorists for Gilad, and some are against. I understand both sides, and people protest, yes, no. In the end though, it's not our decision, it's Netanyahu's decision. He might be swayed one way or the other, but in the end, he's the decision maker. Which then made me realize that we can't change the outcome, because what it really means is that Hashem is going to decide, as the Gemara states (and as I have talked about before) world leaders don't have free will. The real way to protest, is to daven to Hashem, to do teshuvah, that Hashem may forgive us for our misdeeds.

We're not really supposed to rationalize why Hashem has certain things happen, but I feel like maybe the building freeze happened because we didn't deserve it, maybe K'lal Yisrael as a whole was rejecting the land. So Hashem says, "That's how they feel? Ok then..." and here we are, no building for 10 months, may it not be longer. I could be totally wrong, and you can argue with me, but that's how I feel.

Truth is, we don't know what's a punishment -- is giving back the 1,000 terrorists the punishment, or the not giving? On the one hand, BH Gilad would be back with us in one situation, and the other, at least the terrorists aren't let out. On the other hand, Gilad would still be in captivity, and in the other situation, the terrorists would be freed and would have the potential to do more attacks, ch"v. If one of those terrorists is someone who I personally caught, and now he's let go, it's like, then what the hell did I catch him for in the first place?

Anyway, my point is that really we don't know what a punishment is from Hashem and what isn't. We never really know. Someone lost their job. Punishment? Well...he got a new job and now he's happier than ever. Maybe it wasn't a punishment...? Maybe the firing was the punishment...? Who knows?

I digress....

I believe we are indeed, being punished, as a whole, by the fact that Mashiach isn't here yet. We're not on that level. We haven't done enough mitzvos, enough acts of kindness, etc. We have to daven, ask forgiveness, learn the lessons from 9 B'Avs that came before us. The Ultimate day of forgiveness, Yom Kippur, is coming soon, 2 months from Wednesday. No better day to start than today.

I can never not mention the story of the navi, Zechariya ben Yehoyada (another topic I have spoken about before), who was killed in the Beis Hamikdash (B"M) by Klal Yisrael, for protesting King Yoash's placement of an idol there. Can you imagine how corrupt, how sinful, how evil they were to have done that? They placed an idol in the Beis Hamikdash, and, in the Beis Hamikdash, killed the guy who protested the action. The most holiest place on Earth, now desacrated by a dead body. Not just a dead body, murder! And this wasn't right before the B"M was destroyed -- it was 250 years before. This still amazes me...

I would like to finish by quoting the end of R' Nosson Scherman's introduction to Artscroll's Eicha:

נפלה לא תוסיף קום בתולת ישראל
"The maiden of Israel has fallen; she shall rise no more." (Amos 5:2)
A tragic, frightening prophecy.
In Eretz Yisrael, they punctuated the verse differently and read it this way:

נפלה ולא תוסיף - She has fallen, she shall not fall again.

קום בתולת ישראל - Rise up, oh maiden of Israel! (Brachos 4b)
After more than nineteen centuries of fall, May Mashiach, born on 9 B'Av, finally come to redeem the buried holiness of this day and say to us, "You have fallen enough! Rise up, oh maiden of Israel!"