YU TORAH Three Weeks: Breaking Barriers By Mrs. Shira Smiles

The Shulchan Aruch states that anyone who is yirei shomayim, truly God fearing, should mourn the churban, the destruction of the Holy Temple. If mourning the destruction of the Temple is the province of this elite group, how are we who are not on such a high spiritual level to relate to this tragic event? The deeper question the Paamei Moed points out is why are we not pained? What is wrong with us that we do not mourn? If we realize that the Beit Hamikdosh was the medium of our connection to God through the korbanot (whose root means “close”), we will indeed mourn its destruction and be pained by not sensing Hashem’s presence close to us. As Rabbi Chaim Friedlander, the Sifsei Chaim, writes, a person who understands that his focus in life should be to bring glory to God’s name feels the pain of not having Hakodosh Boruch Hu nearby.