There are holidays of closeness – Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot – and there is a holiday of distance – and that is the Ninth of Av.
Rav Shlomo Wolbe, z”l, developed a concept that he heard from his teacher, Rabbeinu Yeruchum Levovitz, z”l of a “Holiday of distance.” There are times built into the Jewish calendar that we are meant to feel far away from the presence of Hashem. This week, just as we entered the month of Tammuz, many of us feel that distance.
The Gemara teaches “all the gates are closed, except for the gates of tears.” These are understood to be the human tears that are shed in this world. Rav Shimshon Dovid Pinkus, z”l, explained that these tears are the tears of the Ninth of Av. He goes on to elaborate on the power of those deeply felt emotions that come on the Ninth of Av.
Perhaps we can understand that the times when we are feeling distance are the times when not only we are crying but Hashem is shedding tears as well. The Rabbis teach that there comes a time when Hashem becomes so overwhelmed that the Divine presence retreats into a hidden place. “There is a place that no creature can enter. Its name is mistarim (the hidden place), and there I (God) cry.”
I suspect that during these past two weeks God has retreated into that hidden place to cry Divine tears. This time of year, in advance of the three weeks between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av, is a time of feeling distance; and that distance was made even greater as a result of this unfathomable tragedy.
What is a response that might move us in a different direction?
On the heels of the Ninth of Av comes, the Shabbat of comfort. In fact, for seven weeks we read Haftarot that are meant to give comfort for the loss of the Temple. That time leads us into Elul, Rosh ha-Shana and Sukkot, “Holidays of closeness.” Such is the cycle of the Jewish calendar and such is the cycle of Jewish life, indeed all human life.
If only we could all learn to experience the closeness without walking through the darkness of the distance.
