...the spies returned from the new land on the 8th of Av and insist they'd rather go back to Egypt instead of facing the Canaanites, the next day, the 9th of Av, G-d made it clear that generation would not enter the land of Yisroel, only their children. The First Temple was destroyed in 423BCE on the same date. The Second Temple was destroyed five centuries later on the same date. Bar Kochba and his rebels were slaughtered by the boys from Rome on the same day in 133CE. The Jews were explelled from England on, yeah, the same day in 1290CE. March 31, 1492 Isabella and Ferdinand gave the Jews four months before they would be banished from their "kingdom", right again, the exact day fell on Tisha B'Av. WWI began the fire of the Holocaust in the Second World War and it began on.......yep, 9th of Av.
I awoke this morning around 4:45 to rain and wanted so badly to stay under the covers as my dogs chose to do. I rinsed my hands, gargled some water, relieved my organs, armed myself for holy battle with tefillin and began the morning Shacharit as Abraham did centuries ago. A few minutes into reciting the words to the pitch black raining and thundering sky outside the window where I was standing was this loud explosion and light sparkling. I thought, "damn way for Meshiach to enter the world during the nine days"! I soon realized it was a transformer in my neighbors backyard and continued praying but noticed something a tad eery in the small light I was using to scan the Siddur given to us by the hands of Shneur Zalman from the heart of the Arizal, Isaac Luria...the light was abnormally brighter than it usually was. Then I heard the oven making a weird noise, then the refrigerator and noticed most of my electricity was gone. But these weird lights were confusing me. Meshiach? You there? oh, utility issue.
I came to my senses and thought it might be wise to walked outside in the pouring rain and flip the main breaker. I then called our local utility company, MLGW, and explained that I was for the most part out of power but there was a weird voltage "thing" going on. "We'll have somebody come check it." An hour later my utilities returned to the odd behavior and I went back to my breaker box and the crap had been turned back on. I walked to the front yard and saw a service truck driving off. I called the utility company again and told them they had a problem more than breakers being tripped and they said they'd have somebody come back out in a tone that made me feel like I had awakened them. About half an hour later I heard someone hollering out front and thought it was again another sign of "strangeness" and stepped out on the porch and saw some guy in running shoes, no shirt, jogging in the rain with his cell phone but simply thought: "those runners are all the same...a bunch of vegan fanatics." As I walked back in the door I smelled it...
...I looked to the right and dark gray smoke was billowing out of my neighbors roof and realized why the "fanatic" was running in the rain with his cell phone. I ran to the house also and found my neighbor frantically trying to get a hose into his attic but by this time it was not possible to ward off the one hundred year old dried wood cracking in tandem with the rain and thunder.
I took the day off becasue I wished to stay close to the house until the power was back on and offer any assistance to my neighbor that might be needed. Teh power returned mid-afternoon and I soon realized my refrigerator had fallen victim to meshiachs sparkling entry earlier in the morning. I took a prepackaged container of vegetable pasta and set it in the microwave and...uh oh, another victim; it was gone. Then I sliced a tomatoe and sprinkled it with salt and pepper and turned on my IPod station and UH OH, another victim. OK, that's three, "no more hashem" I said. I had two slices of pizza in the "fridge" which was approaching 48 degrees and figured they were still alright to eat. I made my way to the den and picked up the remote and, you guessed it..."FRIED". Huh. Self pity is so consuming and then I remembered...
...the first thing my neighbor came running out his house with was his guitar and it broke my heart. He had already secured his dogs but of all other things the strings to joy were his next most important belonging.
I sat back and munched on my tomatoe and thought about the nine days leading up to Tisha B'Av and thanked hashem for my cozy chair, job that I can call-in without repercussions, three dogs, good food, and the emerging sunshine.
May we move in health and usher the coming days of the Temple's rebuilding with speed.
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