This week’s Parsha is very special because it contains some of the Yomim Tovim, the festivals. However, this week’s Parsha also coincides with a very sad time in Jewish history – the three weeks of mourning in which we mourn over the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. Why would the Parsha of the joyous festivals coincide with such sad times?
I would like to share with you a beautiful idea that I heard from my father, Rav Yitzchok Fingerer shlita: The Ruzhiner, Rav Yisrael Ruzhin says that there is a reason why Parshas Pinchas always coincides with the three weeks and that is to give us Chizuk – to give us encouragement and hope. It’s to remind us that even when we are experiencing the three weeks of mourning, the churbon – the destruction and desolation, we should realize that there is hope. There’s going to come a time when we’re going to go back to the Beis Hamikdash and celebrate all the festivals.
Rav Yosef Kahaneman zt”l, the Rosh Yeshiva of Ponevezh, tragically lost his entire family in the Holocaust. After the war, he made it to Eretz Yisroel. One day, two boys saw him standing on a mountain top holding a lantern. He was walking and pointing back and forth. The boys nearby thought that maybe Rav Kahaneman had discovered something. They asked him, “Rabbi what are you looking at?” He answered back, “Look! Over there is a Beis Medrash with several hundred boys learning.” He then pointed somewhere else and said, “Over there is a lunchroom. Over there, there is a dormitory with hundreds of beds.” The boys thought that the Rav became senile because of the war and his terrible experiences. They thought he lost his faculties, and he was seeing things that didn’t exist.
Years passed. These boys became men, and they ended up on the hill – the same hill where they stood with Rav Kahaneman years before. Suddenly, one of the men started crying. The other man was all shaken and asked his friend what had happened. His friend said, “Don’t you get it? Look over there – it’s a Beis Medrash! Over there is a Dining Room! There is the dormitory!” They couldn’t believe it. Whatever Rav Kahaneman dreamt of being built was built!
We all go through hard times. We must remember there is always hope! Never get depressed! Even when we are in dark times, we must dream big. We must remember that in one second everything could turn around. With Hashem’s help may we see ultimate redemption – the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash this year!
