1,955 years since the destruction of the Second Temple, this evening on Tisha B’Av, the Jewish people wrap themselves entirely with mourning to cry over the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Divine Presence.
Below is a lengthy prayer which our Rebbe Rav Eliezer Berland shlit”a wrote to be said before Kinot and Megilat Eicha:
To arouse mercy and to cause the illumination of the light to overcome the illumination of fire and to reveal the mercy of Hashem in the world
Ribono Shel Olam – Master of the Universe, Who can do everything, and that nothing can impede [Your] purpose from You, let me merit to spill my heart like water on Tisha B’Av during the saying of Kinot and Megilat Eicha. Let me merit to make rivers of tears to flow and oceans of weeping over the sins of my youth and my rebellions sins which have caused and which cause at every moment and second the destruction of the Temple, over the illumination of light which I have turned into the illumination of fire, over endless forbidden sights and contacts which ignite the fire of the Other Side and which raise the flames of the destruction, “Which of us can live with the fiery conflagration, which of us can live with the consuming fire,” which I with my own hands ignite every moment and second, a fire in Zion, as it is said, “He kindled a fire in Zion which consumed its foundations.” Please Merciful and Gracious One, Who can do everything, and that nothing can impede [Your] purpose from You, for how long will I serve You like the rote learning of human commands, for which all anguish is caused and oceans of tears would not be enough to atone for this, and especially over the death of Tzaddikim, which is twice as hard as the destruction of the Temple, and especially over the terrible killing of nine million who were in the Holocaust and the additional murders which have been from the Holocaust until our day, and all the terrible murders which happen every single day which I am the only one who is guilty for them, that in all my reincarnations I have only added sin to rebellious sin, and from iniquities I have crossed over to deliberate sins, and from deliberate sins I have crossed over to rebellions, and from today I mamash already rebel every moment and second against Your Might Presence, and drive away with my terrible arrogance the Divine Presence from the world, and cause what is written, “He carried out His decree” – He tore His royal garment, that the illumination of light has turned into the illumination of fire and the Temple has been burned, the Sanctuary of Hashem which is the garment of the Divine Presence and the Chasmal [the speaking silence] has turned to fire, to the three impure husks, the storm wind, the giant cloud, and the flashing fire, and it has been fulfilled in me what is written, “Inasmuch as this people has drawn close, with its mouth and with its lips it has honored Me, yet it has distanced its heart from Me – their fear of Me is like rote learning of human commands. Therefore, behold, I will continue to perform more wonders against this people – wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of its wise men will be lost and the understanding of its sages will become concealed.” And I in my many iniquities and rebellious sins have caused the wisdom to depart from the wise men, which is twice as hard as the destruction of the Temple, and in the darkness of my deeds, I have forgotten the verse which is said in Tehilim (139:12), “Even darkness obscures not from You; and night shines like the day; darkness and light are the same,” “Can a man hide himself in concealment and I will not see him.” Please Hashem, “Guard me, Hashem, from the hands of the wicked one, from the man of violence preserve me, those who have contrived to cause my steps to slip. The arrogant have hidden a snare for me and ropes, they spread a net near [my] footpath, they set traps, for me, Selah.” And wherever I turn, I shall only fear rebellion and the snares, for “Snares of death have preceded me” – awful lusts and forbidden sights, and blemished thoughts, “Knowledge is beyond me; exalted, I am incapable of it. Where can I go from Your spirit? And where can I flee from Your Presence?” Please Merciful and Gracious One, from the day that You created Your world, there has not yet been a lowly creature such as me, and also there will not be until the end of generations, and even so, specifically because of a lowly creature such as me, that there is none below me, specifically from me, “His great Name shall be exalted and sanctified.” Please, Merciful and Gracious One, please act for the sake of Your great and awesome Name which is called upon us, and that I shall merit to shed a river of tears, and it shall be fulfilled in me the verse that was said about Rabbi Akiva, “From the waters of the deep He fashioned rivers; He brings secret things out into the light,” and that I shall merit that through my weeping over the destruction of the Temple, that all my illuminations of fire shall be rectified, and that my spilling of tears shall extinguish the fire of lusts burning in me day and night without pause, without interruption of a second, and that I shall merit that through my tears which I shall spill like rivers and lakes, turn all my bloods which are burning within me into a holy fiery flame for Hashem Yitbarach, and that all the burning bloods will turn into a holy fire that from there is the quarry of souls, and through this the Temple shall be rebuilt, because You, through the fire of my lusts, ignited the Temple, and through the pouring out of my weeping which shall turn the illumination of fire to the illumination of light, You are destined to build it through the holy fiery flame, until that in the merit of my terrible weeping and the weeping of the entire House of Israel, the Temple and altar shall be rebuilt in their place, and it shall be fulfilled in us in the merit of the terrible weeping, “An eternal flame shall burn on the altar; it shall not be extinguished.”
To download the original Hebrew, click here
