The Depth of Teshuvah on Tisha B'Av: Rectifying the 248 Limbs and Extinguishing the Fire of Lusts

Lesson No. 351 | Thursday, Parashas Va'eschanan, 9th of Av 5762 - Lessons on the Kinnos (Lamentations) at Ido HaNavi

On Tisha B'Av, we are called to do teshuvah (repentance) for each and every limb of our bodies, for every spiritual blemish and disrespect shown toward tzaddikim manifests as physical pain. By taking personal responsibility for the destruction and extinguishing the fire of our lusts, we can transform the fire of destruction into a wall of fire of Geulah (Redemption) and merit the rebuilding of the Holy Temple.

We must run to hear the words of the tzaddik, because all of his words are the words of the living God. It is told of Rabbi Shmuel Isaac that when he would run to Uman, he would run with all his strength until he fainted and fell at the feet of Rebbe Nachman. All the great men, the wealthy, and the magnates who were there laughed, mocked, and asked, "What is this crazy person doing here?" But Rebbe Nachman told them that he was searching for the truth. In contrast, when Czar Nikolai, who was a hater of the Jewish people, was appointed to his position, Rabbi Shmuel Isaac refused to see him at all, and in this, he heeded the words of the true tzaddik.

Sinned with the Limbs and Afflicted in the Limbs

It is brought down in the Midrash Eichah Rabbah on the verse, "For these things my heart is faint":

"They sinned with the head, they were afflicted in the head, they are comforted in the head... They sinned with the eye, they were afflicted in the eye... They sinned with the nose, they were afflicted in the nose..."

All eye pain stems from blemishes of the eyes, and their root is in blemishing the tzaddik. A person who does not want to see the tzaddikim, or who sees the tzaddik and harbors negative thoughts about him—just as it was with Moshe Rabbeinu, as it says, "And they looked after Moshe"—brings eye pain upon himself. When one sees the tzaddik, he should tremble, because seeing the tzaddik is like seeing Hashem, the "Face of the Shechinah (Divine Presence)." If a person would go to see the tzaddikim, he would not sin with his eyes, and forbidden sights would not come his way.

The same applies to the rest of the limbs. "They sinned with the nose"—everything a person suffers in the nose, such as shortness of breath, pneumonia, or asthma, comes from the fact that he mocks and scoffs at the tzaddik. The tzaddik is the breath of us all, the aspect of "the breath of our nostrils, the Moshiach of Hashem." Every breath a person takes comes from the tzaddik, and when he sins with his nose, he is afflicted with shortness of breath.

"They sinned with the mouth"—all the sores in the mouth, on the tongue, on the lips, and toothaches come because a person speaks nonsense and speaks against the tzaddik. The main way to draw close to the tzaddik is through the mouth. The mouth should speak only words of Torah and wisdom. The brain is the aspect of "Eden," and the mouth is the river that flows out of Eden to reveal wisdom and water the garden, which is the heart. Based on what a person speaks, one can know what he is thinking in his brain.

"They sinned with the heart"—the tzaddik is the heart of the world. Because there is a lack of emunah (faith) in the tzaddik or because people mock him, all heart pains and heart diseases come about. "They sinned with the hand"—if a person touches where it is forbidden to touch, this brings all hand pains and diseases upon him and his offspring. "They sinned with the foot"—with one's feet, a person must walk to the tzaddikim, and not walk to commit sins and see forbidden things.

Tisha B'Av: A Time of Teshuvah for Every Limb

Tisha B'Av is the time when we do teshuvah for each and every limb. When a person reads the Kinnos (lamentations), he must think about all of his 248 limbs and 365 sinews, and about everything he has sinned with them.

If a person walks with his feet to forbidden places, his lusts lead him to forbidden sights. The internet, computers—all of this must be burned and removed from the home. If a person has the internet in his home, he is completely lost, he and his offspring, and his offspring's offspring forever. At the standing at Mount Sinai, everyone was holy and pure, but in a place where there is the internet, the fire of lusts enters, and from this come fires and earthquakes.

The moment a person rectifies his feet and does not run to forbidden things, but rather runs to the Torah class of the tzaddik, at that very moment he will have the illumination of the tzaddik shining all the way down to his feet, and the verse will be fulfilled in him:

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger, who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'"

"Ask, You Who Are Burned by Fire": Taking Responsibility for the Destruction

In the Kinnos we say, "Ask, you who are burned by fire" (Sha'ali Serufah Ba'Esh). Rebbe Nachman explains to us exactly what "burned by fire" means and why the Torah was burned. When a person burns himself with lusts and gives them free rein, he brings destruction. A person pampers his evil inclination, and his end will be ruin—ultimately, he will find himself in a prison and will not understand why.

A person must know that all the fires and all the killings in the world happen because of the fire of his lusts. We see houses burning, buses burning, people burning alive—and it is all because of the fire of lusts. Everyone must believe and say: "I am the one burning them! I give free rein to my lusts, and through this, I burn the Torah."

I myself destroyed Jerusalem. I am the main terrorist who sends out all the terrorists. My sins create terrorists who go and burn Jews alive. When a person does true teshuvah and accepts responsibility upon himself, he begins to fight this fire. With the tears of the lamentation "Burned by Fire," we can bring the King Moshiach.

Lust for Money and Baseless Crying

All destructions come about when a person cries baseless tears over nonsense and illusions that never were and never existed. When Moshe sent the spies, Yehoshua asked them: "Do not enter like thieves; walk with strength and might." The first thing is to nullify the lust for money. Whoever has a lust for money is called a thief, and because of the lust for money, the Holy Temple was destroyed.

Yosef the tzaddik nullified the lust for money, and therefore he became the source of abundance for all generations. If a person nullifies the lust for money, he becomes a source of abundance, and only through this can the Holy Temple be rebuilt. The spies turned into cowards, in the aspect of grasshoppers, and this brought about the burning of the Temple. Also, the misplaced humility of Zechariah ben Avkilos destroyed our home. A person sometimes makes himself into a worm in a place where he shouldn't, and through this incorrect behavior, he brings about destruction.

Turning the Luminaries of Fire into Luminaries of Light

Now, in the final hours of Tisha B'Av, this is the moment to do teshuvah (repentance) for everything. For the blemish of procreation, for all the blemishes in the world, so that kosher children will come and no more Jews will be burned. Until sunset, it is still possible to see the Holy Temple being built. There is no need to sleep; one only needs to pray, review the Kinnos (lamentations), contemplate them, and shed a tear. It is forbidden to divert one's attention from the mourning, because perhaps in the very last second, with a single tear of one Jew, Jerusalem will be built.

If we believe with complete emunah (faith) and do teshuvah (repentance), all the luminaries of fire will turn into luminaries of light. The verse will be fulfilled within us:

"And I will be to her, says Hashem, a wall of fire all around, and for glory I will be in her midst."

The fire of destruction will turn into a wall of fire and into the glory of Israel. Even if we do not merit it now collectively, at the very least, individually, everyone can build their own Holy Temple, so that their home turns into a Holy Temple. Through all the crying and lamentations, the ashes (efer) will turn into glory (pe'er), and we will merit to see, even on this Tisha B'Av, how the Holy Temple is built, along with the complete Geulah (Redemption) speedily in our days, Amen.

Lesson No. 351