Each Shabbos we add the tefilla of “Ritzei” to Birchas HaMazon. In it we ask Hashem that on this day of Shabbos He should be pleased with us and save us. What exactly do we want to be saved from?
Before we answer this question, let’s talk about this Friday, the 15th of Av. Many of you may be surprised to learn that the Mishna in the end of Ta’anis (26b) tells us that there was no Yom Tov as joyous as Tu B’Av and Yom HaKippurim! We understand that we are happy on Yom Kippur because on that day Hashem grants us atonement, but what is so special about Tu B’Av?
The Decree Is Over!
One reason given in the Gemara (30b) is that on Tu B’Av the Jews stopped dying in the Midbar. For forty years, on erev Tisha B’av all the men over the age of twenty at the time of the sin of the Meraglim would go out of the camp and dig their own grave. They would lie down inside and spend the night in trepidation, uncertain whether they would come out alive. Not everyone died each year – Hashem in His kindness spread the implementation of the decree over a span of forty years. On erev Tisha B’Av of the fortieth year, they did the same thing, but this time everyone got up alive. Thinking that they had made a mistake with the date, they lay down in their graves again the next night. This happened night after night until they reached the 15th of the month. Upon seeing the full moon, they realized that the decree was no longer in force and that they would live.
A second reason cited in the Gemara for the celebration is that on this day we were given permission to bury the dead from the massacre in Beitar. Seventy years after the destruction of the second Bais HaMikdash, Bar Kochba led the nation into battle. Rabi Akiva and the other sages of the time believed that he was Moshiach (see Rambam Melachim 11:3). Rav Isaac Sher, Rosh Yeshiva of Slobodka, points out that if they thought this, Bar Kochba must have exemplified the virtuous characteristic traits and practices that the Rambam enumerates when describing Moshiach. His soldiers must have been great Torah scholars and righteous individuals as befitting the army of Moshiach. However, the people of the city of Beitar, where the army was located, sinned by not properly mourning the destruction of Yerushalayim, and Bar Kochba was killed because of those sins.
After the Romans ruthlessly squelched the rebellion, killing hundreds of thousands of Jews, they used the bodies to erect a wall around the vineyard of their leader Adaryanus. The wall stretched for 72 mil (approx. 50 miles) and was the height of a man standing with his hands stretched upwards! The bodies lay in disgrace for seven years, and the sight was as painful to Klal Yisrael as the destruction of the Bais HaMikdash. Ultimately, Hashem had mercy and a new Roman king allowed them to bury the bodies on the 15th of Av. As a remembrance of this miracle, Chazal established a fourth bracha in Birchas HaMazon in which we say that Hashem is “hatov, v’hameitiv – the One Who is good and Who does good.” The reason we double the praise is because the joy was double: Miraculously the bodies did not rot even after all those years, and the Jews were allowed to bury these special people whose bodies lay in disgrace.
But our question still remains: Indeed, these were joyful occasions for those generations, but why is that something we celebrate until this very day? And why is the event of Beitar so important that each time we recite Birchas HaMazon or Al Hamichyah we recall this great kindness?
The Great Return
Rav Sher explains that the answer lies in the continuation of the Gemara. There it states that until those who had been sentenced to death in the desert stopped dying, Hashem did not speak to Moshe Rabbeinu. Rashi explains that although Hashem spoke to Moshe throughout the forty years in the desert, it was not with affection. During those years, Klal Yisrael were in a kind of excommunication and Hashem did not show them that they were beloved by Him. The great joy of Tu B’Av is that Hashem returned to us and we felt that He desired us once again. Thus, it became a day of joy for generations.
The story of Beitar takes us even further. After the horrific destruction of the last stronghold in Eretz Yisrael and the terrible mistreatment of the bodies, it seemed as if Hashem had chas v’sholom forsaken us. But then they saw an open miracle – Hashem had preserved the bodies – and their hearts swelled with joy. Hashem is still with us even in the midst of annihilation and destruction! This lesson is one we must remember throughout our long, bitter exile, and that is why we mention it constantly. With just a little contemplation, we can see that even in our darkest moments Hashem has not forsaken us.
This coming Wednesday, the 20th of Av, will be the yahrtzeit of our family friend, Mrs. Shoshana (Hayman) Greenbaum, Hy”d. On that tragic day fourteen years ago, this beloved young teacher of hundreds of girls in Los Angeles and New York was killed in the Sbarro bombing in Yerushalayim. We do not understand the ways of Heaven, but what is absolutely amazing is the strength and faith that her parents, R’ Eliyahu Dovid and Shifra, have shown after losing their only child when she was expecting her first child. The Haymans always speak about how they feel that Hashem is with them and loves them. They serve as a source of inspiration for all.
Let us now return to the Shabbos addition of Ritzei. Throughout the week, we are involved with our own matters and may have strayed away from Hashem. In turn, Hashem acts the same way and we feel distanced from Him. When Shabbos comes, we try to push everyday matters away and come back to Hashem, but it is often not easy. We therefore beseech Him to once again show us that He is pleased with us and redeem us from the mire of our weekday activities. The Yaavetz says that “v’hachalitzenu” also means to take off, as in the mitzvah of chalitzah, when we take off a shoe. We say: On this holy day, please take off our shoes that are covered with the grime and mud of the mundane world. Help us rest and spend time with You as You have commanded. But that is not enough – we desire to be with You always! Return Your presence to Yerushalayim and the Bais Hamikdash. Only then will we have true comfort and respite from all the suffering that results from our distance from You.
Now that we understand what we celebrate on Tu B’av, it will help us say that Hashem is “hatov v’hametiv” with more feeling. And on Shabbos, we will try to think about how Hashem is involved in our personal lives and desires us. Then we will merit, B’ezras Hashem, to find favor in Hashem’s eyes once again and see the true nechama of Tzion.
