Do we really understand what we've lost?

5 Menachem Av 5772

"If the nations of the world had understood what the Holy Temple meant for them, they'd have surrounded it with guards."

Why We Mourn
By Naftali Silberberg

The fast of Tisha b'Av, the saddest date on the Jewish calendar, is the day which saw the destruction of both Holy Temples, as well as many other tragic events throughout our nation's tear-soaked galut (exile).

...Tisha b'Av is our national day of mourning when we pause to reflect on all the pogroms, crusades, inquisitions and holocausts which have dogged our nation for the past 2,000 years. Nonetheless it is specifically observed on the date when the Holy Temples were destroyed, and the Temples are the principal focus of this day's mourning. It is clear that our suffering is intimately associated with the absence of the Temple.

...Does the lack of a Holy Temple leave any of us feeling a gaping hole in our lives?

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