Shalom u’vracha to one and all. For even the most indifferent subscriber, by now it surely has been noticed that these new posts aren’t as frequent as they once were. And even when there is a post, there’s really no variety. No Parsha, no Oldie, no Behind the Scenes...
After people experience a loss r’l, as time passes, they eventually forget some of the pain. The hurt eases and people can eventually move on. However, just as Yaakov Avinu could not be consoled after hearing of Yosef’s demise because really Yosef was still alive, the same is true here. The fact that after nearly two thousand years we have not forgotten the Beis Hamikdash and we are still able to cry over its absence, demonstrates that the Beis Hamikdash is still alive.
Year after year, a barren Chanah would cry from her sorrow, and would even be ridiculed for her inability to bear children. Finally, after 19 years of pain, she felt she could no longer accept her childless fate. Chanah lifted herself up and tapped into the most potent vehicle for change that exists in the world – Tefillah. At that moment, she davened the most heartfelt prayer she had ever prayed – clear and to the point, from the depths of her broken heart.
There is a story of a young, newly married man who came to complain to Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein zt’l. He said that as much as he admonished his wife, she was never ready on time to light the Shabbos candles, and he asked for advice on how to remedy the problem. Reb Chatzkel bluntly responded, “You pick up a broom.“