Era of Hidden Faces
After the tragic Erev Shavuos scaffold collapse in Stolin that left three dead and dozens injured, there was a message on social media I found particularly poignant: “Lag B’omer wasn’t Lag B’omer, and Shavuos wasn’t Shavuos, halevai that Tishah B’Av won’t be Tishah B’Av.”
Well, here we are, and Tishah B’Av is Tishah B’Av.
To say we are living in a time of great hester Panim would be a gross understatement. I have long struggled to understand what “hester Panim” truly is. On some level I understand what galus is and even what churban is. Rav Avrohom Schorr said in a passionate address a few years ago that when we hear statistics from Chai Lifeline, “es darf unchapen a tziter,” it must cause us to shudder. “There is no such thing as we can’t feel churban, this is churban! These bitter, bitter tzaros, this is galus!”
A Place of Tears
Forty years ago I learned the secret of the tears at Kever Rashbi. Now, as we cry together, I feel compelled to share it
Kever Rashbi is and has always been a place of tears. Tears of anticipation of parents bringing their three-year-old sons for an upsheren, tears of joy celebrating the light of Torah brought down to this temporal world by the storied Tanna. Now, it’s the site of oceans of tears, of loss, of pain, of absolute shock all mingled together in that hallowed place where centuries of tears have been shed.
While all this is well known to all of us, there is something about this “place of tears” that is not as well known, which I feel compelled to share. First, a little background is in order.