As he was concluding his weekly parshas hashavuah (Torah study) class last night at 11:30 pm, with tears in his eyes, Rabbi Dovid Katzenstien asked:

“Do we feel the pain?

Do we feel the pain of the families of the soldiers who have been killed, Hy”d?

Do we feel the pain of the soldiers who have been injured?

Do we feel the pain of the parents of the three yeshiva students who were abducted and murdered a month ago?

Do we go to sleep at night crying?

Do we shed tears for all their grief and sorrow?”

“If we are to bring the redemption”, he continued,

“If we are to rebuild the beis hamikdash (the Temple in Jerusalem);

If we are to see the day that Tisha Ba’Av is no longer a day of mourning but rather a holiday

Then we must feel the pain….really feel the pain as if it is our loss, our injury, our sorrow, our pain.”

As we enter the week of Tisha Ba’Av let us resolve, each and every one of us – those who recite kaddish and those who answer amen – that we shall no longer react by rote; that we shall no longer respond superficially, that we shall experience the pain of a fellow Jew not “as if” it were our pain but because it is our pain.

And may we see the coming of Moshiach soon and in our day.

May this Shabbos bring peace and tranquility to Zahal and to all of Israel.

Good Shabbos.