To touch on the significance of Tisha B'av, I'd like to start off with a simple question:
If We believe that G-d is everywhere, how come we pray every day towards Jerusalem??
Let's just pray in whichever direction we please!
To A: this Q:, let me ask you one more: When speaking to a friend, why do you look at their face? Their soul & inner life force encompasses their entire body. Speak to their toes!
So what's the answer?
The face is the place where a person's soul is revealed most - where it shines.
As the famous saying goes: "The eyes are the windows to the soul."
This can explain also why we Jews aim toward Jerusalem when we pray to G-d: There is where His Presence is most Revealed.
Never was this more apparent then at the time of our temple's existence, known as the "Beit Hamikdash." There G-d's Presence Resided. There heaven & earth kissed. The spiritual melded with the physical, and all, Jew & non-Jew alike, could come to witness G-dliness in this world.
Miracles were commonplace. Not b/c G-d Liked doing miracles there, but rather b/c the area itself was G-dly, and therefore miracles exuded naturally.
"Jerusalem is the light of the world... and who is the light of Jerusalem? The Holy One, blessed be He." -Bereshit Rabbah 59:8.
So how can we get it back?
Well, for one thing, we have to want to see it back.
In 2010, where the average Joe on the street lives a better life materially than a French King did 300 yrs. ago (see showers), why should I want an old temple??
Well, besides for the peace and joy, the ending of disease, strife and suffering that will reign throughout the world when the redemption occurs, there will also be one very special thing:
G-d won't be hidden any more.
Any evil that occurs in this world is rooted in G-d Being Hidden from view,
while only revealed good reigns when G-d Is in view.
As our Sages said, if only the Romans knew the benefit the temple had for them as well, they would have never destroyed it.
The exile we find ourselves in now is called a "doubled darkness."
Why "doubled?" B/C when in darkness, one at least knows he or she is in darkness.
But in the darkness of today's world, we don't even realize we are in darkness - in exile.
For myself, living in Jerusalem, it's a bit easier. Whenever I visit the Western wall, I see a golden dome resting where our glorious temple once stood. I see the tears of elderly ladies at the wall, beseeching G-d for mercy on their families, friends, and on His People worldwide.
May you have an easy fast, and remember the words of Maimonides:
One should see the world, and see himself as a scale with an equal balance of good and evil.
One good thought, speech, or deed - can tip the scale and bring the redemption now!
Shabbat Shalom!
-Daniel
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