Question of the Week:

I know it's a good thing to celebrate your birthday according to the Hebrew calendar. But I don't. I was born on Tisha B'av. It's a bit hard to have a party on the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. And to be honest I have always felt strange about it. It's like, Tisha B'av is the day the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, and my mother gave birth to me.... What does it say about me that I was born on a day of national mourning?

Answer:

That's just about the best birthday anyone could possibly have. Because you left out another major event that happened on Tisha B'av. Moshiach was born.

The Talmud teaches that the soul of Moshiach came into the world on Tisha B'av. That's right. The long awaited one, who will bring peace to the world, teach us all how to live a higher life, rebuild the Temple and bring us all back to the Holy Land, that soul was sent down on Tisha B'av. 

It is no coincidence that the day of such deep darkness is also the day when such a bright light came into the world. Moshiach will show us how all the darkness of history was a necessary prelude to the light that follows. 

Indeed when Moshiach comes, Tisha B'av will be transformed from the sad fast day it is today into the most joyous festival of the year. We will actually celebrate the sad times, when in retrospect we see how they were a part of a bigger picture. 

This is unfathomable now. Our insight is limited, and we can't always see the good in hard times. We need Moshiach to help us see things for what they really are. 

So if your birthday is on Tisha B'av, do you know what that says about you? Please don't get any ideas. You're a great guy and everything, but I'm not saying you are the Messiah. 

Actually, I am. Every one of us has a bit of Moshiach in our soul. We have a little part of the world that is ours to redeem, and a little bit of darkness that is ours to transform. If you share Moshiach's birthday, you can do this big time. You are a soul of hope. So go light up some darkness. 

Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss

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SHABBOS SERVICE TIMES & COMMUNITY INFO: SHABBOS DEVARIM
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Friday, 9 August 2019| 8 Av 5779
Candle Lighting.................................. 5:03pm
Shabbos Service ................................ 6:00-6:50pm
Kids Program .................................... 6:00pm
Followed by Kiddush
 
Shabbos Day, 10 August 2019 |9 Av 5779
In depth Parsha class................... 9:00am
Shabbos Service......................... 10:00am-12:20pm
Kids Program ............................ 10:30am
Followed by Kiddush
Mincha straight after Mussaf

Saturday Night | Erev Tisha B'Av
Fast begins........................................... 5:21pm
Shabbos ends....................................... 6:00pm (say "Baruch Hamavdil ben Kodesh Lechol")
 
Maariv and Reading of Eicha
Followed by Documentary Screening  ....... 7:00pm
 
Sunday | Tisha B'Av Day
Morning Service 
with Kinnos and Explanations ................. 9:00am

Video: The Rebbe's Response to Antisemitism..11am

Study with Rabbi Moss: 
J eremiah's Almond and  the Zohar............11:30am

Study with Rabbi Sufrin: 
Moving on - how to deal with pain.............12pm

Mincha with Tallis and Tefillin................... 4:15pm
Shiur: Where are the Keys to the Temple?
Fast ends.............................................. 5:49pm
Breaking of fast sponsored by R' Eli Barukh in memory of his grandfather R' Barukh ben Yitzchak Rachamim a"h
 
WEEKDAY SERVICES
Mon- Fri............................................... 7:00am
Latest Shema this week.......................... 9:19am
 
HAPPY JEWISH BIRTHDAY
Toby Stein...................... 12 Av/ Tuesday 13 August
 
LONG LIFE
Ivan Basserabie for his late father
Moshe Chaim ben Avrohom... 9 Av/ Saturday 10 August

Magda Schaffer for her late husband Paul Schaffer
Pinchus ben Shmuel...11 Av / Monday 12 August

Les Regos for his late father Joseph Regos ... 13 Av/ Wednesday 14 August

Larnce Gold for his late grandmother Dora Goldbaum,
D'Vora bat Eliyahu... 14 Av/ Thursday 15 August

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