Last summer, I was trimming bushes in my backyard when I felt a sting. It was a bee on my wrist. I then felt more stinging on my ankles. My wife, meanwhile, also felt a sting from a bee on her sleeve! It turns out there was a big beehive in my yard.

The attack of the bees is analogous to the pesukim in Parshas Devarim where Moshe recounts Hashem telling Bnei Yisrael that they will notenter Eretz Yisrael, as a punishment for accepting the bad report of the spies about the land of Israel. Nevertheless, a group of defiant Jews decided to go on the offensive and enter Eretz Yisrael. The pasuk states that, “the Emori chased after the Jews like bees and decimated them.” Nevertheless, many Emori soldiers died in their attack. Rashi explains that just as bees die upon stinging their enemy, the Emori made kamikaze attacks on the Jews even though they knew that many of their soldiers would die in the process.

This week is Tisha B’Av. The Gemara calculates that the day the spies returned from their mission and relayed their bad report about Eretz Yisrael was the eighth of Av. Klal Yisrael accepted their report and cried that whole night (the ninth of Av), since they did not want to enter Eretz Yisrael and die. Hashem punished Klal Yisrael by not allowing that whole generation to enter Eretz Yisrael. Hashem said, in effect, “You cried for nothing, but I will give you something to cry about on this day in the future.” Subsequently, the two Batei Mikdash were destroyed on Tisha B’Av and many other tragic events occurred on that day.

It’s important to contrast the attitude of Klal Yisrael before and after the sin of the spies. When they were supposed to go into Eretz Yisrael and build the Beis HaMikdash, they refused and said they were not worthy. However, when they were told they could not enter, they had a change of heart and decided to go even though Hashem said not to. The desire to enter was good, but the timing of their entering was not.

We must take a lesson from the mistakes of Klal Yisrael. We’re in exile and must accept the fact that Hashem doesn’t allow us to build another Beis HaMikdash yet. Nonetheless, we should still yearn for it. Then when the time comes, with the will of Hashem, we’ll be excited and jump at the opportunity.

How can we express our desire for the Beis HaMikdash? At the splitting of the sea, Bnei Yisrael said, “Zeh Keili, this is my God, v’anveihu.” Onkelos translates the word v’anveihu as deriving from the word, naveh, a resting place. They pledged to build the Beis HaMikdash to create an abode for Hashem’s Shechinah.

The Gemara gives two other explanations for the word v’anveihu. The first is that it relates to na’eh, beautiful. They promised to beautify each mitzvah they perform. This is the source for the concept of hiddur mitzvah, to beautify each mitzvah article (such as a sukkah or a tallis). The Gemara’s second explanation is that anveihu is a compound word: ani v’hu, I and He. Bnei Yisrael pledged to be like Hashem by emulating His characteristics of compassion and kindness. These two ideas of the Gemara are certainly appropriate for us as well.

Rav Tzadok HaKohen writes that while we’re in galus there’s something else for us to do. When Hashem placed us in exile, there was something specific that he wanted us to accomplish.

The purpose of the exile of Mitzrayim was to lead us to Torah! During the exile in Egypt, the Zohar states there was a great development of Torah study by the tribe of Levi, who dedicated themselves to diligent Torah learning. Similarly, all exiles, especially today, need to bring forth new insights in Torah. If we look at the bookcases in any yeshiva, we will see hundreds if not thousands of seforim. Almost all of them were written after the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash. There has been an incredible development and explosion of Torah study in galus. And each word of Torah we study is bringing the redemption one step closer.

At the completion of Shemoneh Esrei, we ask Hashem to rebuild the Beis HaMikdash and grant us our portion in His Torah. Although we still don’t have the Beis HaMikdash, we do have the ability to study Torah. Applying ourselves to diligent Torah study expresses our desire to once again merit the Beis HaMikdash by connecting to His Torah. May this occur speedily in our time.

Rabbi Baruch Bodenheim is the associate rosh yeshiva of Passaic Torah Institute (PTI)/Yeshiva Ner Boruch. Rabbi Bodenheim can be reached at [email protected]. For more info about PTI and its Torah classes, visit www.pti.shulcloud.com