Whenever my four-year-old twin grandsons (Aryeh and Nosson Tzvi) see the Hebrew letter Aleph, they say, “That’s Aleph for Aryeh.” When they see the letter Nun, they say, “That’s Nun for Nosson Tzvi. “The first thing young Jewish children learn is the Aleph Beis.

On Tisha B’Av, we read Megillas Eicha. Most of its chapters are written in the order of the Aleph Beis, the first pasuk starting with the letter Aleph, then Beis, etc. Many of the Kinos on Tisha B’Av are written either in Aleph-Beis order or the reverse, starting with the last letter Tav and going down to Aleph.

The Gemara quotes Rebbi Yochanan, who says that Klal Yisrael was punished with the Aleph Beis (as reflected in Megillas Eichah) because they transgressed the Torah which was given with the Aleph Beis. This makes it sound like the Jews were specifically in violation of the Aleph-Beis quality of the Torah. What was unique about their transgressions at that time?

Rav Moshe Shapiro explains that the sequence of the Aleph Beis is Divinely designed; the order is critical. The Gemara gives examples: the letters Aleph and Beis allude to Aluf Binah (learn Torah); Gimel Dalet stands for Gemol Dalim (help the poor). Even the form of each letter is by design: the foot of the Gimel protrudes towards the Dalet, signifying that a person should reach out to the poor.

Not necessarily does every sin corrupt the sequence of the Aleph Beis, but the sins that caused the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash did. Yeravam ben Nevat (a wicked Jewish king who ruled prior to the destruction of the first Beis HaMikdash) convinced 80% of the Jewish nation to go against the Torah. He moved the Yom Tov of Sukkos to the month of Cheshvan. Not keeping Sukkos is bad enough, but creating a new holiday is creating a new order. Yeravam ben Nevat created a new set of mitzvos and aveiros. Rebbi Yochanan is teaching us that certain sins totally undo the order of the Torah and the world, leading to anarchy.

What is the corresponding punishment with the Aleph Beis? Rav Moshe Shapiro explains that Hashem created the world with a natural order. Indeed, the Midrash says that Hashem looked at the letters of the Aleph Beis to determine with which letter it was most appropriate to begin Creation. The Torah opens with the letter Beis, which signifies Bracha (blessing). The first letter of the Torah and creation indicates that the world was designed and created… for blessing.

Megillas Eicha lists terrible atrocities and suffering that befell the Jewish nation. By presenting them in the order of the Alef Beis, it indicates that these inhumane afflictions became…normative. That was the worst part. It’s frightening; people no longer felt that these occurrences were abnormal or out of order. We experienced this in the Holocaust and, most recently, after the October 7 massacre.

Our first step to repair this normalization of afflictions is for us to view life without the Beis HaMikdash as being out of order. An example of such disorder is hinted at in ch. 2-4 in Eicha, where the order of the letters Ayin and Peh is reversed. The Midrash says that this signifies that when the spies in Parshas Shelach gave their bad report, their peh (mouth) preceded their ayin (eye), i.e., their opinion caused them to misinterpret what they saw.

People who suffer from dyslexia have a corrupted perception of the letters, yet they can be trained to read them in proper order. For us, we need to train our eyes to recognize that things are not in order. The fact that we are in Galus is not normal.

Perhaps one way to help bring the Redemption is to start placing the letters of the Aleph Beis back in order. What better way than by reading the words of the Torah, which is written with the Aleph Beis. Learning Torah helps restore our perception of reality and aligns it with Hashem’s design.

Tisha B’Av is in the month of Av. The name “Av” comprises the first two letters of the Aleph Beis. The Kotzker Rebbe says that when we refer to the month as “Menachem” Av, we are “comforting” the Aleph Beis.

This Shabbos is Shabbos Nachamu. Hashem comforts the Jewish nation, though it seems that there is a new, evil order in the world. We should realize that the current destruction and chaos is only temporary. The Maharal says that the existence of exile, with all of its disasters, is only in order to bring about our redemption. The correct order of the world is that the Beis HaMikdash will return at the appropriate time. May we merit to be among those who welcome Moshiach and see the rebuilding of the Beis HaMikdash speedily in our days!

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