I heard about a new app this week - a video chat which enables the user to chat live with another person. In my line of work as a rabbi I’m always looking for new and innovative methods of connecting with people, I decided to download it. I figured I could put it to good use and use it to spread Torah. Sounds good, eh?
Unfortunately, somewhere in the fine print (which most of us just skim) the app requested permission to connect with all my friends, which I inadvertently gave. So, within minutes of downloading the app it hacked my entire contact list and sent them a message:
Rabbi Uriel Vigler has something to show you…http://i.glide.me/agi3gj
How did I find out? Hundreds of people immediately texted back with all sorts of questions. Some people thought it was a virus and were sure I’d been hacked. Others wanted to know more before checking on the link. What could the rabbi possibly want to show them? It sounds suspicious! Others wanted to know about glide, and a few even downloaded the app. I quickly followed up, explaining that the new app “hacked me” and sent the text message without my knowledge.
-----------------
Our Chassidic masters teach us that this coming Shabbat each one of us is “hacked.”
This week, the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av, is called Shabbat Chazon—Shabbat of Vision. On this Shabbat, G-d shows each of us a vision of the 3rd and final Holy Temple.
Tisha B’Av marks the day of the destruction of the first two Temples; it’s the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. Still now, 2000 years later, we are in exile, awaiting the coming of Moshiach when we will be able to rebuild the Temple and return our Land to its glory.
Once a year our souls are hacked—by G-d Himself! G-d accesses our souls and gives us a vision of the 3rd Temple. The soul sees an era of peace and tranquility, an era with no pain and suffering, an era of eternal bliss and peace.
Every night when I put my children to sleep we say the “Twelve Pesukim” (12 verses of Torah) Then we say “We want Moshiach now!” and they go to sleep. The vision we see is a reminder that as comfortable as we may sometimes feel in this exile, something so much better awaits us. So this Tisha B’Av, let’s pray with all our hearts and souls that we need not be “hacked” by G-d ever again. We want the real thing… we want Moshiach now!