Eicha – How has it happened that the season of renewal and optimism has become a period of indescribable pain and devastation?

Eicha – How is it that a yeshiva recently filled with men learning and davening has become transormed into a hospital setting filled with respirators?

Eicha – How is that with shuls on nearly every street corner, not a minyan can be found around the globe?

Eicha – How is it that loving and devoted children cannot be there to tend to the basic life needs of their parents who are struggling to survive?

Eicha – How is that wholesome, happy families with endless dreams for the future have become shattered from one day to the next?

Eicha – How is it, that at a time most appropriate for gracious hospitality, we are forced to keep our doors shut?

Eicha – How is it that at the time of year which marks the anniversary of our ‘engagement’, instead of hearing the “voice of my Beloved knocking”, we have been made to feel rejected?

Eicha – How is it that the normal buzz and excitement in preparation for a great yom tov has been replaced by grief-stricken mourning and numbing of the senses from sheer magnitude of death tolls?

…On these my soul weeps – on the image of people lying on hospital floors, trying to catch their breath, as all the respirators are in use by others fighting for their lives….

“ Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches. Pour out your heart like water before the Presence of the Lord.” You don’t have to be in shul, nor do you have to be part of a minyan to pierce the Heavens! You just have to realize and believe that your Father is anxiously waiting to hear from you. “The kindnesses of the Lord never cease! Indeed, His mercies never fail!” He does not want yet another opportune time for redemption to pass by without actualizing it.

The birthpangs of Moshiach are upon us. The contractions are getting stronger and closer together. There is practically no respite between them. There is no epidural to ease the pain. It has been a long nine months and an excruciating labor.. but you have come this far; now is not the time to give up. The head is crowning; this may be the last push before the crown of Moshiach emerges. And when it does, all the tears of anguish will instantly vanish, only to be replaced by the exquisite music of a newborn cry, the long-awaited sound of the shofar.

May we be zoche to the great “Mazel Tov” any day now!

Name withheld upon request.

NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN.

DO YOU HAVE AN OPINION YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE POSTED ON YWN? SEND IT TO US FOR REVIEW.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)