Healing a broken heart, coming closer to G-d

The tragic story of a fire in Brooklyn coming on the ten year anniversary of a similar story in Teaneck has left the greater Jewish community reeling. We mourn with these families, and wish for a recovery for those still in medical care.

Having seen and experienced devastating loss, the only thing I know to be experientially true is that love and the passage of time are the most important ingredients to being able to continue with life and to find happiness once again – if that becomes a goal in life. Having faith in G-d is also helpful, because it can help a person find a sense of purpose in living beyond tragedy.

Towards the beginning of its commentary on our parsha, the Midrash Rabba aims to explain how those who suffer through devastating ordeals can get closer to G-d, utilizing the experience of King David, who said in Tehillim (51:19): “The sacrifices of G-d are a broken spirit; O G-d, You will not despise a broken and crushed heart.”

How true this statement is, and how true do we hope for it to always be.

Of course, the Midrash does not raise this sentence in a vacuum. The parsha focuses heavily on sacrifices, and the Midrash paints King David’s statement as one of hope for how he could get closer to G-d despite having suffered terrible calamities.

One utilization of the verse asserts King David’s teshuva process, in the aftermath of the Batsheva incident of Samuel II 12 as, “G-d, I have overcome my evil inclination, and I have repented before You. If You accept my repentance, I know that my son Shlomo will build the Beit Hamikdash, and build the Mizbeach, and burn the sacrifices on it.” This is how “a broken spirit” can turn into the fulfillment of “the sacrifices of G-d,” when the dream of what future generations may accomplish can be articulated and hopefully actualized.