Tisha B'Av - 011 Past Present Future

On the night of Tisha B’Av, when we are in mourning, we recite Kinnos and we must feel the pain over the Churban, and reflect about it. Our avodah until Chatzos (noon) of the next day is to reflect on both past and present. We need to reflect on the past and imagine the Churban, and we need to reflect on our current situation, how we are missing a Beis HaMikdash. We cannot sit down on a chair until Chatzos of the day, because our avodah is to dwell on the past and the present, which is Churban. After Chatzos, the halacha is that we get up from mourning and place the chairs in their proper place, so we can sit down on a chair and show that in the future we will get up from mourning and merit the redemption. After Chatzos, the avodah is to reflect on the future.

This does not mean that we should forget about the Churban after Chatzos – rather, it just means that we have a deep place in our soul which can think about the future, which is meant to be accessed after Chatzos.

If a person never thinks about this, he goes through Tisha B’Av very superficially and maybe he will fulfill all of its halachos, and he thinks that getting up after Chatzos means that we are supposed to forget about the Churban and just focus on the future redemption. But this is not true. After Chatzos, we must still dwell on the past and present, but it is just that we must also think about the future redemption as well. So getting up after Chatzos is not about disconnecting from the past and present Churban and to just think about the future redemption. After Chatzos, the avodah is that although we are still in the present and we need to think about the past Churban, we should also think about the future redemption, whereas the night of Tisha B’Av is a different avodah: to think only about past and present.