The Shabbat before Tisha B’Av is called Shabbat Chazon, because the Haftorah we read on this Shabbat begins with the words “Chazon Yeshayahu” …the vision of Isaiah… It is a sad Haftorah because it tells how Hashem warns the Jewish people to do teshuvah – and to serve Him in more meaningful ways. (Or you could call it a “happy” Haftorah because it shows that Hashem wants us to improve our ways and to become worthy of His blessings. Which do you think?)

We know that the Temple was destroyed twice – once by the Babylonians and once by the Romans. But why do we have to do teshuvah and repair our deeds today? These terrible tragedies happened at least 2500 years ago! What do the warnings from Hashem of 2500 years ago have to do with us? The Talmud says that if the Temple has not been built in our generation, then we are responsible for it not being built. If we were worthy, it would be built in our days. So Hashem’s warning in the Haftorah is relevant to us, too. We have to fix our ways so that Mashiach will want to come and live among us and rebuild the Temple. So what can we do?

The Haftorah says: “Lamah li rov zivcheichem…?”

“Why do I need your numerous sacrifices…?” says Hashem.

What does this mean? The answer is that Hashem does not want sacrifices if there is no feeling and real concentration behind them. What do we do today to replace the sacrifices of the Temple? We daven (pray). If we pray very quickly, without listening to our words and letting the words enter our minds and our hearts – this is like offering sacrifices without proper feeling. Hashem wants us to feel close to Him and realise that we are relying on Him to answer our prayers. But if we say the Shema and Shemoneh Esrei quickly – “to finish first” – we are not allowing our hearts to feel the words that our lips are saying.

In fact, the prayers we say are not for Hashem! Hashem is perfect. Nothing we can say about Him will “add” to Him or make Him “more perfect.” The prayers are really for us, to make us more humble, sensitive, and inspired to live in accordance with Hashem’s laws and values. If we say the words too fast, we can’t hear ourselves pray. We can make our prayers more meaningful, by slowing down and actually thinking about the words we say, like “Boneh Yerushalayim”… “Please Hashem, rebuild Jerusalem.” “Shomeah tefillah” …”Please Hashem, listen to our prayers.”

If we pray more slowly and more meaningfully, perhaps Hashem will hear that we are listening to our own prayers and hopes for improvement – and send us the Mashiach, in our days.