Hello <i>chevre</i> and thank you for joining as we continue learning together. And welcome to part two of our series of the <i>Churban</i> as seen through the prism of the <i>Mishnah</i>.

In part two, we are going to encounter the cosmic change and decline. And what I mean is that in part one of our series, we stood at the day of, let's say, <i>Tisha B'av</i> itself and how we mourn the destruction of the <i>Beis Hamikdash</i>.

But in this part of our series, we're going to widen the lens. And the idea to carry with you into these <i>mishnaios</i> is as follows.

The <i>chachamim</i> did not see the <i>Churban</i> only as a national catastrophe or only as a change in the law, but what they saw was a true inflection point in the very order of the world. Meaning to say, there was life before the <i>Churban</i> and then life and the world after the <i>Churban</i>.

A line that was drawn across time, before and after the destruction. Before the destruction all was good, the land produced, it was abundant.

However, on the far side of that line, they perceived that reality itself had shifted. Not only was the <i>Mikdash</i> gone, but nature itself was impaired.

Our senses were dulled. People's capacity to grow in <i>Torah</i> and <i>Mitzvos</i> was very narrowed.

And goodness itself seemed to give way to a much harsher and more sinister forces. It's a very bold claim that the fall of a single place could ripple out into creation itself, but it's the claim that the <i>Mishnah</i> makes.

So as we learn together these <i>mishnaios</i>, don't just hear a list of things that happened to disappear or vanish because the <i>Beis Hamikdash</i> was destroyed. What you really need to listen to is the <i>chachamim</i> describing a world that changed its very nature.

When the <i>Beis Hamikdash</i> was lost, and at that lowest point, they had to ask themselves what can we still hold on to. And with that, I wish you continuing <i>hatzlacha</i> in all of your learning, and let's begin.