רש"י on the פסוק of “ה' אלקי אבותיכם יסף עליכם ככם אלף פעמים ויברך אתכם כאשר דבר לכם” asks an obvious question. Why is it necessary at the end of the פסוק to repeat and say that ה' will bless us exactly as He had already said He would? This is because כלל ישראל said to משה רבינו, “ה' already promised us that we would be greater than the amount of stars, (i.e. infinity) why are you putting a limit on His ברכה by multiplying that number by 1000?” so his response was that this is merely his way of blessing the nation, but really, ה' will give you all that He said He would.

However, the שפת אמת asks, what point is there to a blessing of “אלף פעמים” if they were already given an infinite blessing? He explains that משה רבינו’s ברכה was that they should be able to be the vessel that can contain an infinite blessing, as the פסוק says “ה' עוז לעמו יתן”, with עוז referring to תורה, because with the acceptance of the תורה, כלל ישראל were transformed into a כלי that is worthy and capable of maintaining such a strong ברכה, and only then, "ה' יברך את עמו בשלום".

The “9 days” is a scary time for כלל ישראל. We are on the threshold of the חורבן בית המקדש, and we turn to ה' to keep His promise of that infinite blessing and shower it down upon כלל ישראל. We are also in turbulent times in ארץ ישראל, with potential for war at any minute. We turn to Him for His ברכה, but we must also keep in mind that the only way to be deserving of or to make ourselves into a כלי that is ראוי for receiving that ברכה, we must use our עוז, our strength, ourלימוד התורה, so that we can have the ultimate ברכה of true peace, which can only come with the בנין בית !המקדש עם משיח צדקינו במהירה בימינו אמן

Unless אי"ה משיח will come before, we should all be זוכה to have a truly meaningful, uplifting, and thought and emotion-provoking תשעה באב, as the גמרא in תענית דף ל: says "כל המתאבל על ירושלים זוכה ורואה בשמחתה."

Have a wonderful שבת קודש!

מרדכי שמחה טיפנברון