Today we will share a bitachon thought related to humility and related to Tisha B’Av. The Yalkut Shimoni tells us (Shemuel 1, perek 2), that Hashem is not like human beings. If a human sees somebody who's handsome and wealthy, you’re there for him if he needs you. You're his friend. You'll go to his parties; you'll do things with him. But if you see someone downtrodden, who’s falling, people try to stay away. They're not interested. Hashem does not work that way. If He sees a person that's arrogant, He causes him to fall down. He quotes a pasuk: גַּאֲוַ֣ת אָ֭דָם תַּשְׁפִּילֶ֑נּוּ Man's arrogance causes him to fall. But if God sees someones that fell to the depths, He picks him up. As we say in Hallel, / מקימי מעפר דל God lifts up people that fell down. And he quotes a pasuk to that effect: שחה לעפר נפשנו Our souls have hit the dust, The next pasuk says, ק֭וּמָֽה עֶזְרָ֣תָה לָּ֑נוּ God, stand up, help us out. That means when a person feels arrogant like I'm in charge, then help is not there. If anything, the person is broken. But when a person realizes I'm down and out, I can't do it on my own, I need you, Hashem , then Hashem picks us up. And the Rabbis bring this down in relation to Tisha B’Av . When we sit on the floor, what are we saying? We're saying, “Hashem, we're on the floor. We hit rock bottom. We're in exile, we're in Galut . There are so many problems. There are terror attacks in Israel. There are financial issues, there are medical issues, there are mental health issues. There are many things going on. We hit rock bottom.” And once we realize we hit rock bottom, Hashem says, “ You need Me? I'll pick you up off the ground.” On Tisha B’Av,we get up off the ground after Hatzot , which is, to say, the low point, really. That was when the Bet Hamikdash was starting to be burnt, as the end of the day came. That's when we hit rock bottom, so that's when Hashem lifts us up. The Midrash continues in Yeshaya (perek 2) with almost the same words and adds.. ואף לאה שנואת הבית Leah was hated. And, because of that, she had children. Rav Shach says something fascinating about that- Look at Rachel. She was the chosen one. Rachel was the one that was designated to marry Yaakov Avinu, the prince of the generation. She had no reason to cry. Leah, on the other hand was designated for Esav, the wicked man of the generation, and she cried bitter tears. And because of those bitter tears, because she hit rock bottom, God said, “I'm going to lift you up.” And she had six tribes. Rachel, on the other hand, didn't have that. We can’t say that she wasn't humble, but she didn't have that crying. She didn't have that feeling of being broken, and therefore feel like she hit rock bottom to have God pick her up. And therefore, Rav Shach adds, רחל מבכה על בניה Rachel Mevakeh Al Baneha Rachel, who wasn’t at rock bottom early on, because she had no reason to cry then, has been crying for her children for the past 2000 years, That is how Hashem worked it out. When we cry and hit rock bottom, that's when Hashem lifts us up, and that's the humility-bitachon connection that we've been talking about. When a person is humbled, he says, “I can't do it. I hit rock bottom Hashem, I need your help.” When a person is arrogant, he feels he's fine. He doesn't need any help from Above. In the three weeks, we are supposed to have the feeling that we’ve hit rock bottom, and then Hashem picks us up and we go on to better days. Have a wonderful day.