Where is G-d?

A couple had two little mischievous boys, ages 8 and 10. They were always getting into trouble, and their parents knew that if any mischief occurred in their town, their sons would get the blame.
The boys’ mother heard that a rabbi in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The rabbi agreed and asked to see them individually. So the mother sent her 8-year-old first, in the morning, with the older boy to see the rabbi in the afternoon.
The rabbi, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, “Where is G-d?”
The boy’s mouth dropped open, but he made no response.
The rabbi repeated the question. “Where is G-d?”
Again, the boy made no attempt to answer.
So, the rabbi raised his voice some more and shook his finger in the boy’s face and bellowed, “Where is G-d!?”
The boy screamed and bolted from the room. He ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him.
When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, “What happened?”
The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied: “We are in real BIG trouble this time! G-d is missing, and they think we did it!”

Jokes aside, we’re in the middle of a time of mourning. For three weeks we don’t listen to music, don’t cut our hair, and observe many other customs of sadness and mourning. The reason for this is that we are lamenting the destruction of the holy temples which took place during these 21 days.
And now the million dollar question: Where is G-d? Is G-d with us through our troubles and hardship? Does he care about us? If I call to him does he listen? Or maybe he’s like my daddy who, when I ask him for a hundred dollars, screams that I don’t deserve it and then slams the phone down?
Well, a full answer to that loaded question would take a lot more than this article, but let’s discuss it in short.
In the First Temple, the Temple of Solomon, in the holiest room in the universe, lay the holiest box, the Aron. It contained the tablets, made out of gold in specific proportions; it was the greatest vessel of the temple. On it stood two Cherubim – human-like forms with wings resembling those of an eagle, facing each other. Or, to be more precise, usually they were facing each other. In times of G-d’s wrath and anger, they would turn away and face opposite directions, symbolizing that G-d has turned away.
Yet when the Babylonians broke into the temple and entered the holy of holies, to the shock of the Jewish people, the Cherubim stood there facing each other. G-d was with us; he loved us.
Obviously, there is something inherently good and positive about the destruction and the exile that followed, and that is the coming of Moshiach which can only come through our struggle, our blood and tears of the last almost 2000 years. G-d is with us more than before, giving us strength and courage to pull us closer to the goal and grasp the deeper meaning of the destruction.
So pick up your phone and give G-d a call. He’s waiting for your phone call. We all are.