Every bridegroom under his wedding canopy declares before all, ?If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand lose its cunning. Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy.? (Psalm 137:5-6)
These words were the exiled Jews? response when the Babylonians tried to force them to celebrate in Babylon: ?For there they that led us captive asked of us words of song, and our tormentors asked of us mirth: ?Sing us one of the songs of Zion.?? (Ibid., verse 3) This recalls what the Nazis did to us, demanding that the Jews march to the ovens with orchestral accompaniment.
Only in Jerusalem do we rejoice. In exile, by the rivers of Babylon, ?there we sat, indeed we wept, when we remembered Zion.? (Ibid., verse 1) Our sages therefore rule that a person is forbidden to fill his mouth with laughter in this world, as it says: ??Then will our mouth be filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing.? (Psalms 126:2) When will this be? When the nations say, ?The L-rd has performed magnificently for these.? (Ibid.)? (Berachot 31a)
Today, how fortunate we are that we can see with our own eyes the return to Zion, the ingathering of the exiles and the actual rebuilding of Jerusalem. By such means, our mouths will be more and more filled with laughter, as we see the clear sign of the end of days, precisely as is written: ?But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel; for they are at hand to come.? (Ezekiel 36:8; Sanhedrin 98a) As Rashi there explains, ?When Eretz Yisrael yields its fruit generously, the end of the exile will then be near. There is no clearer sign of the end of days than this.?
Yet we have not yet reached our final destination. We must still remember the nations? intent, past and present, as they say of Jerusalem, ?Raze it, raze it, even to its very foundation.? (Psalms 137:7; Metzudot Tzion) We are still in the height of the struggle over Jerusalem. The nations have not yet resigned themselves to Jerusalem?s reconstruction. They have not yet been privileged to learn and to know and to recognize that Jerusalem, under Israel?s control, will bring them blessings and bounty.
Only then will ?My house be called a house of prayer for all the nations.? (Isaiah 56:7) Only then will Jerusalem be the light of the universe.
-------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Dov Begon is founder and head of Machon Meir institutions.
Machon Meir is an Israeli educational institution and Hesder yeshiva dedicated to Jewish learning BeAhava UveEmunah (with Love and in Faith), in the spirit of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, the late Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel. Students at Machon Meir, Israelis and new immigrants, come from religious and non-religious backgrounds, and learn in Hebrew, English or Russian. The Machon can be contacted through its website, http://www.machonmeir.org.il.
These words were the exiled Jews? response when the Babylonians tried to force them to celebrate in Babylon: ?For there they that led us captive asked of us words of song, and our tormentors asked of us mirth: ?Sing us one of the songs of Zion.?? (Ibid., verse 3) This recalls what the Nazis did to us, demanding that the Jews march to the ovens with orchestral accompaniment.
Only in Jerusalem do we rejoice. In exile, by the rivers of Babylon, ?there we sat, indeed we wept, when we remembered Zion.? (Ibid., verse 1) Our sages therefore rule that a person is forbidden to fill his mouth with laughter in this world, as it says: ??Then will our mouth be filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing.? (Psalms 126:2) When will this be? When the nations say, ?The L-rd has performed magnificently for these.? (Ibid.)? (Berachot 31a)
Today, how fortunate we are that we can see with our own eyes the return to Zion, the ingathering of the exiles and the actual rebuilding of Jerusalem. By such means, our mouths will be more and more filled with laughter, as we see the clear sign of the end of days, precisely as is written: ?But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel; for they are at hand to come.? (Ezekiel 36:8; Sanhedrin 98a) As Rashi there explains, ?When Eretz Yisrael yields its fruit generously, the end of the exile will then be near. There is no clearer sign of the end of days than this.?
Yet we have not yet reached our final destination. We must still remember the nations? intent, past and present, as they say of Jerusalem, ?Raze it, raze it, even to its very foundation.? (Psalms 137:7; Metzudot Tzion) We are still in the height of the struggle over Jerusalem. The nations have not yet resigned themselves to Jerusalem?s reconstruction. They have not yet been privileged to learn and to know and to recognize that Jerusalem, under Israel?s control, will bring them blessings and bounty.
Only then will ?My house be called a house of prayer for all the nations.? (Isaiah 56:7) Only then will Jerusalem be the light of the universe.
-------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Dov Begon is founder and head of Machon Meir institutions.
Machon Meir is an Israeli educational institution and Hesder yeshiva dedicated to Jewish learning BeAhava UveEmunah (with Love and in Faith), in the spirit of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, the late Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel. Students at Machon Meir, Israelis and new immigrants, come from religious and non-religious backgrounds, and learn in Hebrew, English or Russian. The Machon can be contacted through its website, http://www.machonmeir.org.il.