העורך Editor

Jews STILL ‘Skulking near the Temple’…

“Travels in Greece, Palestine, Egypt, and Barbary, During the Years 1806 and 1807” by François-René vicomte de Chateaubriand p. 391-392 (I left out some of the yucky parts):

While the new Jerusalem thus rises from the desert, resplendent in brightness, cast your eyes between the temple and Mount Sion; behold another petty tribe cut off from the rest of the inhabitants of this city. The particular objects of every species of degradation, these people bow their heads without murmuring; they endure every kind of insult without demanding justice; they sink beneath repeated blows without sighing; if their head be required, they present it to the scymetar. On the death of any member of this proscribed community, his companion goes at night and inters him by stealth in the valley of Jehoshaphat, in the shadow of Solomon’s temple. Enter the abodes of these people, you will find them, amidst the most abject wretchedness, instructing their children to read a mysterious book, which they in turn will teach their offspring to read. What they did five thousand years ago, these people still continue to do. Seventeen times have they witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem, yet nothing can discourage them, nothing can prevent them from turning their faces towards Sion. To see the Jews scattered over the whole world, according to the word of God, must doubtless excite surprise; but to be struck with supernatural astonishment, you must view them at Jerusalem; you must behold them expecting, under all oppressions, a king who is to deliver them. Crushed by the cross that condemns them and is planted on their heads, skulking near the temple, of which not one stone is left upon another, they continue in their deplorable infatuation. The Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, are swept from the earth; and a petty tribe, whose origin preceded that of those great nations, still exists unmixed among the ruins of its native land. If any thing among nations wears the character of a miracle, that character, in my opinion, is here legibly impressed.

What can appear more wonderful, even to the philosopher, than this spectacle of ancient and modern Jerusalem at the foot of … exulting before the only tomb which will have no deposit to render up at the consummation of ages.

End.

By the way, a trained, careful historian may want to examine this account more closely to shed light on the murky question of when the Jews were allowed on or near the Temple Mount and its environs.

Rabbi Kook: Make Aliyah Out of Free Will, Not to Escape Affliction!

Excerpt from an article by Itzchak Evan-Shayish here:

The first was on the first day of  Rosh HaShana -October 22, 1933. Hitler had come to power on January 30th of that year and by this time was Chancellor and Fuhrer. Mein Kampf was a bestseller in Germany and it was obvious that this wasn’t good for the Jews (or anyone else.)

These events were being followed closely and anxiously in the Jewish communities in Palestine. It was announced that on that day Rav Kook would doven at Beit Yaakov-also known as the Hurva-Destroyed- Synagogue in the Old City and would speak about ‘inyanei de’yoma’-matters of the day.

The synagogue was packed Rav Kook arrived with his entourage and the prayers began. Before the blowing of the Shofar, Rav Kook stepped forward to speak. In a hushed voice he began:

“We say in our Rosh HaShana prayers, “Sound the great shofar for our freedom, and raise the banner to bring our exiles together.”

What is the significance of this ‘great shofar’?

There are three types of shofars that may be blown on Rosh Hashanah. Preferably, one should blow a ram’s horn. If this is impossible, one may use a shofar made from the horn of any kosher animal other than a cow. But if neither of these types is available, we may blow the horn of an animal which is ritually unclean. We do so without reciting a blessing.

These three shofars of Rosh Hashanah correspond to three ‘Shofars of Redemption,’ three Divine calls summoning the Jewish people to be redeemed and to redeem their land.

The preferred Shofar of Redemption is the Divine call that awakens and inspires the people with holy motivations, through faith in God to manifest the unique mission of the people of Israel. This elevated awakening corresponds to the ram’s horn, a horn that recalls Abraham’s supreme love of God and dedication in Akeidat Yitzchak, the Binding of Isaac.

It was the call of this shofar, with its holy vision of heavenly Jerusalem united with earthly Jerusalem, that inspired Nachmanides, Rabbi Yehuda HaLevy, Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenura, the students of the Vilna Gaon, and the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov to ascend to Eretz Yisrael. It is for this ‘great shofar,’an awakening of spiritual greatness and idealism, that we fervently pray.

There exists a second Shofar of Redemption, a less optimal form of awakening. This shofar calls out to the Jewish people to return to their homeland, to the land where our ancestors, our prophets and our kings, once lived. It beckons us to live as a free people, to raise our families in a Jewish country and a Jewish culture. This is a kosher shofar, albeit not a great shofar like the first type of awakening. We still recite a brachah over this shofar.

There is, however, a third type of shofar. (At this point Rav Kook burst out in tears.) The least desirable shofar comes from the horn of an unclean animal. This shofar corresponds to the wake-up call that comes from the persecutions of anti-Semitic nations, warning the Jews to escape while they still can and flee to their own land. Enemies force the Jewish people to be redeemed, blasting the trumpets of war, bombarding them with deafening threats of harassment and torment, giving them no respite in the Diaspora. The one who did not listen to the sound of the first shofar and the ones whose ears are closed up and do not want to listen to the sound of the second, ordinary shofar will listen to the sound of the impure, invalid shofar. They will listen against their will.

Over this shofar, however, no blessing is recited. “One does not recite a blessing over a cup of affliction” (Berachot 51b).

We pray that the Holy One does not force us to listen to the invalid and impure shofar. We also do not long for the ordinary, medium sized-almost secular- shofar. We pray, “Sound the great shofar for our freedom”, a shofar which comes from the very depths of the sanctity of the Jewish soul, from our Holy of Holies. Then we will experience the ‘geula shleima-complete redemption’.

We all await that  great day of  which it is written:

וְהָיָ֣ה בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא יִתָּקַע֮ בְּשׁוֹפָ֣ר גָּדוֹל֒ וּבָ֗אוּ הָאֹֽבְדִים֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ אַשּׁ֔וּר וְהַנִּדָּחִ֖ים בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם וְהִשְׁתַּחֲו֧וּ לַֽיהֹוָ֛ה בְּהַ֥ר הַקֹּ֖דֶשׁ בִּירוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִים׃

‘It shall come to pass on that day that a great shofar will be sounded, and those who are lost in the land of Assyria, and the oppressed in the land of Egypt will come and worship God at the holy mountain in Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 27:13)

Rav Kook explained that Hitler and Nazism was the call of the impure shofar calling upon the people to flee, to return home to the Land of Israel. This drasha had a deep impact on all who heard it and was repeated in the newspapers of the time.

Read the rest here…