By Moshe Feiglin – 20 Nisan 5777 – April 16, 2017
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them: ‘Draw out and take lambs according to your families and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall observe this matter for an ordinance for you and your sons forever” (Exodus 12).
Soon, with G-d’s help, we will establish Jewish leadership for Israel. Please be forewarned that when that happens, our familiar, comfortable Pesach holiday will be radically changed. We will have to forget about the Pesach seder with the extended family at the home of the family balabusta. Instead, we will be face to face with the Korban Pesach at the Temple Mount.
For those who have forgotten, the Korban Pesach is a positive commandment, equal in importance to the mitzvah of brit milah. The mitzvah of circumcision is a personal covenant between a Jew and his Father in Heaven. The Pesach offering is a national covenant between the Jewish nation and its Father in Heaven. These two commandments forged the Jewish people as the unique nation of the Creator – both as individuals and as a collective.
Today, a Jewish policeman stands at the entrance to the Temple Mount and explains to the Jews that they are prohibited from praying there. A request to bring a sacrificial lamb is out of the question. When we will finally establish Jewish leadership for Israel, though, the same policeman will stand at the entrance to the Temple Mount and cheerfully explain what you need to know, ensuring that you are well-versed in the Jewish laws that must be observed during your momentous visit.
In truth, it is not the policeman who blocks our entrance to the Temple Mount. It is observant Jews whose Torah and faith are still in exile. They feel more comfortable when our covenant with G-d remains exclusively in the realm of the individual. It’s great to be religious in your home and “Israeli” in public. The people who subscribe to this mode of living will go to great lengths to avoid being a complete Jew in the complete Land of Israel – both in private and in public. In other words, at some level, all of us have a little policeman in our hearts, blocking the entrance to the Temple Mount. That is why we have a full-sized, flesh and blood policeman at its gates.
When we establish Jewish leadership for Israel, all of this will be distant memory. The prime minister and his cabinet will ascend to the Temple Mount with their sacrificial lambs. The entire national mentality will change, and there will be no more lame excuses for not bringing the Korban Pesach.
Instead of sitting in the comfort of our living rooms and chewing on matzah that symbolizes the Korban Pesach, we will joyously sit in the streets and alleys surrounding the Temple Mount, eating our roasted sacrificial lamb. The international uproar will be deafening. How will we be able to conduct “peace” negotiations when the entire Jewish nation is at the Temple Mount with their Pesach offerings? And who will protect us from Iran? And what will Obama do? And how will Russia react? And what about the European Union? What will we explain?
“And you shall say: It is the sacrifice of G-d’s Passover, for He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses.”
Happy Festival of Freedom.
From The Jewish Press, here.
