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Rabbi Reuven Taragin

Why We Sing “Next Year Double
Portion

in Jerusalem” (L’Shana Haba’a B’Yerushalayim)

e open the Pesach Seder by which to offer sacrifices. Yerushalayim
expressing our hope that was a city that revolved around the House
W next year we will be in Eretz of God; a model of how sacred and sec-
Yisrael. We close the Seder by expressing ular are meant to connect. It showed
the hope that next year we will celebrate how the spiritual is meant to be engulfed
in Jerusalem. by and inspire city life and how city life
is meant to connect with and revolve
Our yearning for Eretz Yisrael is very around a spiritual core.
understandable. The first mission God
gives Abraham, the first Jew, is to move The various mishkans were framed by
there. It is the land promised to his curtains. Yerushalayim was bordered by
descendants and it is the destination of walls. Each wall passed brought one to an
the Jewish people from the moment they area of increased holiness that emanated
left Egypt through the end of their wan- from the Holy of Holies and permeated
derings in the desert. each sector of the city. For this reason,
as opposed to the temporary sanctity of
Yerushalayim, on the other hand, is never the places in which the Mishkan resided, The Wall – accessible to all
mentioned explicitly in the Torah. So why Yerushalayim (and possibly its sanctity) is independent Jewish State, but it was not
does our tradition focus on our return to permanent and eternal. the model we had been praying for. We
Yerushalayim, often instead of the broader had returned to Eretz Yisrael, but we kept
Eretz Yisrael? Why do we sing L’Shana Unfortunately though, we were unwor- praying for Yerushalayim.
Haba’a B’Yerushalayim and not L’Shana thy of this holiness and Yerushalayim was This is why the reunification of Yerusha-
" Persian period, when we finally returned, cance to the Six-Day War and to the State
destroyed. In exile we established shuls,
Haba’a B’Ar’ah D’Yisrael?
but we lacked a holy city. Even in the
layim 51 years ago added so much signifi-
of Israel. It not only helped the belea-
Yerushalayim’s full restoration eluded us.
guered country to see God’s Hand in their
It was defiled – first by the Greeks and
Yerushalayim
miraculous victory, but it also restored its
then by the Romans. We continued to live
in Eretz Yisrael, but we lost Yerushalayim.
spiritual core.
defines the
from the Yerushalayim ideal, the more we
unique essence The longer and further we were distanced May showing our appreciation of what
yearned for it.
God has gifted us so far earn us His com-
pleting the Yerushalayim gift by rebuild-
of Eretz Yisrael For two millennia we yearned and pre- ing its Beit HaMikdash.
pared not only for the return to Israel, but
even more for the return to Yerushalayim. L’Shana Haba’a B’Yerushalayim HaBenuya,
Sadly, in 1948 the State of Israel did not in the Yerushalayim being rebuilt before
I believe the answer is that Yerushalayim include Yerushalayim’s spiritual center. our very eyes!
defines the unique essence of Eretz Yis-
rael. Sacrifices were offered in the Mish- The State felt incomplete. That was why Rabbi Reuven Taragin is Co-
kan (Tabernacle) in the desert and then the Chief Rabbinate refrained (pre-1967) Director of Education at RZA-
in Eretz Yisrael before Yerushalayim was from sanctioning Hallel with a bracha Mizrachi USA and Dean of the
identified as the capital of Israel. Yerusha- on Yom HaAtzmaut. The State of Israel Yeshivat HaKotel Overseas
layim is much more than a location in without Yerushalayim may have been an Program
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