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MIZRACHI EDUCATORS

Rabbi Reuven Taragin Rabbanit Shani Taragin

SEEING OUR PAST

IN OUR FUTURE

MOURNING FOR THE PAST future. For thousands of years Jews its Land, I was born in one of the cities
may have lived far from Yerushalayim of Exile. But I always regarded myself
apoleon Bonaparte was once with no realistic hope of return, but as one who was born in Jerusalem.”
traveling through a small they always believed that their return
NJewish town in Europe. was imminent. And in the words of another Jewish

He happened to enter a synagogue Many exiled peoples long for their lost Nobel Laureate, Elie Wiesel, “When
a Jew visits Jerusalem for the first
on Tisha B’Av and saw people sitting lands, but because they (and for sure time, it is not the first time, it is a
on the floor and weeping. Napoleon homecoming.”
asked why the people were crying. their children) see this past as no more
An enlightened Jewish French officer than history, they (and for sure their May our continued anticipation of our
children) ‘move on’ and assimilate
told him that the Jewish people had a complete Redemption, inspired by its
custom to gather once a year to fast, into their new surroundings. In con- having begun, give us the strength to
pray, and mourn for the destruction of trast, the core of our people retained sustain our independent identity and
their Temple. its distinct identity amidst both merit its completion in the form of the
hostile and friendly environments rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash.
Napoleon asked, “When was this?” because we believed we were soon to
be redeemed. Because we were about
“Over 2,000 years ago,” said the officer. to return to Yerushalayim we never 1 Also see the Ran on Shabbat 31a. He
“Wow!” said Napoleon. “A nation that belonged anywhere else. teaches that one of the questions we are
asked upon arrival in Heaven is whether we
cries and fasts for over 2,000 years for Our belief in our imminent return anticipated Redemption. We are expected
their Temple will surely be rewarded is expressed in the language of the not only to anticipate Redemption but to
with its rebuilding.” anticipate it in our own days.
Ani Ma’amin, belief in the coming of 2 This tefilla’s language goes further than
We Jews definitely excel in our abil- Mashiach, “even though he is delayed, its source – the language Ya’akov used in
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ity to continue mourning for what despite all this I await his arrival every his blessings to his sons is 'ה י ִ תי ִּו ִ ק ך ְ ת ָ עּו ׁשי ִ ל
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was lost so long ago. Yet as the years day.” In our daily prayers we go even (Bereishit 49:18).
pass and the memory of the Mikdash further by saying that we pine for G-d’s 3 Ketuvot 75a.
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fades – and particularly as we return salvation – םֹוּי ַ ה ל ָּ כ ּוני ִּו ִ ק ך ְ ת ָ עּו ׁשי ִ ל י ִּ כ – not 4 Rav Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld (Chief
to Israel and enjoy the restoration just every day, but all day. 2 Rabbi of Yerushalayim) used this Gemara
of so much of our glorious past – we as justification for allowing one to write
on his birth certificate that he was born in
need to continue mourning for the still Not only have we seen Yerushalayim Yerushalayim (which was required in order
missing Beit HaMikdash and address as part of our imminent future, we to continue residing in Eretz Yisrael under
the implications of its continued state always saw ourselves as connected Turkish rule in World War I), even if the
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of churban (destruction). to it in the present. The Talmud tells person was not actually born there.
us that anyone who aspires to see
AN IMMINENT FUTURE Yerushalayim is considered as having Rabbi Reuven Taragin is Educational
been born there! 4
That said, I believe we are unique in a Director of Mizrachi. He is also Dean of the
second important way, a way also crit- Based upon this source, Shmuel Yeshivat HaKotel Overseas Program
ravtaragin@mizrachi.org
ical to why we have survived so long Agnon opened his Nobel Prize accep-
in exile and why we have miraculously tance speech with the following words
returned to our Land. Many nostalgize – “As a result of the historic catastro- Scan here to join Rabbi
their past but we Jews always saw it phe in which Titus of Rome destroyed Taragin’s WhatsApp group
as part of our future – our immediate Jerusalem, and Israel was exiled from with daily Divrei Torah

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