Page 5 - HaMizrachi 1 Chicago Edition
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The Talmud (Ta’anit 23a) recounts a    to him:    ’ It will not produce fruit   until 70
           remarkable story to teach us how to    years have passed.  ’   Choni said   to him:    ’ Is  "
           understand the verse    “A Song of Ascents:   it obvious you will live 70   years, that you   The goal of a
           When God brought back those who returned   expect to benefit from  this tree?  ’   He said to
           to Zion, we were like those who dream,” as   him:   ’ Just as my  ancestors planted for me, I   prophecy is
           we look to our past and future.        too am  planting for my descendants.  ’   Choni
                                                  sat  and ate bread. Sleep overcame him and   not to predict
           Rabbi Yochanan said: All  the days  of the     he slept. A cliff formed around him, and
           life of that righteous man, Choni, he was     he disappeared from sight  and  slept for    70   what will be...
             distressed over the meaning of this verse:   years. When he awoke, he saw a   certain
           “A song of Ascents: When God brought   man gathering carobs from  that tree. Choni   but to charge
           back those who returned to Zion, we were   said to him:   ’ Are you  the one who planted
           like those who dream.” He said to himself:   this tree?  ’   The   man said to him:    ’ I am his   Am Yisrael with
           Is there really a person who can sleep and   son’s son.  ’     Choni said to him:    ’ I can learn
           dream  for  70  years?  How  is  it  possible  to   from this  that I have slept for 70 years,  ’   and   what can  be
           compare the 70-year exile in Babylonia to a     indeed he saw that his donkey had   sired
           dream?                                 several herds during those many  years.  “

           Choni HaMa’agel (Tanna, 1c. BCE)       Choni witnesses the planting of a   בוּר ָח    up to ripened fruits and fulfilled prophecies,
           does not understand how 70 years of    (charuv, carob tree) because he struggles to   but we  recognize the toil and the process.
           Exile followed by a  return to Israel can be   understand   the poetic imagery employed   While Choni disappears from sight, absent
           compared to a dream, if the latter is brief   to describe national revival from a state of   from the process,   disconnected from his
           and fleeting. For Choni, whose   detailed     ן ַבּ ְ רוּח  (churban,   destruction) to bearing   family for 70 years, the farmer plants seeds
           demands for rainfall are immediately   the  fruit  of  Redemption.  Choni  does  not   for the generations to come  and enjoys the
           answered by God, 70 years seems like an   comprehend the process of   planting if the   fruits planted by those before him.
             eternity, and the simile of a dream – an   results are not immediate. The carob planter
           oxymoron! His philosophical outlook is   explains that only by planting seeds  in one   After 70 years of reliving the fulfillment of
           underscored in  a conversation he has one   generation may one merit to enjoy the fruit   prophecies, we are recharged by the words
           day with a man planting a carob tree.   in the next. And when one does, it behooves   of  Psalms    to continue to dream – to plan
                                                    him to prepare and continue to plant for the   and plant for the future, to appreciate
                                                                                        the 70 years of   galut (Exile) and churban
                                                  ensuing generations 70 years later.
             “ Choni said to him:   ’ After how many  years
          "                                       Choni sleeps as  the state of the  בוּר ָח  /  ן ַבּ ְ רוּח    and rebuilding in Medinat   Yisrael and
                                                                                        (Destruction), to appreciate our returning
           will this tree bear fruit?  ’   The man   said
                                                  blossoms to fruition together with the
                                                                                        Yerushalayim of 2,500 years ago and of
                                                  bearing of children and herds  of donkeys.
                                                                                        today. How  tragic if we sleep  and dream
                                                  As  he  dreams,  fruits  are  germinating and
                                                                                        –   and  how  magnificent  and  fruitful  if  we
           Redemption
                                                  children and grandchildren are being  born.
                                                                                        invest in our Land and in our children for
           and fulfillment
                                                                                        will bear the fruits of prophecies waiting to
                                                                                        be realized.
           of prophecies                          This aggadah (Talmudic legend) is meant   the next 70  years, so that future generations
                                                  to resolve his difficulty and ours as we
                                                  revisit  and   appreciate  Shivat  Tzion  in  our
           do not occur                           70th year of renewed Jewish sovereignty.   "Those who sow in tears will reap
                                                                                            in joy. He who bears the measure
                                                  Redemption and  fulfillment of prophecies
           in immediate                           do not occur in immediate or automatic    of seeds walks weeping, but will
                                                                                            return in joy, carrying his sheaves.”
                                                  fashion.   We must plant,   sow, invest, and
                                                                                            (Psalms126:6    )
           or automatic                           chart a proper trajectory for our national-  Rabbanit Shani Taragin is a
                                                  religious  future as  we  simultaneously
           fashion                                  harvest the fruits of generations of planters   senior teacher and  educator in
                                                  and planners before us. We have been like   various women’s higher
                                                    dreamers who sleep for 70 years and wake     educational institutions in Israel
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