Page 3 - HaMizrachi Sukkot 5784 North America

FROM THE
Editor

A Time for Vision and Hope Even if they succeeded in rebuilding the Though we may not realize it, G-d is with
us. Great days are coming, “in just a little
Beit HaMikdash, it would be a pale reflection
I t was an era of disappointment. of its predecessor. This was not the glori- while longer,” when G-d will “shake the
ous return they yearned for in Babylonia!
heavens and earth,” when we will merit
The return to the Land began with
the rebuilding of the Temple on Har
Chaggai acknowledges the disappoint-
so much excitement. In the first year
of his reign, Cyrus the Great granted ment – but then exhorts the leaders of HaBayit and the descendant of David and
Zerubavel will lead us to a time of glory
permission to the Judean exiles to return Judah: “Be strong, O Zerubavel… be strong, even “greater than the first one.”
all you people of the Land… and act! For I
home. Zerubavel and Yehoshua the Kohen
Gadol led the first olim from Babylonia am with you – says the G-d of Hosts” (Chag- But why did Chaggai share this message
gai 2:4). You may not see it, but G-d is with
back to their homeland. And on that first you, just as He was when He took you out on Hoshanah Rabbah, of all days? Hosha-
nah Rabbah is the day of the beating of
Sukkot, the pioneers set up an altar in of Egypt. There may be no nature-defying
Jerusalem and brought sacrifices to G-d. the aravot, the humble willows that rep-
miracles or seas that split, but G-d dwells resent the condition of Am Yisrael in our
But a painful reality soon overwhelmed among you! “My spirit is still in your time. Without water – without faith in
the first returnees. The task of rebuilding midst. Fear not!” (2:5). Those enemies that our people and the vision of redemption
the Beit HaMikdash was overwhelming. plague you? The day will come when they – the willow tree will wither away. But if
The people lacked resources, and the will pay for their evil. “And I will shake up the elders of Israel bring “water” to the
Samaritans did everything in their power all the nations” (2:5). “In just a little while people and inspire them with G-d’s awe-
to undermine the process. Worst of all, longer I will shake the heavens and the some vision for the future, the nation will
the people themselves seemed spiritually earth.” Great days are coming soon! Do burst forth with awesome vitality, like a
unworthy of the task at hand. Most rabbis not allow the frustrations of the moment flourishing willow alongside a river.
and scholars chose to remain in exile, to bring you to despair, for G-d “will fill Now is not the time for despair, for
and many of the pioneers who returned this House with glory” (2:9). depressing comparisons of our current
were intermarried and lax in their Torah We, too, are living in an age of disappoint- moment with the destruction of the Beit
observance. Unsurprisingly, the process of ment. As we devolve into infighting, our HaMikdash. It is a time for strength and
rebuilding the Beit HaMikdash was delayed enemies grow ever bolder. Those of us hope, for the vision of Chaggai. For “the
for many years, and the people despaired. who live in Israel’s biblical heartland are glory of this last House shall be greater
Eighteen years after Cyrus’ dramatic dec- afraid to drive on local roads and high- than the first one… And in this place I will
laration, the “new Yishuv” was floundering ways, where Arab terrorists regularly grant peace, says the L-rd of Hosts” (2:9).
and the rebuilding had ground to a halt. murder our neighbors at will. Those who
At this critical moment, the prophet Cha- remember the glorious days after the Six-
ggai began to prophesy. “In the seventh Day War, when Jews fearlessly walked the Elie Mischel
month, on the 21st day” – on Hoshanah streets of Beit Lechem and Chevron with
Rabbah – Chaggai directly addressed the their heads held high, can only sigh in
elephant in the room: “Who among you bitter disappointment. Meanwhile, mil-
is left, who saw this house in its former lions of Jews remain in exile, with no plans
glory? And as you see it now, is it not as to return home. Most of all, 56 years after
nothing in your eyes?” (Chaggai 2:3). Those “Har HaBayit B’Yadeinu,” most Jews have all
who still remembered the glory of the first but forgotten our ultimate goal of rebuild-
Beit HaMikdash, filled with “pure gold and ing the Beit HaMikdash. Where is our pride,
our strength, our belief in ourselves?
precious stones” (Abarbanel), could only Rabbi Elie Mischel
feel depressed and disappointed by the During times like these, we must remem- is the Editor of HaMizrachi magazine.
small scale of the current construction. ber Chaggai’s Hoshanah Rabbah prophecy.

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