Page 47 - HaMizrachi Tisha B'Av AUS 2021

NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND

Gael Grunewald

The Place

Where It All Began

he story of Am Yisrael throughout Land, were replaced with prayer, fasting
the Tanach is a story of a con- and minhagim, for example, that every Jew
nection between a People and its in the world turns his or her heart in the
TLand. From the searching phase of direction of Yerushalayim three times a
our ancestor Avraham, through the prom- day, and prays vetechezena eineinu, may our
ise to Am Yisrael and their longing in Egypt, eyes behold G-d’s return to Tzion.
the conquest of the Land by Yehoshua, the
struggle of the Judges, the establishment On the face of it, it seems Tisha B’Av is a day
of kings and the exiles of Assyria and Bab- we mourn the destruction of a place. A day
ylon. A long-suffering nation who always we remember the terrible tragedies which
yearned for their Land. befell our nation, and weep once more.
But Judaism doesn’t believe in sadness as
ֹוב ּוכ ְּל ִה םי ִל ָעּו ׁש …ןֹוּי ִצ ר ַה ל ַע, “Because of Mount a way of life.
Zion, which lies desolate; jackals prowl
over it” (Eicha 5:18). It is more similar to Yom HaZikaron, which
is not a day of bereavement but of gravitas.
Judaism is the only religion which con- It is a day we gather together around our
tains commandments dependent upon deepest values and bow our heads at the
a place; namely, the Land of Israel. It’s a heavy price these values demand of us.
testimony to our emunah, to our Torah. It is Wherever we are in the world, it is a day
not just a private Torah, a personal manual we unite and make room for loss.
of morality between man and his fellow or
man and his Creator. One of G-d’s many names is HaMakom. The
Place. Baruch HaMakom Baruch Hu, al da’at
The Torah contains another layer, bein HaMakom, and bein adam laMakom. It’s not
adam laMakom – between man and the just an abstract idea.
place, the Land. It’s a Torah which builds
a nation, a nation which builds a Land, and Tisha B’Av is the date when Am Yisrael,
a Land which builds an individual. wherever they are in the world, stops
for one day and remembers the Root, the
The chut ha’meshulash, the “threefold cord, Source, the Place from where it all began.
not readily broken” spoken of in Kohelet, is place on the same date. Tisha B’Av is the We are one nation, we received one Torah
like a rope woven from three threads. This day when we discover, time and again, the and we have one Land.
strong rope is placed at the foundation of deep connection between our nation and
ָ
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our people, and when one thread is untied, Eretz Yisrael. ה ָבּו ׁשָנ ְו ךי ֶל ֵא ’ה ּונ ֵבי ׁש ֲה, “Return us, O L-rd, to
the whole rope may come loose. Tisha B’Av is a day we mourn a place – Yourself, and let us come back; renew our
One date is particularly prominent regard- walls that fell, a house destroyed. It is no days as of old!” (Eicha 5:21).
ing the connection between Am Yisrael and coincidence that Am Yisrael, who brought
Eretz Yisrael: Tisha B’Av, the date of the sin the belief in the metaphysical to the world,
of the spies. The date upon which, some is bound in its destiny and belief to the
400 years later, the first Beit HaMikdash Land.
was destroyed, and some 900 years later, Chazal understood the secret of this con-
the second. 60 years after that, again on nection, and carved it into the national
Tisha B’Av, the city of Beitar fell into the memory throughout the generations.
hands of the Romans and the Jews were Although we mourn a physical place,
exiled. 1,000 years later, on the same date, what was created as a result of our
the Jews of England were expelled, and 200 national mourning was brotherhood, a
years afterward the expulsion of Spanish partnership of destiny. Chazal replaced Gael Grunewald is Deputy Chairman of
Jewry was decreed. the World Zionist Organization and head
the “thread” of Eretz Yisrael with longing of its Education Department. He is one
And 500 years after that, the expulsion for Israel. The mitzvot hateluyot baAretz, of World Mizrachi’s representatives in the
from Gush Katif was declared to take the commandments dependent on the National Institutions.

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