Page 27 - HaMizrachi # 21 Tisha B'Av 2020 USA

PLACES IN ISRAEL AM, ERETZ, TORAH

Rivi Frankel

Jerusalem

P A S T AND FUTURE

n Tisha B’Av, we commem- your gods, O Yehuda” (Yirmiyahu looks, one can see the fulfillment of
orate the destruction of the 11:13). As Chazal tell us in Men- positive prophecies alongside the
OBeit HaMikdash by reading achot 13:22, “Why was the First testimony of destruction.
firsthand accounts of that terrible Temple in Jerusalem destroyed?
day, along with other calamities that Because of idolatry, sexual immo- Batei Machaseh Square is a great
befell the Jewish people throughout rality and bloodshed.” example. In the square is the base of
the generations. a column the Romans transported
The ruins of Jerusalem do not just from Har HaBayit after ransack-
Despite the First Beit Hamik- tell the story of the destruction of ing the Temple. Across from the
dash having been destroyed over the first Beit HaMikdash. Slightly column is a quote from Zecharia
2,600 years ago, and the Second north of Ir David is the remainder HaNavi, graffitied by a defender of
almost 2,000 years ago, signs of the of a market built just prior to the Jerusalem in 1948, as he was being
destruction still remain in Jerusa- Roman destruction of the Second led out of the city by the Jorda-
lem today – physical pieces of his- Temple in the year 70 CE. nians. Made permanent after the
tory that stand witness to our tre- reunification of Jerusalem in 1967,
mendous loss. At the corner of the southern and the quote reads, “So said the L-rd
western walls, visitors to the David-
When Nebuchadnezzar conquered son Center can see what is left of of hosts: There shall yet old men
Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E, it was not the market street, including mul- and old women sit in the streets of
enough for him to burn just the tiple stalls, as well as Robinson’s Jerusalem, every man with his staff
Temple. His army, led by Nevuzra- Arch, a large archway that sup- in his hand for every age. And the
dan, lit the whole city ablaze. In Ir ported one of the staircases leading streets of the city shall be full of
David (the City of David), in what up to the Temple Mount plaza. boys and girls playing in the street”
has become known as “Area G,” you (Zecharia 8:4-5).
can see a layer of ash from the fire Large piles of hewn stone, once part In the shadow of these two remind-
that burnt down the royal admin- of administrative buildings on Har
istration building near the top of HaBayit, lie in the street. Having ers of our past and future, you can
the city. In one section of the area, been toppled by the Romans, these see children playing, along with vis-
appropriately called the “Burnt rocks destroyed the market street itors young and old.
Room,” the house collapsed inward below, turning a once-bustling dis- While the city is filled with scars
after being set on fire. Beneath the trict into a desolate ruin. Similar to from our painful past, it is up to us
rubble is a pile of charred debris the Burnt Room in Ir David, some to uncover the beauty of our bright
almost one meter high. of the rocks are marked with black future. May we be zoche to see the
soot from the fire that destroyed coming of Mashiach and the build-
In these ruins, as well as elsewhere
in Ir David, archaeologists found the Beit HaMikdash. ing of the Third Beit HaMikdash,
nearly 1,500 clay idol figurines This devastation can also be seen speedily in our days.
dating to the period of Yehuda’s set- in the private homes uncovered in
tlement in the city. In every single what is today called the Herodian
excavated building in Ir David, Quarter Museum and the Burnt
archaeologists have found signs House.
of idol worship. These finds echo
Yirmiyahu’s repeated attempts to However, Jerusalem does not only Rivi Frankel is a tour guide in Israel
rally the people and pull them away bear witness to the destruction and working with individuals and groups from
from avodah zarah. “For according exile of the Jews; it also holds the all backgrounds, and particularly with
to the number of your cities are key to their future. Everywhere one children and teens

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