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NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND

Gael Grunewald

The Place

Where It All Began

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

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