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Rabbanit Shani Taragin

        Double            Yom Yerushalayim:
        Portion
                        The Perfect Prelude to Shavuot






            om Yerushalayim and Shavuot     Presence) in Yerushalayim is a perpetuation   were separated and disconnected. Had we
            are one week apart and so easily   of the revelation celebrated on Shavuot.    succeeded then, it would have been a sit-
     Y associated with each other. On       Indeed, the greatest days of celebration   uation in which “two were holding on” to
      Shavuot in 1967, thousands of Jews flocked   are associated with Yom Yerushalayim and   Jerusalem,  each  one  saying  “it  is entirely
      to see and pray  by the  Kotel for the first   Shavuot:                      mine.” Jerusalem would have turned into
      time since the reunification of Jerusalem,                                   a source of divisiveness, a cause of quarrel
      setting the precedent for the custom that   Go forth and look, daughters of Zion,   and argument… And Jerusalem was…
      continues today.                      upon King Solomon adorned with the     given to the entire people of Israel…
                                            crown his mother made him on the day of   Jerusalem comes to increase peace in
      There are numerous parallels between these   his wedding and on the day of his heart’s   the world. Therefore, only now (1967),
      two dates, and many messages to be learned.   joy.  (Song of Songs  3:11)… on the day   when we have all entered through a single
      Perhaps the most obvious connection is   of his wedding – this is the Giving of the   gate… only now, when we are all united,
      that Shavuot is the day the Torah was given   Torah… on the day of his heart’s joy – this   when a national unity government stands
      on  Mount  Sinai  and  would  continue  to   refers to the building of the holy Temple…   at the helm, when our fighting army is a
      emanate from Yerushalayim – “For Torah   (Ta’anit 26b)                       unified army… when all of our brothers in
      comes  forth  from  Zion  and  the  word  of                                 the Diaspora stand behind us with a single
      God from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3). Though   Perhaps the most timely – and timeless   heart, only now have we merited this great
      the  Torah was given  on Mount  Sinai, our   – message to be learned as we celebrate   event: He who restores His Shechina to
      Sages associate Mount Moriah – the Temple   these holidays is the message of achdut   Zion  has  restored  Jerusalem  to  us!…  As
      Mount in Jerusalem and where the Binding   (unity). When the Jews received the Torah,   long as we continue to be united, all of
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      of  Isaac  took  place  –  with  Mount  Sinai.    they  were  unified,  “as  one  people  with   Jerusalem will continue to be ours…”
                                            one heart.” Similar solidarity is meant to
      There are also numerous parallels between   be realized in Yerushalayim, the one city   1  See Midrash Tehillim Psalm 68 for one example.
      the narratives of these two events (e.g. three   not divided among the tribes; the city that   2  Genesis 22:1-19 and Exodus 19:10-24.
      days preparation, prostration, sacrifice,   brings us together as friends.    3  Jerusalem Talmud, Chagiga 3, 6.
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      morning, seeing and fearing).                                                4  Mo’adei HaReayah, pp. 480-48.
                                            Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Neria   suggests this is why
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      Maimonides states that the three sections   Yerushalayim was reunified in 1967 and not   Rabbanit Shani Taragin is
      of holiness surrounding the Beit HaMik-  given to us in 1948:                Co-Director of Education at
      dash in Yerushalayim are modeled after                                       RZA-Mizrachi USA and a senior
      the Children of Israel’s three encamp-  “In 1948, the Palmach broke through Zion     educator in various women’s
      ments by Mount Sinai. This implies that   Gate, and the Etzel soldiers were about to   higher educational institutions
      the manifestation of the Shechina (Divine   break through the Damascus Gate. We   in Israel















      Festive prayers at the Western Wall

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