From Hadesh Vol.1, Issue No. 3 - Redemption
By: Hila Oz
The Yerushalmi on Yoma famously states that “in any generation in which [the Beit HaMikdash] is not rebuilt, it is as if they had destroyed it.” Every year, Tisha b’Av seems to come and pass with little to no urgency. Many find it difficult to mourn something that happened so long before their birth. They do not know what they are missing and therefore cannot seem to connect with what was lost. It is merely a sad event that happened long, long ago, a cautionary tale about what baseless hatred or violation of mitzvah observance can do. Along with the halakhot of fasting and abstention from washing, wearing leather, etc., it has become a custom to watch movies about the Shoah in an attempt to connect with the energy of the day. We read Kinot and remember all that has been done to us until, finally, the sun sets and we can eat again and return to normal life.
This passivity is exactly what the Gemara is speaking about. Tisha b’Av was not something that happened to us, but rather something we did and continue to do. From its origins with the sin of the meraglim, the message of the date appears to be, when you reject the Land, the Land will reject you. In a post-Simchat Torah massacre world, we can clearly see the direct, horrific consequences of rejecting the Land. The return of Jews to the Land of Israel should have been a turning point in history, yet we keep making the same mistakes.
Zionism, with its goal to reestablish Jewish sovereignty over Eretz Yisrael, and more specifically, Zion, essentially fulfilled its mission in the Six Day War. Not only did we reclaim Judea and Samaria, Jerusalem, and more, but the world was able to witness a Biblical-scale miracle as defined by the Jewish people. For nearly two thousand years, the world waited for such an event to occur, and yet once it happened, we had no idea what to do. The Land, our soulmate, became a bargaining chip for a facade of peace, the internal conflict with Palestinians was not in any way subdued, and the Jewish people just wanted to go back to “business as usual.” After nearly two thousand years of national longing for Har HaBayit to be back in our hands, almost as soon as it was, it was given over to the authority of the Jordanian Waqf.
The Jewish people have long had a complicated relationship with both exile and liberation. The Torah is filled with instances wherein liberated Jews reminisced about life in Egypt whenever freedom became difficult. Only a tiny portion of exiled Jews returned to Israel after the Babylonian-Persian exile ended. Today, when it is easier and more comfortable than ever to live as a Jew in Israel, over half of the world’s Jews choose to stay in chutz l’Aretz, awaiting the arrival of Moshiach from afar.
Being a member of the People of Israel was never meant to be a passive practice. We are called upon by Hashem to be His partner in creation and in perfecting the broken world He created for us. The essence of free will is to recognize what is wrong and fix it. Why is this concept seemingly so foreign when it comes to redemption? Being Jewish was never supposed to be a religious practice restricted to the private domain. We are a nation with a national goal and in the State of Israel’s attempt to be a nation like all other nations, it has rejected its core purpose in this world. Thus, a Six Day War can be won and yet everything can carry on as before. The vessel for the final redemption can be built and left empty.
Galut thrives on us remaining passive. It feeds off of our identity crises and insecurity in our own liberation. As long as we remain apologetic for our strength and success and as long as we wait for Geula to happen to us, we continue to destroy the Beit HaMikdash.
Torah is not simply a set of religious beliefs. It is the blueprint for creating an idealistic society in a specific land under the sovereignty of a specific people. Only when this ideal is reached can we successfully be a light unto the nations. The People of Israel today must look back to our ancestors, sages, and prophets, all of whom wore their Jewish identity with pride, and work to continue their visions of what a truly G-d conscious world can be. It is an inherently difficult, uncomfortable, and political task, but the beauty of being a part of this nation is that we have the blessing of responsibility to our fellow man and our Creator, rather than the western notion of entitlement and individualism.
It is a mistake to go into this month believing the churban is an event that occurred nearly two thousand years ago. The Beit HaMikdash is being destroyed right now. Edom is breaking through the walls, penetrating into Israelite society with an intent to destroy it, and we must respond. Hashem wants us to be active. He wants us to fight against the enemy, come together, and rebuild, but first we must know who we are and what we are fighting to rebuild.
In Megillat Esther, a book about Jewish life in exile, Mordechai says something strange to Esther when attempting to convince her to plea with Achashverosh to stop the imminent genocide. Instead of the expected “you’re the only one who can save us,”–which interestingly enough is the line usually used in Christian adaptations of the story–he tells her that no matter what, the Jewish people will be saved. The importance of this moment is not regarding whether or not the Jews will be wiped out. They won’t. We know they won’t because Hashem promised that we would be an eternal nation. Rather, it is whether or not a single Jew chooses to be a conduit for redemption.
Hashem, in His infinite love for us, gives us the most beautiful and holy opportunity to create Geula alongside Him. We will be redeemed. He promised us that it would happen, so we know it will. Now, the question is whether we want to be involved in building a world suitable for the final redemption, or if we simply want to reap the benefits without exerting any effort. Which is the greater Kiddush Hashem: being handed everything on a silver platter by Hashem needing to bend the laws of nature to save us, or showing the world that He chose a people who could successfully build Geula alongside Him?
It is not enough to wait for Moshiach.
We must internalize that Moshiach is waiting for us.