Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Going ... HOME

We finish the prophet Isaiah's work this morning, another cold, crisp February day. The people of Judea built a make-shift clothes washer.

Isaiah writes of the re-joining of family to family: "Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her, celebrate! And all you who have shed tears over her, join in the happy singing. ... I'll pour robust well-being into her like a river, the glory of nations like a river in flood. ... As a mother comforts her child, so I'll comfort you. You will be comforted in Jerusalem."

Imagine you're washing clothes near a little stream that crawls out of the Euphrates. Wash, bang on rocks, squeeze, wash, bang on rocks, squeeze. All the while, you're thinking of playing on the streets of the City of David, running around like a maniac, screaming in joy.You're thinking of Happy Days, and the Fonze is soon to be Nehemiah and Richie is the Happy Days priest, Ezra. Isaiah is Mr. C, Richie's Dad, Mr. Cunningham.

Then you take the clothing out of the great river, hopelessly pondering the return of God's people to the city where God lingers. "Next year in Jerusalem," you whisper, a smile pouring onto your face like the river's estuaries.

See, "next year in Jerusalem" is an expression many of the captured spoke often. It spoke of spiritual hope - that Jerusalem be rebuilt spiritually, as the spiritual center of the world, with the Holy Temple and the manifest Presence of G-d on earth, at its center.

The Israelites, those Judean Knights of the Southern Kingdom, spoke longingly, wishfully, of a time when all would not only be re-united, but would be re-united under the bold, strong leadership of a G-d of whom they couldn't even say the name. That's who Isaiah worshipped. That's who Isaiah listened to. That's G-d.

"For just as the new heavens and new earth that I am making will stand firm before me," (God says) "So will your children and your reputation stand firm. Month after month and week by week, everyone will come to worship me," God says.


The need to continually focus on next year in Jerusalem is tied to geography and the physical presence of Jews in the flourishing modern city of Jerusalem. The latter is essential for the former. We should be truly grateful for the rebuilding of the holy city and understand that the renewal of Jewish life and sovereignty in Israel is part of the process of ultimate redemption. City walls would be rebuilt. City walkways will be reformed. One day the Messiah, promised in Isaiah more than any where else, would walk the bricks and stone of the City of David. It was coming. It is coming still. At the end of days, it will come.

Traditionally, Jerusalem has been the focus of longing for Diaspora Jews (those who were captured and taken away to Babylonia) who were forced from their land and the Temple of their God. Psalm 137 is the well-known lament of the Babylonian Jews who wept "by the rivers of Babylon" and declared, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither."

"How could we ever sing God's song in this wasteland?" the Psalmist writes. "If I ever forget you, Jerusalem, let my fingers wither and fall off like leaves. Let my tongue swell and turn black if I fail to remember you. If I fail, O dear Jerusalem, to honor you as my greatest."

Forget? The most straightforward answer is that "Jerusalem" refers to the future city -- and its Temple -- rebuilt when the Messiah came. Most traditional Jews feel quite comfortable expressing this messianic longing at the end of the Seder, just as at the end of each Shabbat, Jews recite the hope that the Messiah should come "speedily in our day."

And to clarify for Israelis, some traditional Haggadot indicate that those in the Jewish state should replace the phrase with "next year in Jerusalem, the rebuilt," implying a rebuilt Temple.

When my wife, Mary, and I walked the stones of the Temple mount, marveling at the Muslim's third-most sacred spot in the world, we were taken  by the beauty and the history of that spot. The Dome of the Rock is a beautiful mosque sitting on top of the site of the second Jewish Temple, built by Solomon.

So, "Next Year in Jerusalem" is the war cry of the Jews spread all over the world to return to their native land Palestine with its capital at Jerusalem, inside the walls of the Old City. The Jews living in various parts of the world nursed a dream that they would one day be led back to the Promised Land with its headquarters at Jerusalem. According to tradition, they were driven out from there in ancient times by the Romans.

I know nothing of that. I only know that the phrase rings sadly to me, like some . It speaks of non-completion. It speaks of loneliness. It speaks of tasks undone.

Next year I'll ...

Since I didn't complete (whatever), next year I'll ...

God speaks to all those in the world who are trying, who aren't giving up, who refuse to go under, who won't quit. God speaks to those who are blessed, but aren't super-powered. They're human, so very human, just like us, but they can't, or won't, get 'er done for any of a million little reasons.

The Psalm, and the closing words of Isaiah's prophecy, speak of a time when completion is but a dream. "Alongside Babylon's rivers we sat on the banks, we cried and cried, remembering the good old days in Zion. Alongside the quaking aspens we stacked our unplayed harps; That's where our captors demanded songs, sarcastic and mocking:

'Sing us a happy Zion song!' Please...please...please. Make it, make ME happy. Please, God.

Sing a happy Zion song was sarcasm played like a harp, sang like the tune of an Israelite's fiddle.

Next year...
Next year ...
Maybe NEXT YEAR...

W-e  ...  w-i-l-l   ...  g-o   ...  h-o-m-e.

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