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Tourists Hurl to Israel, Zekhariya's Prophecy Came True
Posted on: Sunday, August 08, 2004
Shalom, shalom and shavua tov!
What great news from Eretz Tzion today: according to Misrad HaTayarut, over 1.5 million tourists will visit Israel this year which will be over half the pre-2000 (record) level and a marked improvement on the past three years. If you're toying with the idea of being one of the million and a half, visit the Ministry for more information.
* * *
I meant to write about the following days ago but never got round to it. Well, a couple of weeks ago (9 Av/July 27) was Tisha b'Av, ie. the Fast of Av. That day is the culmination of three weeks of remembrance of and mourning for the disasters which have befallen the Jewish nation over the millennia, especially the two destructions of the Temple (by the Babylonians and Romans) which both transpired in the month of Av, as did other calamities such as the expulsion of Jews from Spain. But what I want to point to is a passage from haTanakh written by Zekharia haNavi which I came across by happenstance. Perek 8:
Bear in mind, that was written right after the return from the first exile in Babylon when the very nation needed to be rebuilt. But it also had a prophetic meaning. It came before the catastrophes which one after another came upon the Jews: the virtual annihilation at the hands of the Romans; the pogroms in Xian Spain (several times), Ireland, England, France, Poland, Belarus, the Baltic states, Russia; Shoah in which 75% of European Jews were wiped out; the million Jews refuged from the Arab world; the perpetual conflict in the Middle East...
And yet, the prophecy came true: Yerushalayim IS the capital of Eretz Israel, old women and men DO sit in the city's parks and children DO play on its streets. Amazing when you think about it. Barukh Atah, Adonai, Melekh haolam!
Kol tuv.
Posted on: Sunday, August 08, 2004
ב''ה
Shalom, shalom and shavua tov!
What great news from Eretz Tzion today: according to Misrad HaTayarut, over 1.5 million tourists will visit Israel this year which will be over half the pre-2000 (record) level and a marked improvement on the past three years. If you're toying with the idea of being one of the million and a half, visit the Ministry for more information.
* * *
I meant to write about the following days ago but never got round to it. Well, a couple of weeks ago (9 Av/July 27) was Tisha b'Av, ie. the Fast of Av. That day is the culmination of three weeks of remembrance of and mourning for the disasters which have befallen the Jewish nation over the millennia, especially the two destructions of the Temple (by the Babylonians and Romans) which both transpired in the month of Av, as did other calamities such as the expulsion of Jews from Spain. But what I want to point to is a passage from haTanakh written by Zekharia haNavi which I came across by happenstance. Perek 8:
ג כה אמר יהוה שבתי אל-ציון ושכנתי בתוך ירושלם ונקראה ירושלם עיר-האמת והר-יהוה צבאות הר הקדש
ד כה אמר יהוה צבאות עד ישבו זקנים וזקנות ברחבות ירושלם ואיש משענתו בידו מרב ימים
ה ורחבות העיר ימלאו ילדים וילדות משחקים ברחבתיה
("3 Thus says HaShem: I return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem will be called The city of truth; and the mountain of HaShem of hosts The holy mountain.
"4 Thus says HaShem of hosts: There will yet old men and old women sit in the broad places of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
"5 And the broad places of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the broad places thereof.")
"4 Thus says HaShem of hosts: There will yet old men and old women sit in the broad places of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
"5 And the broad places of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the broad places thereof.")
Bear in mind, that was written right after the return from the first exile in Babylon when the very nation needed to be rebuilt. But it also had a prophetic meaning. It came before the catastrophes which one after another came upon the Jews: the virtual annihilation at the hands of the Romans; the pogroms in Xian Spain (several times), Ireland, England, France, Poland, Belarus, the Baltic states, Russia; Shoah in which 75% of European Jews were wiped out; the million Jews refuged from the Arab world; the perpetual conflict in the Middle East...
And yet, the prophecy came true: Yerushalayim IS the capital of Eretz Israel, old women and men DO sit in the city's parks and children DO play on its streets. Amazing when you think about it. Barukh Atah, Adonai, Melekh haolam!
Kol tuv.
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