The Book: The Unified Body | The Blog: Am Echad | |

 

"It is better to take refuge in Adonai than to trust in human beings; better to take refuge in Adonai than to put one's trust in princes." -Tehilah 118:8-9



L'Shana Haba B'Yerushalayim

Yeah yeah yeah, wrong holiday-- NOT. This article in the JPost reminded me of why every holiday is a reason to pray Next Year in Jerusalem:

Comment: A classically Zionist, very Israeli march By BRIAN FREEMAN

Some great excerpts:

My family of five hiked yesterday with thousands of other Israeli families, organizations, work groups and individuals from the outskirts of Jerusalem past the Old City and on to Sacher Park, symbolically recreating the Succot pilgrimage to the capital during Temple times.

As we hiked, the overwhelmingly dominant language was Hebrew, the landscape was vintage Israeli and the singing was all about Jerusalem. We even passed a number of haredim standing along the route offering help to anyone who wanted to say the blessings over the lulav and etrog.

...For I find this event to be one of the most Zionistic experiences on the calendar, giving full expression to Israeli Jewish pride and providing a way to celebrate Succot beyond the religious rituals while honoring our heritage.

...The park was the site of the second stage of the event, and it was only there that the visiting Christians, who were completely absent from the long morning hike from what I could see, joined the party.

...But even with all that and [the Christian] record reported numbers of 7,000 this year, they are still only a minority of the approximately 30,000 total participants.

And let us not forget that they come for our holiday, in the context of how we celebrate, usually even singing their songs in our language. Perhaps our many years in the Diaspora have made it hard for us to remember that, in situations like these, we are setting the tone and they are playing the role of friendly support.

If anyone has to worry about being influenced by the other, it is them and not us.


What would Messianic Judaism be like if we exhibited as much determination and pride in living out our identity as Jewish believers, let alone in a Zionistic fashion?

All I can say is, WHOA: I'd like to be at that Sukkot celebration.

Labels: , , ,

posted by Shoshana @ 6:06 PM

<< Home