I had a much more profound experience on the steps than I did at the Kotel, which Jews often mistakenly say is our holiest place. The Kotel is really just a retaining wall. It's a barrier. It's a reminder that we cannot get to our holiest place, that we cannot pray and worship the way we are supposed to because there are mosques on our holiest place. If one feels exiled living in a land outside Eretz Yisrael, you ironically can feel it more intensely standing at the Kotel, where you are in exile from the Beit Hamikdash, and all that it is for us.
The south side of the Temple Mount
The steps. As I said, I had a much more profound and meaningful experience there, and yet, like davening at the Kotel, it is a bittersweet place to be. A group of us started singing Shir HaMaalot as we made our way up. There are a series of psalms that are referred to as the Shir HaMaalot, which I referred to above. What we sang was the amalgam of those psalms that are sung at the beginning of the Grace after the Shabbat meal.
The first lines in English roughly translate:
When HaShem returned us to Zion from exile we thought we were dreaming, then our mouths filled with laughter and cheers were on our tongues.That's exactly how it was for us, a bunch of Jews who came from America to visit our homeland. It was one of those magical moments that bring you right smack into your faith and history and fill you with everything good that being home represents. And then we got to the top of the steps.
At the top of the steps one can see the gates of entry were the people would enter. They are completely filled in, and above is Al-Aqsa. And just like that, joy and laughter turned to sadness because, like standing at the Kotel, there is a barrier keeping us from our holiest place.
The steps
Sadness gave over to anger. And at the bottom of the stairs, the anger gave over to hope; hope for the coming of the day when those entrances are unblocked, and all of Israel will come with lulav and etrog and dance the way we used to in Ir Hakodesh, the holy city.
I have got to get back to Yerushalayim. We all do.
To see a virtual model of the Herodian Temple Mount go here.
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Wonderful post. I feel more kedusha and peace in Shiloh, where the Mishkan rested for 369 years than at the kotel.
ReplyDeleteI do dearly want to see it, and experience it.
ReplyDeleteB"H
ReplyDeleteWhen are you planning on coming back to Israel?
I plan to come this coming year to visit. Either for Pesach, sometime in the summer, or Sukkot. How's that for nailing it down? In terms of aliyah that will depend on a few variables. In the meantime I'm going to work on putting myself in a position where I can make it over there for a couple months at a time.
ReplyDeleteBut it is my intention, while I'm still living here to be a shofar of sorts for our people. The consciousness of American Jewry needs to be shaken and altered to a level where they begin to understand what and where home is. We shouldn't have to sit and wait for, G-d forbid, a disaster. Eretz Yisrael is blooming and we should be getting off our collective tuchus to be there for that.