Dear Friends:
As we enter the Three Weeks, I feel once again that there is no more appropriate text than the weighty and prophetic words which appear at the beginning of my book, 2020 VISION:
“In the End of Days, after the Children of Israel have returned to their land, the children of Ishmael (the Moslem nations) and the children of Esau (the Western nations) will unite to attack Jerusalem. They will form a world coalition against the tiny nation of Israel. But something will go wrong with their plan. The religious beliefs of the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau will clash, and the two nations will collide and destroy each other. This is what is referred to as the War of Gog and Magog. Following this cataclysmic conflict, the Final Redemption of the Jewish People will occur with the coming of Messiah the Son of King David.” (Malbim on Yechezkel 32:17)
Why after all do the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau “unite to attack Jerusalem”? Why is Yerushalayim the perennial obsession of our enemies, from Biblical times to this very day? Why is Jerusalem like a magnet drawing all toward it as if it were the very center of the world?
Because it IS the center of the world!
“A stone was there (on the place where the Ark stood in the Temple) from the times of the early prophets, and it was called ‘Shessiyah (“foundation).’” (Mishna Yoma 5:2)
“A Beraisa taught: Because from [this stone] the world was founded.” (Yoma 54b).
The Ark rested on this spot.
G-d told Moses, “I will commune with you, and I will speak with you from above the ark-cover from between the two Kruvin, which are on the Ark. (Exodus 25:22)
This is the place from which G-d’s Voice emanates and this is the center of the world. In the Desert, the Ark was surrounded by the Mishkan, which was surrounded by the Courtyard. The Tribe of Levi surrounded the entire structure, with Moses and Aaron opposite the eastern entrance to the Courtyard. The other Tribes surrounded the Levites, with the Tribes of Yehuda, Issachar and Zevulon opposite the entrance to the Courtyard on the eastern side. Only then were the nations of the world positioned around us.
All exists only in the merit of the Shechina (the Presence of G-d) which dwells in the very center of the world. Think of it, my friends! At the command of the Al-Mighty, we guard the sanctity of the holiest place on earth! We – the Holy Nation of Israel – have been given the eternal privilege of gathering around the place from which the voice of G-d enters this world. Our Prophets heard that voice and transmitted it to the “four corners of the earth.”
“Ki mi Tzion taitzai Torah, u’dvar Hashem mi Yerushalayim… From Zion Torah goes forth, and the word of G-d from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:3)
Why did G-d set things up this way? Why were we given the enormous responsibility of guarding the source of all sanctity, the source of life?
BECAUSE THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD WILL TRY TO DESTROY THAT SANCTITY IF THEY CAN GET TO IT, G-D FORBID! THEY WANT A WORLD IN WHICH THEY CAN SATISFY THEIR FRENZY FOR GRABBING ALL THE MATERIAL PLEASURES THEY CAN
REACH, FOR STUFFING THAT “RED RED PORRAGE” DOWN THEIR THROATS! THEY DON’T WANT RULES! THEY DON’T WANT ANYONE TO SAY “STOP”! THEY DON’T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE EXISTENCE OF THE RULER OF THE UNIVERSE! THIS IS WHY THEY ATTACK THE HOLY CITY OF JERUSALEM! THIS IS WHY THEY WANT THE TEMPLE MOUNT!
“DESTROY IT TO ITS VERY FOUNDATION!” (Psalm 137)
THEY WANT TO DESTROY! AND THAT IS WHY WE MUST BE THERE TO GUARD THE PLACE WHICH G-D CHOSE AS THE “INTERFACE” BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH.
On Tisha B’Av, the Holy Temple went up in flames!
“Aicha yashva vadad!” (Eichah 1:1) Alas, she sits in solitude, the City … has become like a widow!”
My friends, if the world is to survive – not simply Jerusalem, not simply the Land of Israel, but the entire world! – we MUST guard that place, we MUST have the Holy Temple, we MUST return to sanctity! Because if we are not surrounding the Place from which the Presence of G-d enters the world, then the hordes of those who want to tear away all sanctity will rush in, G-d forbid, and turn the entire universe into a total disarray, and the reign of impurity will become complete, G-d forbid. The world will return to “tohu vavohu… chaos, astonishing emptiness.” (Beraishis 1:2)
G-d has appointed us to be guardians of the sanctity of the world. In order to fulfill our mission, we are called upon to do teshuva. Then Hashem’s power will be seen upon the face of the earth. Then we will hear the Shofar Gadol. Then we will come running back to our Torah and to our Land, and take our positions around the Temple Mount, each Tribe in its place and each under its appointed leader. G-d will once again fill the world with prophesy, and the world will be pulled back from the bottomless abyss upon whose razor edge we now stand!
My friends, we are nearing the culmination of history. The time has come to “choose life,” to shoulder the glorious responsibilities with which G-d has entrusted us.
Ki Mitzion taitzai Torah, ud’var Hashem Mi Yerushalayim…. From Zion goes forth Torah, and the word of G-d from Jerusalem.
© Copyright 2010 by Roy S. Neuberger
