“And to the city of Jerusalem I will return in mercy”. We waited for close to 1,900 years to regain sovereignty over G-d’s chosen land. It took another 19 years until sovereignty was established “in the place that I will cause My name to dwell”. The famous words of Rav Goren zt”l Har habayit Byadeinu ,the temple mount is in our hands reverberated throughout the world.
In the counting of jewish time the number 19 plays a most significant role. It takes 19 years for our two calendars , the solar and the lunar to come back into sync with each other. The solar year based on the sun represents the natural flow of life. in the Torah this is seen through the many agricultural laws that imbue our natural existence with meaning. Peah, shmitta, bikkurim, trerumah, mmaser, all allow us to share our blessings with others, to turn farming into much more than providing for a family. But the jewish people do not live only in the natural world. If we did we would not have survived 1,900 years of exile, persecution and worse. Complementing the solar cycle is the lunar cycle with waxes and wanes representing the ups and downs of live and of jewish history. These two cycles must work in harmony. For the Jews natural and supernatural worlds co-exist. Or holidays are based on the lunar calendar presenting the miraculous events of jewish history.
Heavenly and erthtly Jerusalem - The word rachamim, mercy comes form the same root as rechem, a womb, as there is no greater mercy than that of a mother to a child. But along with mercy comes the pangs of labour and tzaar gidul banim, the “pain of raising children”. After 45 years, despite many challenges the words of yirmiyau that “old and young shall dwell” are fufliled before our eyes.
