Awakening Distant Memories

 

Our prophets tell us that at the time of Moshiach, Israel will be reunited.  On the eve of our entry into the land of our promised inheritance, Moshe Rabbeinu revealed to our ancestors that their children would indeed be exiled to the four corners of the world, but that at the end of days, their hearts would turn back and they would seek to return. Hashem gave a promise that even if we were scattered to the uttermost parts of the earth, from there He would gather us, not one soul of Klal Yisrael would be left missing.  Where, pray tell, are the ancient paths of return?

 

An ancient path winds through the wadis of the Judean desert.

(© Ashirah Yosefah Photo)

 

“They shall return from the enemy’s land, and there is hope for your future –

declares Hashem.  Your children shall return to their land.”

(Yirmeyahu 31:16-17)

 

“Thus said Hashem:  Stand by the roads and consider,

inquire about ancient paths …”

(Yirmeyahu 6:16)

 

 

 

 

A Letter from Yehuda to his Children

 

by Pinchas David

 

 

My Dear Children,

 

There is something I wish to speak with you about, a tragedy that occurred many years ago.  I’m sure you’ve heard very little about it.  The truth is, no one has any answers, just a vague painful memory, like all things in our glorious history.  Not unlike a brother whose younger sibling left the house one day never to return, every corner one turns, every common joy once experienced together, takes him to the same thoughts:  Where are you my brother?  Are you Ok?  Are you a grown man?  Do you have children?  Are you alive?  

 

My children, you may be surprised by what I am going to say to you.

 

Often we can look upon the world, and upon ourselves being the descendents of Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaacov, and feel very alone in this world.  A world filled with corruption, falsehood, violence, all opposed to who we are, and the truth that we are meant to bear.  Especially in our generation, now that Hashem has taken away our head and left us without a King, without a leader, our loneliness in the world only has become more apparent.  Where is our Father Who has multiplied our troubles?  Where are our brothers, Reuvan, Shimeon, Issachar, Zevulon, Yosef (Ephraim, Manasseh), Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher?  We are like orphans, separated from our family and denigrated by our weakened defense.

 

It has now been 2700 hundred years since our nation split into two, exiling our 10 brothers into the darkness of idol worshipping nations.   The memory of this tragedy has diminished in its magnitude because of the trials and tribulations that we have had to struggle with since.  We stand alone awaiting our Redeemer, those left among us.  Yehuda, Levi, and Binyamin are all that remains, few and traumatized.  The scattered remnants of the tribes we have identified are nowhere near the blessing of ‘a multitude of nations’, ‘descendents that cannot be counted’, ‘as numerous as the stars’.  Where is our blessing?

 

When Shlomo Ha'Melek died, his son, Rehoboam increased the enforced labor and taxes on the Southern and Northern Tribes that his father had assessed in order to pay for the construction of the Temple.  Unwilling to pay the high taxes, the Northern Tribes rebelled against the House of David.  The Nation of Hashem split into two Kingdoms.  Jeroboam, the newly appointed King of the North, built a Temple in Beth-El, placing golden calves, twin echoes of sin of our past, in Beth-El and Dan.  He demanded that the Northern Tribes worship Hashem in Beth-El and not in Jerusalem, further eroding the unity of worship that once bound Yaacov’s descendents.  One sin leads to another, and Yaroboam introduced more and more elements of the idolatrous worship of the Canaanite nations in the Northern Kingdom, even creating his own hierarchy of priests from amongst whomsoever willed himself to be a priest, casting off the covenant Hashem had made with the Tribe of Levi.  Some from amongst the Northern Tribes, their consciences stricken by the blatant idolatry and mixed worship, were able to escape to the territory of the South and assimilated into Yehuda and Binyamin.  Hashem sent His prophets to warn the Northern Kingdom:  Yeshayahu, Hoshea, and Yehezqel in particular, cried out the impending doom and destruction that would come if the Israelites refused to repent.  Sadly, their cries and their warnings fell on ears that refused to hear and failed to penetrate hearts that had become so encased in the klipot of rebellion that they had turned to stone.

 

In time, just as the prophets had foretold, Hashem sent the Assyrians who attacked from the North, exiling all the ten Northern Tribes from the Land of our Fathers.  Few managed to escape to their brethren in the South.  Our lack of unity, and arrogance, left us defenseless in the face of the pagan onslaught against our nation.  Tragically this spiritual malaise continues to this day, when we consider the events of recent months.  To this very day, we are not sure where our lost brothers are.  Some remained isolated in small tribal communities, clinging to vestiges of our traditions.  These groups can be identified today, but the large majority migrated, wandering from nation to nation.  They assimilated so thoroughly into the nations of their exile that they became indiscernible; for all intents and purposes, they became gentiles, just as Hoshea ben Nun had warned them.

 

Now, these were descendents of our Father Yaacov.  Their bodies went into exile, but their Jewish souls can never be lost.  Although they have been separated from Yehuda, within their souls remains a spark of holiness, no matter where it stands in exile.  Understand this well.  A Jewish soul forever remains Jewish.  Its spark of holiness can never be extinguished.  In this world, the body may obscure its origins, but the root of its soul remains forever connected; it can never be severed.

 

Consider the loss, consider the tragedy.  The tribe of Yosef the Tzaddik, the savior of the ancient world, so beautiful in form and deeds that he was endeared above all his brothers by our Father Yaacov.  The dreamer was betrayed by his own brothers; later, we all bowed to him in our shame.  Now, like an extinct animal, Yosef is lost among us; his descendents are nowhere to be found. 

 

The birth of our brother Shimon, Levi’s partner, brought such joy to our Mother Leah that she declared, ‘Since G-d has heard (shamah) that I am hated, He gave me this one too’.  Are our lives today not embittered by the hatred of others?  Has G-d not heard our prayers?  Shimon was the defender of our honor when Shechem, son of Chamor, raped our sister Dina.  Who today protects our honor?  Our arms have been severed, our strength greatly decimated.  Judah has been left alone against a multitude of vengeful nations.

 

In our jealousy against Yosef, we conspired together to remove the dreamer from our midst.  We rid ourselves of one of our own; one whose heart’s desire revealed that we and our whole Father’s house should bow to him.  The haughtiness of these dreams proved too much for us to tolerate.  Were we to tolerate one whose ambition is our degradation?  Was the desire to rid ourselves of this dreamer our right, in order to protect our Father’s honor?

 

When we were hungry and needy of help, we descended down to Egypt to secure some food for our household.  While in Egypt, the Egyptian Administrator, treated us roughly and made game of us, solely embittering our aging and still mourning father.  When the distress of this Egyptian’s schemes became too much for us, we saw a transformation.  Something was clearly wrong with this man.  He turned his face from us, his hands began to tremble, only adding to our confusion.  The Egyptian servants and officials were sent out of the room; we stood alone before our tormentor.  What does this Egyptian want from us, why does he behave so strangely?  Perhaps our G-d is breaking this man from his evil scheming.  This Egyptian with tears and a bitter voice, cried aloud at our terrified hearts, “Ani Yosef, I am your brother who you abandoned to slave traders.”  “I am Yosef whom you rejected, despising me and my visions from G-d.  You meant to do me evil, but Hashem meant it for good, that I may keep you and my Father alive today.”  We were stunned, silent, what can one do when your sins surround you?   There was no escaping our defenseless shame.  Can anyone be more wrong?  Like mutes with daggers in our heart, we stood trapped by the crime of our youthful jealousy.

 

If Yosef and my lost brothers could hear me now, this is what I would say to them and to our Father in Heaven:

 

“Come, let us reunite.  Let us remove our idols of wood, our idols of stone.  Put aside all our false messiahs.  It is futile; we can no longer create a world that is not of our Creator’s making.  The Creator Himself is the True Ruler; let us crown and exalt Him as in days of old.  Let us stand together before our King and point with our finger, saying, “This is our G-d’, our King.”  Our King was hidden, but He will return.  What value is our rebelliousness?  What gain have we achieved?  Have we not been witnesses to the bitterness of our folly?  Together, let us say to our Creator, “We are Your children, You are our Father.  Can a child utterly reject a father?  Can a father separate forever from his children?  Stumbling blocks lie on our path, our way back to You is obscured, we have lost our way back home.  Please do not allow Your enemies to lie in wait upon the path before us.  It is our shame that causes us to hide our face from You.  How can we face our shame?  Return to us as in the days of old; uplift our broken hearts to return to You.  Our foolishness is clear before our eyes; we have seen the fruits of our mischievous deeds.  The multitudes of our sins are before us.  Your love is our heart’s desire.  Your forgiveness is what our souls crave.”

 

 

Your Abba