This essay, “Israel’s Love for Zion,” was translated from the original Hebrew of A.Z. Rabinowitz, the well-known Palestinian author, from his book, “Ben Israel,” by Isaac Rabinowitz, a junior at Central High School. It first appeared in The March 21, 1924 issue of The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle. Rabinowitz graduated from the Sh’erith Israel Talmud Torah, of which Mr. Saul Kleiman is Principal.
By Isaac Rabinowiz
Great is the love that the children of our people cherished toward the land of our forefathers. Those who live in it, gave up their lives for it; and the souls of those who lived far from it, yearned to go there to live, or at least to be buried in its soil. Our forefather Jacob asked of his son Joseph, “And when I shall lie with my fathers, thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place.” Before his death, Joseph said to his brethren, “God will surely remember you, and you shall carry up bones hence with you.” Moses, master of the Prophets, entreated the Lord, “Let me go over I pray Thee, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly hill country and Lebanon.” However, his fate was already sealed; he could not cross the Jordan, and therefore he asked the Lord to favor him insomuch as to see Israel’s inheritance from afar off.
At the time of the First Temple, not many people went to Jerusalem because, since the days of Rheoboam the Kingdom of Israel had been divided into Judah and Ephraim, each of whom was inimical to the other. However, in the days of the Second Temple, there were regular pilgrimages to Jerusalem; the Children of Israel, traveled thither from every corner of the land to see the Lord’s House, and to enjoy themselves in their Holy City. Even as the beating heart is to the living body, so was Jerusalem to our people: the life of the nation centered about it, and from it came forth life and light to the Children of Israel.
Jerusalem was especially full of life on the holidays. The streets of the city were decorated with all kinds of trimmings, and hummed with great multitude. The latter, attired in holiday dress, spoke for the most part pure Hebrew, but some conversed in Aramic, Greek, and other tongues of the peoples among whom they happened to live. Sounds of the revelry could be heard on every side; here a man came across the friend from whom he had parted many years since; while there, men, whom chance had thrown together, became acquainted and pledged each other to love and friendship.
Indeed, even after the destruction of the Second Temple, the children of Israel did not stop journeying to the Holy Mount. Even in the days when Hadrian, Emperor of Rome, decreed on penalty of death that no Jewish foot should tread in Jerusalem and surrounding territory, even them the children of Israel kept on coming thereat at the peril of their lives. Even this perilous pilgrimage, they called “Aliyah Laregel” just as they called the former joyous pilgrimages. But what a contrast there was between the pilgrimage they made in the days of the Temple and that which they made after destruction of the House of God! In former times they made the journey with happy faces, with pride, and without fear; now they went thither by devious paths, with grief-stricken faces, and with bitter hearts. Instead, of psalms of joy, they tearfully changed mournful songs. “The Holy Cities became a desert Zion desolate, Jersusalem barren, our Holy Temple, our pride, was in ashes, and all our treasures destroyed.”
The great poet, Rabbi Jehudah Halevi, lived in Spain. His love for Zion was like a scorching fire within him, giving him no peace. When he was well advanced in years, he left his birthplace, his only daughter, and all his friends, and dembarked in a vessel for “Eretz Yisroel.” In those days a sea-voyage was very dangerous, but Rabbi Jehudah was ready to offer his life, were he only rewarded by seeing the country on which trod the feet of our prophets, heroes and philosophers. Almost 20 years after, our great Rabbi, Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides) journeyed there. However, he did not settle there, because he was forced to dwell in Egypt; but before he died, he commanded his children to carry him to rest in Palestine. They fulfilled their father’s wish, and his grave is pointed out today in Tiberius.
One thousand one hundred and ninety-seven years after the destruction of the Second Temple. the famous Rabbi, Moses ben Nachman (Ramban) made a trip to the land of Israel. Prior to his coming, the Mongols had overrun and laid waste the country, especially venting their spleen upon Jerusalem, which was almost totally destroyed. The Jews who are always the “scapegoat,” suffered much more than the rest of the inhabitants. Many were killed, while remnant fled. When the Ramban came and saw the destruction and the barreness, his heart broke and he tried with every bit of his strength to restore the Holy City. He called to his fleeing brethren to return and to bring with them Books of The law. The ensuing Rosh Hashanah, there a public prayer in Jerusalem; a short time later Ramban founded a Yeshiba there.
From the year 1810 on (after the destruction of the Second Temple) the idea of Palestinian recolonization began to spread among our brothers. Many of our younger generation went out as pioneers to work the barren soil. These heroes found many setbacks in the way. Many died from famine, hardship, or at the hands of the savage tribes that live there. However, the courage of those remaining did not weaken. They are still working and hoping that ultimately they may accomplish their aim; to rejuvenate the land, and to return to our people its former glory, the glory of a nation living on its native soil!
