The ‘Pattern’ of Return

By David Parsons

25 May 2008

When Israel celebrated its 60^th anniversary in May, the observances began with the annual Day of Remembrance for ’s fallen soldiers, or Yom HaZicharon. This year the nation honored more than 22,000 soldiers and civilians killed so far in ’s wars since 1948, as well as some 1,600 victims of Arab terrorism dating back to more than a century ago.

The very first victim of the Arab terror campaign recognized by the State was a little known rabbi with an interesting story.

In the mid-1800s, Rabbi Avraham Shlomo Zalman Tzoref began drawing local Arab ire after he obtained permission from Egyptian and Ottoman Turk authorities to rebuild the Huvra Synagogue in Jerusalem’s Old City , which had been previously razed by Arabs. Apparently, the ‘Ishmaelites’ were enraged that Ashkenazi Jews were beginning to establish themselves in the city. Their violent reaction included an assault on Rabbi Tzoref in which he was struck in the head with a sword on his way to morning prayers one day in 1851. He died of his wounds three months later. And while the Huvra synagogue was eventually rebuilt, it was later blown up by Jordanian forces in the aftermath of the 1948 War of Independence, and its teetering arch became a symbol of the destruction of east Jerusalem while in Arab hands.

The account reads much like the book of Nehemiah, when the Israelites had a decree in hand from the land’s foreign rulers to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem . Many have drawn an analogy between today and the returnees from Babylon who re-built Jerusalem ‘with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other.’ Indeed, many Israeli towns today first went up as stockades built overnight by Zionist pioneers. And there have been plenty of local detractors like Sanballat and Tobias seeking to hinder the modern Jewish return and the rebuilding of Zion .

But there is another aspect of the biblical ‘pattern of return’ highlighted in Nehemiah that is often overlooked, yet it is just as critical to finding her rest back in the land. That is, the nation gathered as one and collectively repented for all the sins and rebellion that had led to their exile in the first place.

The ninth chapter of Nehemiah records the solemn assembly of all the Israelites who had returned from captivity, to repent and renew their covenant with God. They came together with “fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads… and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers” (verses 1-2).

They recalled how, even though “our fathers acted proudly [and] hardened their necks (verse 16)… “Yet in Your manifold mercies, You did not forsake them in the wilderness” (verse 19). They also lamented “the trouble… that has come upon us…from the days of the kings of Assyria until this day” (verse 32), but acknowledged that “You are just in all that has befallen us; for You have dealt faithfully, but we have done wickedly” (verse 33).

This national repentance and reaffirmation of their covenant relationship with God mirrored the ‘return’ under Joshua. Once the Israelites had re-entered the land from exile in Egypt, one of the first things they did was to build an altar to God on Mt. Ebal and collectively repent and renew their vow at Sinai to serve Him alone (Joshua 8:30-35).

In ’s modern-day return, she has yet to find that place on national repentance and recovery once back in the Land. Yet the prophets speak of it everywhere, for example in such passages as Joel 2:12-32.

Hosea also foretells of this promised moment in glowing language: “Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight.” (6:1-2)  The Hebrew word for “return” here connotes not only physical return but also teshuva, meaning repentance and return to God.

We can expect great things whenever reaches that divinely appointed moment, for the sure promise of Scripture is that her “troubles” will soon be over.

The writer is Media Director for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem; This commentary was first published in June 2008 issue of The Jerusalem Post Christian Edition, www.jpost.com/ce

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