Love of the Land

For the week ending 18 January 2020 / 21 Tevet 5780

The Ramban Report

by Rabbi Mendel Weinbach zt'l
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When this great Torah and Talmud commentator came to Eretz Yisrael in the year 5027 (1267), he found a desolate land and prayed for its restoration. This is what he wrote to his family:

“What can I tell you about the land other than that it is barren and desolate? In general, that which is most sacred is most desolate. Yerushalayim is the most desolate of all; there are virtually no Jews in it — only two brothers who are dyers who are joined by other Jews in the vicinity for a minyan on Shabbat.”

Despite this gloomy report, Ramban concludes with the prayer that He Who gave me the privilege of seeing Yerushalayim in its desolation will give me the privilege of seeing it in its restoration when the Divine Presence returns to it.

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