A Day Of Fasting

Today is a fast day commemorating the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tevet. That was the day, in the year 425 BCE, on which the armies of Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem. Some two and one half years later, on the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, the walls were breached, Jerusalem fell, as did the Kingdom of the Jews. The following month, on the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, the Holy Temple, built by King Solomon, was destroyed. The Jews were exiled, where they remained for the next seventy years.

And so this day, which this year happens to coincide with the 22nd day of December, marks, for observant Jews, a time of sadness, fasting, introspection and repentance. We Jews have been commemorating this day for over 2400 years.

But this is not intended as an article on religion, nor on rabbinics. My point is simply this: A thousand years before Muhammad, the First Temple of the Jews was destroyed. From that day forward we have pined for Jerusalem and our Holy Temple.

In the year 70 CE, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple. They then marched to the battle cry, HEP! HEP! Hierusalem est perdita - Jerusalem is destroyed. For almost 2000 years the Jews were exiled once again. However a core remained throughout the entire land of Israel. Statehood was denied us, but since the promise to Abraham, the land is us, and we are the land.

Well, by the grace of G-d, a state is no longer denied to us. Indeed, the Jews have returned to that holiest of cities, to Jerusalem. And there we shall remain. Forever.