Next Year in Jerusalem
Why do we, the Jews celebrating Pesach (Passover) in Jerusalem, still say: "Next year in Jerusalem!" Aren't we already here?
The rebuilt Jerusalem we pray for is not this modern city, and the redeemed Eretz Israel is not the political state of the Jews we see today. As the influence of the Torah extends, so will the boundaries of Eretz Israel expand accordingly.
Futuristic Map Based on the Torah
"To your descendants I have given this land, from the Egyptian River as far as the great river, the Euphrates."
Bereshit (Genesis) 15:18
The speculative map above is mostly based on the commentaries of Rashi and Malbim about the boundaries of the future described in the Book of Ezekiel, chapters 47-48. The details of the future map of the Land of Israel are mentioned only cryptically in the Tanach and various Talmudic sources.
The final redemption
The Jew has come home for the third and last time. "But the third shall be left therein" (Zecharia 13:8). "The first redemption was that from Egypt; the second, the redemption of Ezra. The third will never end" (Tanhuma, Shoftim 9).
G-d's Land
"Therefore say unto the House of Israel... I do this, not for your sake, O House of Israel, but rather for My holy name which you desecrated through the nations whither you came. And I will sanctify My great name that was desecrated amongst the nations... and the nations shall know that I am the Lord when I shall be sanctified through you before their eyes. And I shall take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries and I will bring you into your own land." Ezekiel 36:22-24
Faith!
"The exiles shall be ingathered only through faith"
"When will the Moshiach come? Today, as it is said: 'Today, if you will hearken unto my voice' (Psalms 95:7)"
Mechilta, Exodus.
Talmud, Sanhedrin 98a.
Next Year in Jerusalem
May we soon live in Moshiach's Jerusalem, and plow the land of redeemed Israel. May we celebrate the Pesach (Passover) Seder in spiritual freedom, when all Jews will have claimed their inheritance in the eternal Eretz Israel.
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