{"id":68034,"date":"2020-01-01T14:09:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-01T12:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=68034"},"modified":"2023-07-27T08:51:53","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T05:51:53","slug":"joyous-return-to-zion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/joyous-return-to-zion\/","title":{"rendered":"Joyous Return To Zion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[550,854,363,403],"acf":{"old_id":"68034","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"385","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Look! These are coming from afar\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our chapter includes the prophet\u2019s audacious call to God to arise and redeem the people of Israel from the Babylonian Exile: \u201cAwake, awake\u2026O arm of the Lord\u2026as in former ages!\u201d (Isaiah 51:9). The Prophet goes on to remind God how He previously had parted the Red Sea to permit the Israelites to escape from the Egyptian Enslavement (verse 10). This leads to Isaiah\u2019s prophetic vision of the Return to Zion: \u201cSo let those liberated by the Lord return, and come with song to Zion, their heads crowned with joy everlasting\u201d (verse 11, see also Isaiah 35:10).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rashi, in his commentary to Isaiah 51:9-11 emphasizes that these verses are interconnected, the vision of Return depending on the preceding call to God to arise and bring the current Exile to an end.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Isaiah\u2019s prophecy is phrased in poetic metaphor that evokes interpretation. Talmud Bavli Shabbat 88a contains a highly graphic discussion of just how those returning to Zion would have \u201ctheir heads crowned with eternal joy.\u201d In what seems to have been a public lecture or synagogue sermon, Rabbi Simai expounded: \u201cAt the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, Israel responded \u2018we shall do\u2019 what God commands, even before hearing specifically what these commandments might include (see Exodus 19:8 and 24:7 \u201cWe shall do and we shall hear\u201d).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In reward for such unquestioning obedience, 600,000 angels descended, one for each of the Israelites present, and crowned each one of them with two crowns, one for having said \u201cWe shall do\u201d and one for having said \u201cWe shall hear.\u201d But when Israel subsequently sinned by worshipping the Golden Calf, 1,200,000 angels descended and removed these crowns. Resh Lakish (Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish) interjected: But, in the Future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will return these ancient crowns to us! For it says: \u201ctheir heads crowned with eternal joy (<em>simchat \u2018olam<\/em>)\u201d \u2013 this refers to joy (i.e. the Sinaitic crowns) that had already been \u201cfrom before (<em>mey-\u2018olam<\/em>)\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Midrash Numbers Rabbah 16:25, Resh Lakish elaborates on his vision of the future. In the time to come the Holy One, blessed be He, will reunite Israel, as it says: \u201cLook! These are coming from afar, these from the north and these from the west (Isaiah 49:12). And other exiles shall come with them &#8212; even the Israelite tribes living beyond the Sambatyon, the river beyond which the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were exiled. And those living beyond the Mountains of Darkness &#8212; all these shall gather together and come to Jerusalem. For when Isaiah proclaimed: \u201c\u2026to the prisoners, Go free\u201d (49:9) he was calling to those exiled beyond the Sambatyon. And in calling there \u201cto those who are in darkness\u201d he was addressing those beyond the Mountains of Darkness. But in the future, they all shall be redeemed and will come to Zion in gladness, as it says: \u201cSo let those liberated by the Lord return and come with song to Zion\u201d (Isaiah 51:11).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: James Tissot, The Flight of the Prisoners, c. 1896-1902 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64185,"id":64185,"title":"2kings16-Tissot_The_Flight_of_the_Prisoners","filename":"2kings16-Tissot_The_Flight_of_the_Prisoners.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings16-Tissot_The_Flight_of_the_Prisoners.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/short-term-gain-long-term-disaster\/2kings16-tissot_the_flight_of_the_prisoners\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings16-tissot_the_flight_of_the_prisoners","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64184,"date":"2019-10-08 06:49:08","modified":"2020-01-01 12:09:22","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":546,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings16-Tissot_The_Flight_of_the_Prisoners-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings16-Tissot_The_Flight_of_the_Prisoners-300x205.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":205,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings16-Tissot_The_Flight_of_the_Prisoners-768x524.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":524,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings16-Tissot_The_Flight_of_the_Prisoners.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":546,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings16-Tissot_The_Flight_of_the_Prisoners.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":546,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings16-Tissot_The_Flight_of_the_Prisoners.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":546,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings16-Tissot_The_Flight_of_the_Prisoners.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":546,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings16-Tissot_The_Flight_of_the_Prisoners-615x420.jpg","home_baner-width":615,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Joyous Return To Zion","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Look! 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