{"id":71332,"date":"2020-03-07T23:11:31","date_gmt":"2020-03-07T21:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=71332"},"modified":"2020-03-07T23:11:31","modified_gmt":"2020-03-07T21:11:31","slug":"marking-the-way-back-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/marking-the-way-back-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Marking The Way Back Home\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/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":[],"acf":{"old_id":"71332","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46656,"related_cahpter":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"It\u2019s all about remembering who we are\u00a0\r\n","content":"

Sometimes while learning Tanach I come upon a passage that literally takes my breath away, as this one did: \u201cErect markers, Set up signposts; Keep in mind the highway, The road that you traveled. Return, Maiden Israel! Return to these towns of yours!\u201d (21).<\/span><\/p>\n

As the Jewish people are heading into the Babylonian exile, God tells them to put down markers along the way and remember where they are coming from so they will find their way back when the time comes for them to return, as it surely will. Our sages interpret the word \u201ctziyunim\u201d, road markers, as behavioural rather than physical. The exiled people need to distinguish themselves from those of the land to which they are exiled, by keeping God\u2019s commandments. In that way they will hold on to their true selves and maintain their connection, no matter how thin that thread becomes, to their homeland and to God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi refers to this very verse when he quotes the Sifri saying, with respect specifically to tefillin (phylacteries) and mezuzot (doorposts), that continuing to do these mitzvot in exile will serve to keep them familiar so that \u201cthe commandments won\u2019t be strange to you when you return from exile.\u201d And we learn in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of our Fathers) chapter 3, that the markers on the road refer to three things: \u201cKnow from where you come, and where you are going, and before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But the nation being exiled in this story has heard the prophecy of the exile and know how long it is to last. So, they know that they themselves may not be returning, but their children and grandchildren will be. That\u2019s who they are leaving markers for. By maintaining their identity and adhering to the commandments, they are setting up landmarks for their descendants\u2019 return. And they succeeded beyond all measure in this exile, by setting up houses of learning and establishing formal Torah scholarship for generations to come.<\/span><\/p>\n

The generation going into the Babylonian exile heeded God\u2019s word as did our own parents, grand-parents and great-grandparents. The “Baal Teshuva” movement of the past half-century and the unprecedented number of Jews who grew up in virtual religious or spiritual exile, owe their return to God and to their homeland to those who left road markers and landmarks to lead us back.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":71333,"id":71333,"title":"jer31-home","filename":"jer31-home.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/marking-the-way-back-home\/jer31-home\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer31-home","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71332,"date":"2020-03-07 21:11:11","modified":"2022-04-10 13:36:01","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":825,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-300x193.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":193,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-768x495.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":495,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-1024x660.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":660,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":825,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":825,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-1200x773.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":773,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-652x420.jpg","home_baner-width":652,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Marking The Way Back Home\u00a0","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"It\u2019s all about remembering who we are\u00a0","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":71333,"id":71333,"title":"jer31-home","filename":"jer31-home.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/marking-the-way-back-home\/jer31-home\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer31-home","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71332,"date":"2020-03-07 21:11:11","modified":"2022-04-10 13:36:01","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":825,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-300x193.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":193,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-768x495.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":495,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-1024x660.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":660,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":825,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":825,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-1200x773.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":773,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-652x420.jpg","home_baner-width":652,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71334,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71332\/revisions\/71334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}