“A picture is worth a thousand words” explains the ability of an image to convey a message that would necessitate 1000 words. This photo encapsulates 2000 years of struggle, horror, miracles, and dreams unfulfilled.
2000 years Jews yearned for Zion. The Temple Mount is the heart of Zion, the holiest place in the world for the Nation of Israel.
A Jewish father teaching his kids in this place should be the most natural, obvious image in the world – but it’s not.
We are still challenged by enemies without, who deny us our heritage.
We are still challenged by the Galut within, the chains in the minds of fellow Jews that are so hard to shake off. The habit of fear learned from centuries of being foreigners in a foreign land, subject to the whims of others are chains heavier than overcoming the impossibility of returning to our ancestral homeland – we are the only indigenous displaced People who have ever accomplished this impossible accomplishment. The journey to sovereignty began with the story of Exodus from slavery in ancient Egypt and, after all, we have been through, we are still slaves in our own minds.
So close and yet so very, very far away.
This picture of a Jewish father teaching his kids on the Temple Mount is not obvious. It is an absolute miracle. In fact, it encapsulates multiple miracles.
There is no logical, scientific, or physical explanation for the existence of Jews in Zion.
By all logic and statistics of history, we should not be here.
The fact that we exist is a miracle. The fact that Israel exists is a miracle.
The fact that a Jewish father can teach his kids, on the Temple Mount, means that perhaps they will grow up with free bodies and free minds.
This single picture depicts 3 miracles:
1. The miracles that have already occurred,
2. The miracle that happens every day when, despite the desires and efforts of our enemies, we are still here
3. The birth of a future miracle when the 2000-year-old dream to be a free Nation in our Land, Zion and Jerusalem will be completely actualized.
This photo is one small moment that captures the span of centuries and multiple miracles. That too, I believe, is a miracle.
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For more beautiful images from the Temple Mount please visit מעיין שמחה ברבי
{Reposted from the author’s blog}
