A beautiful song popped into my head today. I hummed and sang it for a while, until I realized that the song and how I learnt it are very significant today. It takes me back to some time I spent in Israel in 2005.
I had spent a pleasant evening with a very good friend of mine in central Jerusalem. After a great meal at Burgers Bar, we decided to walk across to the Old City and the Kotel. We made it more interesting by trying to find a short-cut. It was a quiet, pleasant evening, and we enjoyed the walk. But then we saw something unusual...
When we neared Kikar Tzahal (Tzahal Square), the intersection of Jaffa Street closest to Jaffa Gate (?), we saw a lot of people grouped near the gate. Up close, we saw a very large circle of men, mostly bearded, wearing white shirts and smart pants, and kippot s'rugot (crocheted yarmulkes). They were dancing slowly around, in a circle, singing songs of passion, joy and trust in G-d. I don't remember if it was my friend or me who decided to join in, but we walked up and joined hands with the men, becoming part of the circle.
It was a bit bizarre; here, at maybe ten, eleven at night, was a large group of men, singing and dancing, with virtually nobody else around, on the wide plaza area just outside Jaffa Gate. An armed soldier and policeman stood guard. My friend and I were both quite casually dressed, and I was distinctly aware that I was wearing a black T-shirt with a skull and crossbones. But no matter. Nobody cared.
After a while of dancing, we re-grouped into many rows of about seven or eight men, shoulder to shoulder, and we began dancing through Jaffa Gate. We progressed through the Shuk, and down into the Arab Quarter, along streets and alleyways that I'd never walked along before. The whole area was deserted, as the residents were under a temporary curfew, for our protection. We danced and danced, and even circled a small block within the alleyways; we joined hands again and went right round the block!
My friend and I were swept along with these men we'd never met, becoming part of their singing and joy. Their songs were songs of pride and hope, of confidence and passion. One song that I learnt, as we sang it over and over again, went like this:
"On that day, this song will be sung, in the land of Yehuda:,
עיר עָז לנו, ישועה ישית חומות וָחֵל.
'We have a mighty city; He sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks;
פתחו שערים, ויבוא גוי צדיק, שומר אמונים'"
Open, you gates, so that the righteous nation, that keeps faithfulness, may come [through]!'"
I actually never caught all the words at the time -- Google has referred me to -ישעיה כו:א-ב Isaiah 26:1-2 -- but parts of the verse, and the powerful chorus, that I shouted out together with maybe a hundred men, has stayed with me since then. These are words of triumph; words of hope; words of redemption; words of a nation that can sing joyous songs of its glorious return to its holy city, to its holy land. The most beautiful thing is that 'ביום ההוא', 'on that day', was truly referring to that very night in Yerushalayim. We were experiencing the fulfilment of a millenia-old prophecy. I didn't even realize this at the time.
The date, of course, way Yom Yerushalayim, the annual day in celebration of the liberation of holy Jerusalem in the Six-Day War from the Jordanians. And we danced and danced, singing all along, the men from Merkaz HaRav yeshiva*, and my friend and I, all the way through the Arab Quarter to the Kotel. And there we danced some more, and said some special festive chapters of Tehillim.
Not so long ago, as many of us know well, the Merkaz HaRav yeshiva suffered an enormous tragedy in its Beit Midrash, study hall. Eight young boys, who learnt at the yeshiva, were murdered by an Arab-Israeli terrorist. The personal, familial, communal, and national aspects of the tragedy are immense, and shock-waves still resound through the Jewish Nation.
I suddenly realized, today, that I had had a tangible, brief connection with some students of Merkaz HaRav*, about three years ago. I and my friend had sung and danced with men we didn't know, in celebration of something holy and special. What inspiration, what a message of hope and joy and unity, even in the face of tragedy. What joyous celebration of Jerusalem! What vision and pride... Let's remember the wonderful things that G-d has done for us, and that He continues to do for us... Let's sing the song today, in Jerusalem!
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* I have always assumed, from that night, that this is where they were from; either the yeshiva itself or its kollel (does it have a kollel?). I may be wrong, and they may have been from some other yeshiva or kollel. But even if so, their powerful message of hope and joy, of Tzipiyah, anticipation of goodness to come, and the deeply inspiring experience I had with them, remains strong.
