From the first few verses of Eicha, the Book of Lamentations, my eyes began to well up with tears. It tells the story of a once glorious city of Jerusalem, and how, because of our sins, it was destroyed and its inhabitants cast out into exile. The inhabitants then turn their backs on Jerusalem in search of sustenance, and don’t bother to console this widowed city, but become her worst enemy.
Further, it is said, any generation in which the Temple is not rebuilt, it is as if they destroyed it. This is a powerful and often-quoted verse commanding us to take steps to ensure the rebuilding of the temple. And how are we doing at this charge? I’d like to interpret another common verse in an uncommon way. When a Jew loses a family member, they are wished condolences with the verse, "May [the Omnipresent] comfort you amongst the remainder of the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem." Perhaps this means, not that the mourner is not alone in his grief, but in fact, just as Eicha says, the people are not mourning and there is no grief over the loss of Jerusalem and the Temple. This is our blessing for the mourner – you should go and chase after your sustenance and you won’t feel any loss, just as there is no one mourning the loss of Jerusalem.
How do we reverse the process of destruction and bring about the redemption? Because of our sins we were exiled from Israel, and by removing ourselves from evil and doing good shall we return. This is not a personal obligation, but one which applies for our entire generation. Ultimately though, G-d will be the one who gives us the opportunity, the tools and the opening, to return. We pray, "Return us, G-d, to you, and we will return to you."
Almost 60 years ago, G-d gave us the opening that we’d been praying for. After the most massive national punishment known to modern man, G-d proclaimed, I’ve punished you enough – now I will return you to me, and you shall return as you promised. Come back into your land which I have given you. Comfort the fallen city with the sounds of children playing in the streets. Follow my commandments, and we shall restore the days of old, and be united like husband and wife once again.
So what am I doing? I’ve taken my personal steps: moved to Israel, served in the army, taken a beautiful wife, began to have children . But of the national responsibilities? What should I do to expand my circle of influence and help others return to G-d and Zion, so that this generation will be the one to rebuild the temple and not destroy it?
The gift which G-d has given me is not in Torah or rhetoric: I am a computer nerd with sensitivity to my surroundings. In a "Super-size Me" world, everyone is so focused on acquiring their sustenance that they don’t recognize when it’s doing more harm than good. The mission that I’ve taken upon myself is to close the gap of wealth between those living in Israel, and those outside. By demonstrating that people in Israel can work as hard as others, and be compensated on a similar scale so that they are as comfortable in Israel at the end of the day as anywhere else – by using finances, the modern international language and the most common reason why people don’t move to Israel, I hope to restore this country to its glorious days of old.
And to all those Israel supporters whose mission is not to move to Israel, I’d like to give them the opportunity to support the country, not through donations, but through the highest form of charity, with a job and a profession, so that he never has to rely on charity.
I thank G-d for this vision and this opportunity, and I hope we will achieve these goals and see the redemption speedily in our days.