The Empty Plaza & The Open Gates (A Journey)
ׁלֹשׁ פְּעָמִים בַּשָּׁנָה יֵרָאֶה כָּל־זְכוּרְךָ אֶת־פְּנֵי ה’ אֱלֹקיךָ בַּמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר יִבְחָר — בְּחַג הַמַּצּוֹת, וּבְחַג הַשָּׁבֻעוֹת, וּבְחַג הַסֻּכּוֹת; וְלֹא יֵרָאֶה אֶת־פְּנֵי ה’ רֵיקָם Three times a year all your males shall appear before Hashem your God, in the place that He will choose— on Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot; and he shall not appear before Hashem empty-handed. This year, I was in Jerusalem. On Pesach. But it felt different. Let me go back for a second. I made a quiet little deal with Hashem. Over the past decade, I’ve developed a real passion for the Beis HaMikdash—the third one. It came from a place of longing. I remember being in San Diego right after my 20th birthday, thinking to myself, I should really be in Israel. And regretting that when I had been there for a year in yeshiva, I didn’t fully embrace the idea of living there. That feeling stayed with me. I became passionate about the mitzvah of Yishuv Ha’Aretz. That led me to deeper questions—why...
