Dual Perspectives

Reading what Rabbi Besser wrote about היינו כחלמים reminds me of an Ibn Ezra I love on the pasuk in Tehillim 122:2, עמדות היו רגלינו בשעריך ירושלים. He brings two possibilities of why the olei regel might be stopped, standing still in the gates of Yerushalayim. The first is that they were awestruck by its beauty, and were just standing still, staring at the beauty of its walls. The second possibility is because there were so many people going in and out of the gates of Yerushalayim that there was a little bit of a traffic jam, and they couldn’t move (sort of like trying to get through the halls of Ma’ayanot between classes).

Many years ago, when I was teaching this perek, I asked a girl who had never been to Israel to describe what she thought Yerushalayim was like. She described a quiet, peaceful city, with men in long beards walking around with sefarim under their arms, and a palpable feeling of kedusha in the air. Then I asked a student who had traveled to Israel many times to describe Yerushalayim. She described the hustle and bustle of the city, the noise of the traffic, the shops, and how parts of it don’t seem so different from New York City.

I think we can understand this Ibn Ezra as reflecting two types of olei regel. The idealists and those who had never seen Yerushalayim before only saw the beauty and were mesmerized by it. Others, who had “been there, done that” had a more realistic view of it, complete with crowds and long lines.

But maybe we need to incorporate both aspects when we take the leap and go to Israel. We have to be realists so that we know what to expect and that it’s not going to be easy, but we need to be dreamers, mesmerized by its spiritual and physical beauty. Then, with the combination of both perspectives we can take that little leap of faith and still land on our feet.