Time Traveler
"Trending next on The Spew: Time Travel." The SPEW is a daily feature of WTAM 1100 AM radio broadcasting. In honor of Thursday, December 8th, being the national "Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day," Mike Trivisonno and John Lanigan debated where and when in the world they'd like to go if they could choose to travel to any place and time.
John Lanigan said something that really caught my attention. He said that he'd love to go to back in time, 2,000 years ago, to see what it was like in Jerusalem at the time of birth of Jesus. As a Jew and as someone who is constantly praying for, visiting and advocating for Jerusalem, his comment rattled around in my brain all weekend long.
Then, on Sunday evening, I left a bris in Solon, got into my car and called my daughter Yitty in Jerusalem. She was on the train, on her way back from visiting the Kotel. While we were talking I realized that I wouldn't make it back it back to the 'hood before sundown in time for an afternoon Mincha Service on Green Road. So, I put our conversation on hold and stopped off at the UH Solon Health Center. Even though the main building was closed on Sundays, I found the small vestibule open and heated - score! (The Kabbalists refer to something like this, a random prayer in an unlikely place, as the "gathering of mystical sparks of holiness".) When I reached the blessing for the welfare of Jerusalem in that empty cubicle in Solon, with the sun setting and the snow falling in the background, something special tugged at my heartstrings.
We take Jerusalem for granted. Imagine telling our great-great-grandparents that we have the ability to get into a metal flying machine and after ten comfortable hours arrive safely in Israel. It would sound absolutely miraculous, as incredulous as the notion of traveling in a time machine is to us. How about making an interference-free phone call, on a Bluetooth speakerphone in a car to a child living in Israel, while she is visiting the Kotel?! It's nothing short of a miracle. (The Kabbalists would call it a harbinger of the Messiah!) It's part of the miracle of the eternity of the Jewish people.
If I could choose to travel anywhere in time and space on Time Travelers Day, I'd probably also choose Jerusalem. Just not 2,000 ago, but probably closer to 3,000 ago. I'd love to see the Holy Temple in its glory years. Or maybe 500 years before that, to a small mountain in the Sinai desert to witness the birth of the Jewish people.
How about you? Ask your kids this question at the Shabbat dinner table and let us know where in the world the conversation takes everyone!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Koval
