The poem "Come My Beloved" (Lecha Dodi) by Rav Shlomo Alkavets, which, almost as soon as it was composed, was adopted as a central song in the Sabbath liturgy, is in fact a mystic song of yearning for
It blends the redemptive longings of the people of
When the Jews used to say "the city," they meant
For this earthly city of
It stands for the Shechinah in exile, and stands no less for the world in its agony and suffering.
Thus, the ravaged and abandoned city awaits redemption and fulfillment.
Its rebuilding signifies alike the renaissance of the Jewish people and the revival of
Mystic
Even in the darkest days of tyranny and persecution, when no Jew might dwell there,
As long as outer circumstances do not permit the life of the nation to be centered in
Meanwhile, all over the world, Jews turn toward the city when they pray, and synagogues are so built that the Holy Ark faces
It is also the ardent desire of the individual Jew to be in
Even the dry legal code affirms that the will to live in
Over the centuries, this was very seldom a practical possibility, but the hope never faltered.
So that, at the end of the Passover feast, with its celebration of release from bondage, the last words declaimed are: "Next year in
For many generations, it was customary to write in every marriage contract: "The wedding will take place on such and-such a date in
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
From "Remembering