Freedom is a dish served with sides of responsibilities , obligations , opportunities , misfortunes , and all the developments that shape a nation . Once we have fully digested liberty , there follow the aftertastes , some pleasurable and some uncomfortable . We change our tune at Psalm 115 . Time has passed since we were freed , and now new songs fill our hearts .
There , the Promised Land , is the land we love . Even when we cannot be in Israel physically , our souls long to return . In days of war , when the Land of Israel cannot be traversed without risk , our bodies seek to reunite with the land where our people grew up — and so much of the Jewish family still lives there . In an age with a Jewish State , we inhabit not a time of literal exile ; however , in moments of fear and violence , the land and its inhabitants barely know one another . War stands in the way , redirecting us all to exile .
Tonight is the breaking point ; we have become free again , and that can hurt . Hallel must fall apart . Let Psalms 113 – 114 bring us back to the euphoria of leaving Egypt . Let us sit with freedom and let us swallow . We may cry before we can move forward with Psalms 115 – 118 but let us not drown in a sea of tears . Hallel beckons us to muster our greatest memories of the past and to muster bold hope for the future . Then we can sing a truly united Hallel .
L ’ shanah Haba ’ ah B ’ yerushalayim
Rabbi Jonah Rank is President and Rosh Yeshivah at the Hebrew Seminary .
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