Jewish life in Jericho

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Approaching Passover.

We are here, at the Israelite point of entry to the Land! Here was the crossing of the Jordan, the mass circumcision of the "desert generation", and the first Passover observance in the land as a sovereign people.

The nation had accepted the Torah. Moshe Rabbenu was teaching them the final chapters of Mishne Torah ( Deuteronomy) on the plains of Moav on the seventh of Adar. The Nation of Israel understood they were a people with a destiny. God had fulfilled his promise; { "and a fourth generation will return here" Genesis 16;16} they were crossing the Jordan into the land with Ark of the covenant before them. D'varim (Deuteronomy) 26;1 conveys God's commitment: " And it shall be when you come to the Land, which Hashem your God has given you to posses, you shall inherit it and dwell therein. D'varim 26;2-11 conveys the peoples responsibility: " And you shall take from the first fruits of the earth, that you will bring from the Land which Hashem your God has given you, place them in a basket, and you shall go up to the place... and you will come to the Cohen, and tell him ' I have acknowledged today to Hashem, that I have come into the Land which Hashem promised our fathers to grant to us.... The Aramean ( Laban) wished to smite my father ( Jacob) .... and now I have brought the first of the fruits which you have given me.... and you shall rejoice in all the good.... you and the Levite and the stranger.... This is the closure of a cycle.

Here emerges a pattern of emergence from servitude to freedom in stages, and this pattern is repeated through our history. 
The revelation at Sinai was 40 days after redemption.
The entry to the Land was 40 years after Sinai.
The conquest and settlement of the Land took 14 years
The first fruits ceremony was observed for 400 years.
The dispersal of Spanish Jewry was complete at the end of the 1400s*
In our epoch, the remnant of European Jewry exited Europe in 1944*
The State was born 4years later

In our generation we have yet to bring the first fruits to the Miqdash (Temple Mount), yet the ingathering of exiles has proceeded at a significant rate for 100 years. A wave of t'shuva ( return to tradition/ repentance) has been in progress since the Six Day War. The process of redemption is decreed and managed from Above. Our responsibility is to bring the first fruits and to express full-hearted gratitude to God, but we have not yet fulfilled this. The Hagadah of Passover expresses this gratitude: The Aramean wished to smite.... and He brought us forth from Egypt.."

In Nissan, the month of redemption, they crossed the Jordan, they circumcised  the males,  celebrated the first Pesach.in the land, .... and conquered the first city in Israel: Jericho,  the first of the conquest is holy to God.
So it is in Nissan, that all Israel should gather to the Plains of Jericho  and rejoice in receiving the Land  through national commitment and self sacrifice.

Consequently, Passover  is not only a celebration of the exodus from Egypt,  but also of entry to,   and possession of the Land. As such, we celebrate with five cups of wine to signify the five  promises of redemption: " I will draw out, I will rescue, I will take, I will redeem, I will bring into the Land"  (Exodus 6: 6-8) The Haggadah of Passover is our form of thanking God for the fulfillment of His promise to settle us in the Land. The Exodus, and the conquest and all associated events all  center on the time of Passover, so we may conclude, Passover is the celebration of the Land of Israel.

Happy and Kosher Passover to all!

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