Now, I know the tefilla is an ancient one. It is mentioned, though with a different nusach, in the Talmud Yerushalmi. I also know that we generally do not change nusach hatefilla today. I also know there are movements to change the nusach, and I think some people do use a revised nusach. I also know that some people explain the current nusach to be talking in a more spiritual sense, lacking the beis hamikdash even with the city teeming with Jews....
I know all that, and I admit I had a problem with the tefilla yesterday.
It is nothing new, but in the past it has not bothered me. I don't know if it is because of the recent war I felt it almost inappropriate, and even ungrateful, to talk about Yerushalayim like that, or if it was for other, unknown, reasons.
The current Ashkenazi nusach (there are other nusachs as well) reads:
נחם ה' אלהינו את אבלי ציון ואת אבלי ירושלים, ואת העיר האבלה והחֳרבה והבזויה והשוממה. האבלה מבלי בניה, והחריבה ממעונותיה, והבזויה מכבודה, והשוממה מאין יושב. והיא יושבת וראשה חפוי כאישה עקרה שלא ילדה. ויבלעוה ליגיונות, ויירשוה עובדי זרים (נוסח אחר: עובדי פסילים), ויטילו את עמך ישראל לחרב, ויהרגו בזדון חסידי עליון. על כן ציון בְּמַר תבכה וירושלים תתן קולה. לבי לבי על חלליהם, מעי מעי על חלליהם, כי אתה ה' באש הצתה ובאש אתה עתיד לבנותה. כאמור: ואני אהיה לה נאם ה' חומת אש סביב ולכבוד אהיה בתוכה. ברוך אתה ה', מנחם ציון ובונה ירושלים
saying things like the city is... desolate... a city mourning with none of its children, destroyed of its homes... desolate with nobody living in it.... bothered me.
Again, I know it is an ancient tefilla, and I know despite Yerushalayim being a bustling city with a tremendous amount of Torah learning and religious life, it still isn't what the ideal might be - it has public chillul shabbos and religious fights and whatever else goes on there...
But still.. it bothered me to talk about Yerushalayim like that, as if it is still 1900 years ago (when the tefilla was more or less probably written) and the city had been destroyed, the nation conquered and exiled, the city actually desolate for a long time and to not recognize that we have come back, Jerusalem is flourishing both in physical and religious perspectives, even though it might not yet be perfect.
Do I have a resolution? No, I don't. Just airing my thoughts. I am not going to say a revised nusach. I don't think so. I am mostly a traditionalist. I would sooner drop something completely than alter it. Despite my problems with it, I will stick with the nusach I am used to saying. I don't have a solution. Do you?
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