Seeing today's news in holy texts

Digital Irony recalls the famous Midrash of Rabbi Akiva and his friends walking through Jerusalem and seeing foxes running through the ruins of the Bais Hamikdash (Holy Temple). While his friends cried Rabbi Akiva laughed. Rabbi Akiva told his friends that if the prophecy of destruction had come true, then so, too, would the prophecy of rebuilding.

When I read this, though, I thought of something else:

In the early afternoon, a noisy convoy carrying Mahmoud Zahar, a senior official of the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, rolled through the settlement's torched gatehouse. Zahar's pickup truck was filled with Hamas gunmen and was followed by a sound truck blaring martial anthems and announcing Zahar's arrival to thousands of Palestinians.

Shattered glass crunched under the feet of Zahar's entourage as he entered the synagogue building. Few Palestinians paused from prying electrical cord from the walls or smashing free an air-conditioning unit as Zahar passed. Someone handed him a hammer, which he swung vigorously against a wall. "Our resistance has succeeded in ending the . . . resistance in Gaza," Zahar said, referring to Israel. "This means that this first step will be followed by a second step." The next step, he said, was to rebuild Gaza and wage "an effective armed resistance in the West Bank," the heartland of what has been designated as a future Palestinian state.

I think of Tehilim (Psalms) 74:4:

74:4 Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of Thy meeting-place; they have set up their own signs for signs.

This terrorist has seen his vision fulfilled in the ruins of a Jewish house of worship. Like Digital Irony, I hope that we will merit to see the rebuilding of these ruins in our time.

Technorati Tags: Israel.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Posted by David Gerstman at September 12, 2005 11:26 PM