There are two times each year that we recite the words of “L’shana Haba’a B’Yerushalayim”: the seder night, and at the conclusion of Yom Kippur. Our rabbis explain that this practice is based on a disagreement in the Gemara regarding when the redemption is to take place. The opinion of Rabbi Eliezer is that since we were redeemed from Mitzrayim in the month of Nissan, the future and final redemption will take place in a different month, Tishrei. Rabbi Yehoshua, however, is of the opinion that since we were redeemed from Mitzrayim in Nissan, we are destined to be redeemed from this exile in the very same month. In order to fulfill the words of both Rabbi Eliezer as well as Rabbi Yehoshua, we say the words of “L’shana Haba’a,” in Tishrei, at the conclusion of Yom Kippur, and in Nissan at the seder. The story is told of a family that was deeply engaged in the seder. When they finished Chasal Siddur Pesach and began the words of “L’shana Haba’a,” the father broke out in passionate singing and dancing. The mother of the family sat down in her chair and seemed to have been overcome with emotion. Out of the corner of his eye, her husband saw her crying and stopped the singing. “Honey, what’s wrong?” he asked. She answered that she was very happy with her family’s life as it was, in the community in which they lived. When she saw her husband singing with such passion, longing to live in Yerushalayim, she became emotional, since she wasn’t ready for the words in the song to come true, and her life to potentially be changed so dramatically. Her husband replied “Honey, don’t worry, it’s just a song!” We are one of the most fortunate generations in the history of our people. We are witnesses to the ongoing return of Hashem’s people to His land before our very eyes. The miracle of Israel has dazzled our consciousness and allowed us to actualize Hashem’s miracles in our times.
As we sing “L’shana Haba’a” this year, let us internalize its true meaning, and link ourselves to all of the generations before us who clinged with every fiber of their being to the possibility that “this will be the year.” May we merit the fulfillment of the redemption before our eyes and thus recite L’shana Hazot B’Yerushalayim Ha’bnuya!
By Rabbi Eliezer Zwickler
Eliezer Zwickler is senior rabbi of Congregation AABJ&D in West Orange, NJ. Rabbi Zwickler is also a psychotherapist-LCSW in private practice, focusing on couples therapy. Listen to Rabbi Zwickler’s webdvar on the Nachum Segal Network at 9pm each Motzei Shabbat, or on his YouTube channel (ezwickler). Rabbi Zwickler can be reached at [email protected].
