JNS: The aliyah-facilitating organization Nefesh B’Nefesh inaugurated a new, state-of-the art campus in Jerusalem at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday. Among those present included Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Minister of Aliyah and Integration Pnina Tamano-Shata, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel David Lau, and Nefesh B’Nefesh co-founders Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and Tony Gelbart.
According to Fass and Gelbart, the new permanent home in Jerusalem “opens endless possibilities of expanding our aliyah services and initiating new projects.”
“Nefesh B’Nefesh has strived for the past 20 years to make olim feel welcome in Israel and help them become an integral part of the Jewish state,” said Fass. “Our aliyah campus is yet another resource that will aid us in making dreams come true.”
The growth of Nefesh B’Nefesh, emphasized Herzog at the inauguration event, “is vital for the story of aliyah from all over the world and the story of aliyah from the United States.”
“We can reach 100,000 olim [‘new immigrants’] a year if only we want to and if we move ahead with a grand plan, whereby we can bring half a million olim to Israel within five years and change the State of Israel, the nation-state of the Jewish people, in a very dramatic way,” he added. Read More …
Opinion: “It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea.”
The second time? The Jewish people were prophesied to be dispersed from the land twice.
The first dispersion took place in 586 BC when the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar ordered his mighty army into Jerusalem, and with the help of descendants of Esau (Obadiah 1:1-18), destroyed the 1st Temple, slaughtered over 100,000 Jews, and marched the choice Jews back to Babylon for 70 years of captivity, fulfilling Jeremiah 29:10.
The 2nd dispersion began in 70 AD with the destruction of the 2nd Temple by the Roman Army under Titus. According to the historian Josephus 1.1 million Jews were slaughtered.
(both temples were destroyed on the 9th day of the Jewish month AV 586 years apart. Each year that day is a solemn day of mourning called Tisha B’AV or 9th of AV)
It is that 2nd dispersion that began drawing to a close in 1890 as Jews started making their way back to the land. The Hebrew language was revived fulfilling Zephaniah 3:9 and the state of Israel was rebirthed in ‘one day’ on May 14, 1948 fulfilling Isaiah 66:7-8.
So when does Isaiah’s prophecy of a second calling home happen?
“Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind.” Ezekiel 39:18
At the end of the still future war of Gog Magog at, or near the beginning of the time of trouble for Jacob (Tribulation).
“Alas! For that day is great,
So that none is like it;
And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble,
But he shall be saved out of it.” Jeremiah 30:7
