Barriers

אֱלִי צִיּוֹן וְעָרֶיהָ כְּמוֹ אִשָּׁה בְּצִירֶיהָ

"Wail Tzion and her cities, like a woman in the pangs of childbirth"

The pangs of childbirth..
The unbearable pain that must accompany every new human on earth..

The anguish that separates the before and the after.

The world is comprised of myriads of barriers. Walls between people, between places and times.
Barriers that hinder connection.
I sit with my pregnant wife and marvel at this moving, living human being on her lap. So close, yet separated by this impenetrable barrier between unborn and born.
This is what makes the pain somewhat bearable.
The knowledge that, this anguish leads to a connection.
A bond between mother and daughter, father and son. A new life..

Cry..Yerushalayim...like a woman in childbirth. The anguish of separation made bearable by the hope of it's removal.

But not all barriers come with such visible outcomes and such knowledge.

There is the ultimate barrier. The mysterious separation that leaves us clueless as to the nature of the other side.
And that is death..
That crossing over..to another world that fills us with anguish bereft of consolation.

וְכִבְתוּלָה חֲגוּרַת שַׂק עַל בַּעַל נְעוּרֶיהָ

"..and like a young woman wearing sackcloth..mourning the man of her youth"

We say to Hashem..this is what it feels like to us.
True, we believe that these are birthpangs to our ultimate reunion.

But, I'm sorry, that's not what it feels like....



May our 2000 year labor finally open the barrier that will open all barriers...and may we see the innocent child that we know we can be....



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