the time of the destruction of the temple, in 70 A.D., this sifting had gone on, until one could scarcely find a land without its Jewish communi ty.” Louis Hauff, “I t could hardly be said that in any land Jews had found continuous freedom and a peaceful life. At times, such as during the Golden Age in Spain, when for over two centuries Jews enjoyed such complete liberty and opportunity that Jewish natural ability and artis tic temperament rose to the surface as a t few times in past history —1 at such times Jews lived normal lives. Yet this period of peace was immediately followed by the terri ble suifering of the inquisition, and finally deportation. “In fact, Jewish suffering prob ably exceeded that of any other na tion in all human history, and that for over a more or less continuous period of nearly nineteen hundred years of exile. In the ghettos of Europe, in the squalor of oriental communities, in the Russian pale with its frequent pogroms, during the time of Hitler’s hideous purge, even down to this day, Jews have 28
W illiam H ull , “For more than eighteen hundred years Israel languished in exile. To all exiles, thoughts of home can bring periods of nostalgic anguish, however beau tiful, peaceful or desirable one’s exilic home might be, and Israel’s lands of bondage had scarcely ever been desirable. “Exiled Jews had died in bondage fa r from home, leaving memories of Jerusalem and the land to be passed on eternally from father to son. Thus the oft-repeated phrase, ‘Next year in Jerusalem,' became not only a hope and a pious wish, but a holy grail to be obtained eventually only through perfect faith and faithful ness. “Yet, idyllic as the thoughts of Israel might be, and however desir able a return to that land might ap pear, there were other and more pressing reasons why Jewish com munities longed to find the way to cease their exile. God, through His prophets, had warned Israel that He would scatter the nation. ‘Like as com is sifted in a sieve,’ God had warned that He would scatter and sift Israel among all nations. From
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