Q&A: The Exile of Israel versus the Exile of Judah
The Exile of Israel versus the Exile of Judah
Question
I wanted to ask: why do we mourn so much over the destruction of the Temple and the exile of Judah, whereas over the destruction of the kingdom of Israel and the exile of the Ten Tribes by Assyria we do not mourn in the same way, and no fast was established for it or anything like that? After all, most of the tribes were in the kingdom of Israel, yet Scripture and the Sages almost completely ignore this.
Answer
I don’t know. Good question. They didn’t have a Temple, and in any case the final exile came with the destruction of Judah.
Discussion on Answer
Throughout the generations there were many who proposed an alternative that did not continue. That’s the kingdom of Israel. That’s the Sadducees. That’s the Karaites, and the Reform movement in our day. One of my favorite lines is the sentence in the Hebrew Encyclopedia: “It is still unclear why the development of the Karaite movement was halted in the 11th century.”
With God’s help, the 28th of Av, 5782
In fact, in Jewish communities, Ashkenazi and Sephardi alike, a prominent place in the lamentations for the Ninth of Av is held by Rabbi Solomon Ibn Gabirol’s lament, “Samaria, Raise Your Voice,” which describes a debate between “Oholah,” that is Samaria, and “Oholibah,” that is Jerusalem (following Ezekiel’s prophecy in chapter 23 about the two sisters, “Oholah and Oholibah”):
And this is how the poet opens:
“Samaria, raise your voice; my sins have found me, my children have driven me out to another land; and Oholibah cries out: my palaces have been burned, and Zion says, ‘The Lord has forsaken me.’” Each of the sisters tries to comfort the other and claims that her suffering is greater. Oholah concludes: “Be silent, Oholibah, and do not weep as I weep; your years were long, but mine were not.” And Oholibah replies: “Be silent, Oholah, for I remembered my grief; you wandered once, but I wandered many times… and the Sanctuary in which I was honored was burned… and my multitudes were scattered through all the lands.”
And the poet does not decide the dispute, but rather supports both sisters, and asks:
“He who has compassion on the poor, have compassion on their poverty, and see their desolation and the length of their exile. Do not be wrathful to the utmost, and see their lowliness, and do not remember forever their sin and their folly. Please heal their fracture and comfort their mourning, for You are their hope and You are their strength. Renew our days as of old, as stated by Your faithful one: ‘Blessed are You, Lord, Builder of Jerusalem.’”
With blessings, Menashe Barkai Buch-Trager
And Ezekiel, who rebukes with fury the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, is the one who envisions in chapter 37 the union of the tree of Judah and all the children of Israel associated with it, together with the tree of Joseph, the house of Ephraim, and “all the house of Israel associated with it,” who will gather together on the Land of Israel, and become “one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king over them all; and they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever again be divided into two kingdoms… And David My servant shall be their prince forever. And I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will place them and multiply them, and I will set My Sanctuary in their midst forever… And I will be their God, and they shall be My people…” may the blessed, good news come speedily.
With blessings, M.B.T.
And more broadly, we / most of us / the continuing narrative are the continuation of the exile of Judah, not of Israel.