The Exile to Come
It is often said that the foundation of the state of Israel represents “
Reishit Tzmichat Geulateinu,” the first flowering of our redemption, the long-awaited bookend to close out the centuries of Jewish exile that began in the year 70 AD with the sacking of the Temple in Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans.
It is pretty to think of Israel as such, but it is almost certainly untrue. It is more likely that the first flowering of our redemption will turn out to have been a false budding, the sort that happens on an unseasonably warm day at the end of winter when the plants, deceived, reach out to the sun, only to be humiliated later by the sudden return of the frost.