L'Shana Haba'ah

L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim (Hebrew: לשנה הבאה בירושלים, lit. "Next year in Jerusalem") is a phrase that is often sung at the end of the Passover Seder[1][2] and at the end of the Ne'ila service on Yom Kippur.[3][4] L'Shana Haba'ah evokes a common theme in Jewish culture of a desire to return to a rebuilt Jerusalem, and commentators have suggested that it serves as a reminder of the experience of living in exile.[5][6]

Background

Jewish belief posits that although the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed twice, it will be rebuilt a third time, ushering in the Messianic era and the ingathering of the exiles. Some Jewish rituals express the desire to witness those events, couched in the phrase L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim ("Next year in Jerusalem"). For example, the Passover Seder concludes with L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim,[1][2][7] and the fifth and final prayer service of Yom Kippur, Ne'ila, concludes with the blowing of a shofar and the recitation of L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim.[4] In Israel, Jews often add an additional word to the phrase: L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim habnuyah ("Next year in the rebuilt Jerusalem").[5]

Symbolism

Ross has suggested that the recitation L'Shana Haba'ah serves as a reminder of the personal experience of exile that "we need to reconcile in order to truly be in Jerusalem, a city whose name suggests peace (shalom) and completeness (shaleim)".[5] Berg has also suggested that the recitation of L'Shana Haba'ah "unite[s] the Jews as a people" because it is a reminder of the shared experience of living in exile,[6] and some scholars have noted that the purpose of reciting L'Shana Haba'ah at the end of the Ne'ila prayers on Yom Kippur is to express "our deep felt yearning to reunite with the Shechinah in the rebuilt Yerushalayim".[3] Dosick has also suggested that L'Shana Haba'ah is both a prayer "for an end to exile and return to the Land of Israel" as well as "a prayer for ultimate redemption, for peace and perfection for the entire world".[8]

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

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