My dear mother, may she live and be well, left the nest that she's called home for the past 13 years and moved to an assisted living facility. Her new nest is not empty. But it's not home (yet) either.
One recent evening, as I sat in a corner of our empty nest, I found myself scrolling through saved photos on my phone, including pics that I took last March on The Great Bridge Route. This newest tour of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation brought us way down under the current Old City of Jerusalem to stand below the remnants of the Great Bridge that led up to the Temple Mount in the Second Temple period. From what was once street level, we could also see new exposures of the some of the largest, oldest stones of the Kotel (Western Wall). Any opportunity to put an ear to these stones and listen to the stories they tell of our illustrious past is an opportunity not to be missed.
At just about the same time, my son flew the nest he's called home for the past 21 years and landed in a place of his own. His bold move made me and my husband official "empty nesters".
Empty nests. Ancient bridges.
"There's a blog post in here somewhere", I mused. By where exactly?
King David to the rescue - again - to pull it all together with words that continue to carry us through millennia of wandering, waiting for our nest to be filled once more. "Even the bird finds her home, and the swallow her nest where she laid her young...", he wrote (Psalm 84). "...Oh, to be at Your altars, Hashem...for one day in Your courtyards is better than a thousand elsewhere...".
It is not hard to Remember Jerusalem during these three weeks of mourning for our two holy Temples. This Sunday, August 3, we will observe the date of those destructions (Tisha b'Av - the 9th day of the month of Av) by fasting, mourning and praying for its rebuilding. We're so close...oh, so close...
While writing this post, I happened upon a poem written on what appeared to be an anonymous blog. After copying the poem and saving it, I couldn't find the blog again. I hope the writer won't mind my including it here without citation - albeit with my appreciation and a few of my own touches to it:
A twig, a string, some mud, some silt - things with which a
nest is built.
Add some love and lots of care; the swallow makes a home to
share.
Snug and secure in their mother’s nest, little hatchlings
warmly rest.
Why, Hashem, were we pushed out
from Your warmest embrace, to wander
about?
Yet like the bird who beats her wings, shielding her young
from dangerous things
we know the day will come when You will give us complete
protection, too.
Not forever will we be forced to roam. Soon You’ll return us safely Home.
(If you are the writer or know him/her, please contact me so that I can give proper credit!)
Wishing you a meaningful Tisha b'Av and a manageable fast day - or, better yet, may we celebrate it together as a happy holiday in our third and eternal Bais HaMikdash.
See you on the bridge to our no-longer-empty nest!
