The Tibetans became very moved upon learning that Jews pray for the rebuilding of Jerusalem after meals in their homes. They immediately made plans to see if they might write a Tibetan prayer articulating their yearning for Lhasa.
I was stunned by the new light suddenly cast on this very familiar prayer. I have recited grace after meals on Shabbat my entire life, and yet had never really grasped its role in preserving the Zionist dream in the hearts and minds of Jews throughout the generations. Since my return from India, I have never recited those words without thinking both of the Tibetans and my deep longing for Zion at peace.
-Rabbi Joy Levitt
Suggested Discussion Questions:
1. What role, if any, does the Birkat Hamazon play in your personal relationship to the Land of Israel? If you don't regularly say the Birkat, what do you think the effect might be if you did?
2. What is the connection between a people and a land?
Time Period: Contemporary (The Yom Kippur War until the present-day)