The Bride in the Tanners’ Market
An address to children at a Lag BaOmer parade
The Tanners' Market: An address to children at a Lag BaOmer paradeRabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai taught: “G-d promises the Jewish people in
exile: ‘I shall never reject them or abhor them to break My covenant with them.’ This is like a man whose bride lives in a leather tanners’ market, where everything reeks. Were she not there, he would never have entered. But because she is there, it smells to him like a spice market, the most beautiful scent in the world.”
The Bride in the Tanners’ Market
An address to children at a Lag BaOmer parade
Disc 113, Program 451
Event Date: 18 Iyar 5744 - May 20, 1984
An address to children at a Lag BaOmer parade: Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai taught: “G-d promises the Jewish people in exile: ‘I shall never reject them or abhor them to break My covenant with them.’ – This is like a man whose bride lives in a leather tanners’ market, where everything reeks. Were she not there, he would never have entered. But because she is there, it smells to him like a spice market, the most beautiful scent in the world.” G-d accompanies the Jewish people, His beloved, in exile. They do not become sullied there by the unpleasant odors around them; rather, their self-sacrifice for Judaism and for the Jewish education of their children emits the sweetest aroma throughout creation, transforming the exile itself into a G-dly place. |
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