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92NY’s Goldman Center for Children and Family provides an exceptional array of programs designed to support children at every stage of their development.
at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Supported by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
Oct 22, 1987
Separated by temperament and much else, Ezra and Nehemiah overcame division and worked together to lead Babylonian Jews back to Jerusalem and, with solemnity and pageantry, rededicated the second Temple. Neither Ezra nor Nehemiah acted upon the word of God; they did it on their own. And maybe that was their greatness. Better than anyone, Ezra understood that without study, the Jewish people have no chance to survive. When, for the first time, he read the Torah to the entire people in Judea, there must have been ancient reverberations of Sinai in the air. As members of the Great Assembly, Ezra and Nehemiah were the great healers of their nation, restoring faith in God and in the nation itself. Their heroic counterparts in 1987 are the olim from Soviet Union returning to Jerusalem. As with Ezra and Nehemiah’s times, our generation has difficulties in uttering certain words—of unlimited praise and infinite faith--in our prayers. And we say them nevertheless.
Explore The Book of Ezra and The Book of Nehemiah on Sefaria, a living library of Torah.
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