Gedaliah ben Achikam
Born: ?
Died: 422 BCE
After
the destruction of the First Temple many years ago the Jewish people were exiled
to Babylon. The conqueror Nebuchadnetzar eased some of his harsh restrictions
and allowed some of the Jewish people to remain in the Land of Israel. King
Nebuchadnetzar even appointed a righteous Jewish man by the name of Gedaliah Ben
Achikam as the
Jewish peoples governor.
He
allowed Gedaliah to administrate the entire territory. Gradually more Jews who
escaped from the horrors of war to many of the other countries returned to their
homes in Israel. Gedaliah knew how to govern and also knew that the Jewish
people had to cooperate with the nation who conquered their land. A man named
Yishmael ben Netaniah was jealous
of Gedaliah and of foreign influence and ignored the edicts of the King of
Babylon and treacherously killed Gedaliah and many other Jews and Babylonians.
In the wake of Gedaliah's murder, the Jews dreaded reprisal from the King. They
thought to flee to Egypt to escape. Since Egypt was a morally corrupt society
the Jews didn't know if they should go. The Jewish people asked the prophet
Jeremiah for his advice. Jeremiah pleaded with G-d for an answer. Finally on Yom
Kippur the Jewish people were answered. Jeremiah called the Jews and told them
to stay in Israel and everything would be OK.
G-d was planning to make the Babylonians act mercifully toward the Jews. But if
the Jews didn't listen and go to Egypt the sword would take them. Unfortunately
the people did not listen and so they packed their bags and left for Egypt. They
even kidnapped Jeremiah the prophet and took him with them. Now the destruction
was complete. The land of Israel was barren (empty), everyone left.
The initial event, the murder of Gedaliah, has been likened to the destruction
of the Holy Temple because it cost Jewish lives and brought the end of Jewish
settlements in Israel for many years. The lone survivor was Jeremiah. His
prophecy came true as years later Babylon conquered Egypt and tens of thousands
of Jewish lives were wiped out.
The prophets and sages declared that the anniversary of the tragedy of Gedaliah
and the massacre should be a day of fasting. This day is the third of Tishrei
the day after Rosh Hashanah. The fast begins before sunrise on the third of
Tishrei , and ends that evening after sunset when the stars are visualized.
As you can see that on Yom Kippur G-d told the people that everything would be
OK, and that they should not leave. The people did not trust in G-d. So Yom
Kippur the day of atonement was promised to be a day of forgiveness to the
Jewish people if only they would listen and return. If they didn't then
they would have marked their own destruction as they did in the story of
Gedaliah.
May
the merit of the tzaddik Gedaliah ben Achikam
protect us all, Amen.
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