Welcome back to another episode of NachDaily with Ezra chapter 2.

This is essentially a list of the families who returned to Eretz Yisrael for the 2nd Aliyah which was lead by Zerubavel. There were 42,360 people, not including 7,337 servants and 200 singers.

The Ramad Walli explains that as the last perek ended with speaking about the holy keilem which were returned to be used for the Beis Hamikdash, now we’re going to list the holy Jews who returned.

Every Jew that returns is considered a netzos hakedusah – spark of holiness, that’s returning to our Land.

The Ramad Walli continues to explain that a person who makes Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael is like a child returning to its mother. The mother is filled with so much happiness when she sees her child that she picks it up and gives a huge hug. If the child is filled with dirt and looks worn out and tattered from life and the path back to her, it arouses the mother’s love even more!

When Hashem sees us making Aliyah, He gives us a huge hug. How much have we suffered in galus? How worn down are we? When we pick ourselves up and come in front of God with the last little bit of strength we have, Hashem’s compassion is aroused even more! The Land is calling for us like a mother who longs for her child.

Each Jewish family who returned in the time of Ezra was so precious that it is immortalized in the holy words of Tanach because of the dedication and mesiras nefesh needed to uproot themselves at that time.

May Hashem give us all strength to return to Eretz Yisrael , and one day when a sefer is written about our era, our families will be also counted.

As this chapter is just a list of names and numbers for each family, I wanted to highlight just a few of the more notable ones on the list.

Firstly, Zerubavel. Zerubavel ben Shaltiel was a direct descendant of the last Jewish king, King Yohoyachin, which makes him a direct descendant of Dovid Hamelech.

The Gemarah in Sanhedrin 38a actually identifies Zerubavel as Nechemia, about whom we’ll learn later. Zerubavel really comes from the two words Zar-Bavel which means nizra b’Bavel, conceived in Bavel, to allude to that he is really Nechemia who was born in Bavel. However, not all Meforshim agree with this, because it would mean that Zerubavel left Eretz Yisrael later on, and came back as Nechemia.

The next notable name is Mordechai Bilshan. Chazal positively identify him as Mordechai from Purim. Why was he called Bilshan? Bilshan comes from the word b’lashon – meaning that Mordechai was master of the world’s 70 languages.

Menachos 65a says that Bilshan comes from bayil lishnei, he mixed languages. Mordechai understood the subtle nuances and hints of any language spoken.

Next on the list are the residents of the city of Anasos, not far from Yerushalayim. Anasos is the birthplace of Yirmiya Hanavi and was a city of Kohanim. In the times of Yirmiya, when he told the leaders that Nevuchadnetzer would conquer Eretz Yisrael, and that therefore they should open up the borders of Yerushalayim and surrender to Bavel, no one listened to him. Yirmiya was beaten and thrown into a dungeon. The people who treated him the worst were his own townspeople, whom he cursed with death.

Surprisingly, the Sefer records that 128 people from Anasos not only survived and did teshuva, but were zocheh to make Aliyah and return to Eretz Yisrael.

The perek ends by describing how some of the returning families built a mizbeach at the Beis Hamikdash and gave a free will offering to Hashem.

Stay tuned to the next episode of Nachdaily when we’ll learn about the construction of the 2nd Beis Hamikdash.

Thank you for listening and have a wonderful day.