Bring my children from afar

I recently read an article on Israel National News about the aliyah of a number of Yemenite Jews due to the terrorism there. It brought to mind the passuk in Yeshaya (43:6), "אומר לצפון תני ולתימן אל תכלאי הביאי בני מרחוק ובנותי מקצה הארץ" - "Say to the North wind, give, and to the Southerly wind, do not hold back. Bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the Earth."

The psukim there are speaking about the redemption, and the special nature of Hashem's relationship with the Jewish people. It uses the word Teman for the word Southerly wind, and I could not help but think of a possible alternate explanation of the verse. The word Teman is also the Hebrew name of the country Yemen, so the passuk could also be saying that Hashem says to Yemen not to hold back its Jews, rather to bring them all back to Eretz Yisrael.

Thus, this article struck me as a sign that we are nearing a critical stage of Kibbutz Galiyos (ingathering of the exiles).

The following Gemara becomes all the more meaningful.

The Gemara in Menachos on Daf 110 explains the verse "Bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the Earth," by saying that there are two groups of people referenced in the verse. As Rashi explains there, there is the group of 'sons', who live in Babylonia, who have special treatment from the government, and therefore feel quite settled and unthreatened there. They are referred to as 'sons' because in general men are more settled. Then there is the group of 'daughters' who are less settled and do not feel as comfortable in the lands that they live in.

In our day, the 'sons' would be those living in countries that are not hostile to the Jew, for example the United States, and the 'daughters' would be those living in countries that are indeed Anti-Semitic.

Putting together this Gemara with what we said previously, we can offer the following interpretation. When Yemen no longer holds back her people, all of the Jews will return to Israel, whether they feel comfortable where they are or not. כן יהי רצון מלפניו יתברך אמן