Person imprisoned for his Zionism
A Jew who was imprisoned in the Diaspora because of his desire to immigrate to the Land of Israel.
(“Zion, will you not seek the welfare of your prisoners / those who seek your peace, and they are the remainder of your flock / from the sea and the east and from the north and Yemen peace / far and near, take from all your past.” – Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, “Zion, Will You Not Ask,” and: “And all the people increase in lamentations. And at the end of the lamentations, the exceptional one begins, and thus did Mahar”i Segal, and says, ‘Zion, will you not seek the welfare of your prisoners, etc.” – (Book of Maharil (Customs), Laws of the Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av)
Translation
Expression (Hebrew)
אֲסִיר צִיּוֹן
Definition (Hebrew)
יְהוּדִי שֶׁנִּכְלָא בַּגּוֹלָה בִּגְלַל רְצוֹנוֹ לַעֲלוֹת לְאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל.
("צִיּוֹן הֲלֹא תִשְׁאֲלִי לִשְׁלוֹם אֲסִירַיִךְ/דּוֹרְשֵׁי שְׁלוֹמֵךְ וְהֵם יֶתֶר עֲדָרָיִךְ /מִיָּם וּמִזְרָח וּמִצָּפוֹן וְתֵימָן שְׁלוֹם/ רָחוֹק וְקָרוֹב שְׂאִי מִכֹּל עֲבָרָיִךְ"- ר' יְהוּדָה הַלֵּוִי/ צִיּוֹן הֲלֹא תִּשְׁאֲלִי, וְכֵן:"וּמֵרַבִּין כָּל הָעָם בְּקִינוֹת. וּבְסִיּוּמָם הַקִּינוֹת מַתְחִיל הַמֻּפְלָא, וְכֵן עָשָׂה מָהָרִ"י סֵגָ"ל, וְאוֹמֵר צִיּוֹן הֲלֹא תִּשְׁאֲלִי לִשְׁלוֹם אֲסִירֶיךָ וְגֵו"- (סֵפֶר מָהָרִי"ל (מִנְהָגִים) הִלְכוֹת שִׁבְעָה עָשָׂר בְּתַמּוּז וְתִשְׁעָה בְּאָב)