When The Mayor Takes Action

Now this is definitely something that I couldn’t see Mayor Nutter doing in the streets of Philadelphia. In fact, I don’t know if I could see any mayor in a major city in the United States doing this in their respective streets. I guess this is one of those situations that demonstrates the clear difference between Israel and the United States and Israelis and Americans in particular.

Last month I was skimming through my news feed and came across an article in Haaretz that immediately got my attention. As it turns out, the Mayor of Jerusalem (a city and a place close to my heart), Nir Barkat, was driving down the road when he suddenly asked his bodyguard to stop the car. He had seen a Palestinian terrorist (and that is what he is) stabbing a Jewish man at Tzahal Square. In the end, the bodyguard pulled his gun causing the teenager to drop the knife and the Mayor wrestled the madman to the ground, subdued him, and offered aid to the victim until police arrived on the scene.

As I stated above, the thing that struck me the most when I came across this article is just how different this kind of story is to someone reading it in the United States. I couldn’t see a mayor from a major city in the states taking action in the same way. Additionally, even if they would simply make a call having seen a similar attack, the need to promote their actions would be quite evident. There would be a much more grandiose gesture following the incident not a simple reflection such as the one Barkat gave in the Haaretz article:

"My bodyguard and I jumped straight out of the car, he drew his weapon and together we caught the terrorist until police arrived, and we took care of the wounded, who, happily, was only lightly wounded."  

Barkat said that when he and his bodyguards faced the assailant, he threw down his knife.

"This too is part of our life in Jerusalem. It's clear that if he would have looked to continue stabbing he wouldn't have been alive now. But he threw the knife away," Barkat said. 

The second half of that quote is particularly striking… “This too is part of life in Jerusalem.” Unfortunately, that is a reality in the holy city and one that continues to be a pervasive certainty in the streets throughout Israel. Terrorism is still a reality and the cause of such incidents continues to be muddled in the pages and reports that are disseminated around the world. It is a crisis that needs to be addressed with more than just talks and 10 year plans.

The means by which the State of Israel is portrayed continues to be inaccurate which has perpetuated protests and attacks throughout the world. Israel as a whole and Jerusalem in particular are a place of peace in a region obsessed with war and Jihad. Until the world accepts the reality that Israel is a peaceful state, terrorism will continue to taint that reality in the streets of Jerusalem.

Thankfully, the Israeli people are some of the most resilient that the world has ever known. They are the reason that Israel remains strong in the face of international accusations and terrorism in the streets. To those leaders, IDF soldiers, and all those who live in the holy land I end this post with two simple words… Thank you!

A Tale Of Two Speeches

There were two speeches given today that were of personal interest to me as both a Pennsylvanian and an Israeli. The local and international mix that I heard today was an interesting mix of “what are you thinking” and “what are we thinking”. As Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (in sheep’s clothing) took to the podium in Harrisburg I prepared for the former and as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approached the podium in Congress I couldn’t help but consider the latter. In both instances I was left with the feeling that there are too many people in this world and in politics in particular that are completely out to lunch. But let’s take one speech at a time…

Wolf’s address to the commonwealth was to explain the reasoning behind his 2015 budget. Specifically he stated that the budget would achieve the following:

It is a budget that reflects my conversations with many of you here today.

It includes democratic ideas, republican ideas, and ideas that exist beyond party lines.

It is rooted in the values of fairness, inclusion, and common sense.

It is a balanced budget, and it eliminates our $2.3 billion deficit.

However, his ‘rescuing’ of the middle class is not what it seems on the surface. While he is supposedly proposing a decrease in the state income and real estate taxes as well as the corporate tax rate, he is also looking to raise the sales tax, pull $1 billion from the burgeoning natural gas industry, and increase educational funding in the commonwealth from 35 to 50%. The last might be the most crippling to his theoretical ‘balanced budget’ in that the system is broken. We need to put the system in dry dock and find the cracks, holes, and weak points rather than buying more duct tape and hoping we stay afloat. While all this is supposedly going to save the average tax payer over $1000 per year I am betting that the opposite will be true (if we are lucky).

As much as Wolf’s declarations annoyed me, Netanyahu’s assertions inspired me. In the face of a hostile political play which has been in production for weeks, the Prime Minister took center stage and said what many of us were thinking… the President’s policy, his deal, is misguided and dangerous. While this excerpt from his speech doesn’t address the nuclear development in Iran, it does speak to the heart of the matter:

America's founding document promises life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Iran's founding document pledges death, tyranny, and the pursuit of jihad. And as states are collapsing across the Middle East, Iran is charging into the void to do just that.

Iran's goons in Gaza, its lackeys in Lebanon, its revolutionary guards on the Golan Heights are clutching Israel with three tentacles of terror. Backed by Iran, Assad is slaughtering Syrians. Back by Iran, Shiite militias are rampaging through Iraq. Back by Iran, Houthis are seizing control of Yemen, threatening the strategic straits at the mouth of the Red Sea. Along with the Straits of Hormuz, that would give Iran a second choke-point on the world's oil supply.

Just last week, near Hormuz, Iran carried out a military exercise blowing up a mock U.S. aircraft carrier. That's just last week, while they're having nuclear talks with the United States. But unfortunately, for the last 36 years, Iran's attacks against the United States have been anything but mock. And the targets have been all too real. 

Those who have opposed this speech and have questioned the opposition to Obama’s deal should take note of those two paragraphs. Iran is a threat to my people, Israelis and Americans alike, and we should recognize that reality rather than allowing a rogue regime continue to run rampant throughout the region. Such situations, when left unchecked or addressed without a firm resolve, can have a dire impact on the world not just the countries and people surrounding them. We should stand with our only true democratic ally in the region and prevent the terror from overtaking the world.

Israel Under Fire (From More Than Rockets)

So, while under rocket attack from Hamas, Israel negotiated a cease fire. But, honestly, let’s call this what it really is… giving in to the mounting international pressure (especially from the anti-Israel UN) so that you can have a few days of silence before Hamas launches more rockets, you retaliate, and Israel is deemed the aggressor. Basically, a giant Middle Eastern circle jerk.

What happened to the hard line that Bibi seemed so proud to be walking? What happened to the putting an end to this conflict once and for all? Where did the common sense go?

Honestly, we shouldn’t be surprised. This is basically what has happened every time ever since Israeli politicians began giving up land fought for and earned by the blood of their fellow Israelis. This is a dangerous trend that seems to have no end and that, at best, Israel comes out of the conflict a little worse off in the eyes of the media and the gullible public. Of course, this brings up another interesting story that was making the media rounds today.

A former AP correspondent, Motti Friedman, published a story in Tablet magazine about the failings of the main stream media in reporting the war in Israel and reporting on Israel in general. This is a tremendous read and one that should be noted as one of the few, if not the only, honest account of the world media and their treatment of the Jewish state. Unfortunately, this kind of reporting is not new as Freidman writes:

“The lasting importance of this summer’s war, I believe, doesn’t lie in the war itself. It lies instead in the way the war has been described and responded to abroad, and the way this has laid bare the resurgence of an old, twisted pattern of thought and its migration from the margins to the mainstream of Western discourse—namely, a hostile obsession with Jews. The key to understanding this resurgence is not to be found among jihadi webmasters, basement conspiracy theorists, or radical activists. It is instead to be found first among the educated and respectable people who populate the international news industry; decent people, many of them, and some of them my former colleagues.”

While reporters face tremendous danger, death threats, and, as we have seen recently, death, there is still little criticism surrounding those who are making these threats, posing these dangers, and taking innocent lives. Not only has it prevented reporting of the facts from actually occurring, it has prevented the truth from being told on more than one occasion. This is best explained when Freidman writes:

“There has been much discussion recently of Hamas attempts to intimidate reporters. Any veteran of the press corps here knows the intimidation is real, and I saw it in action myself as an editor on the AP news desk. During the 2008-2009 Gaza fighting I personally erased a key detail—that Hamas fighters were dressed as civilians and being counted as civilians in the death toll—because of a threat to our reporter in Gaza. (The policy was then, and remains, not to inform readers that the story is censored unless the censorship is Israeli. Earlier this month, the AP’s Jerusalem news editor reported and submitted a story on Hamas intimidation; the story was shunted into deep freeze by his superiors and has not been published.)”

This is particularly startling when taken into account the means by which Hamas is reported. Actually, it’s more about how much is not written and how focused the media wolves are on every aspect of Israeli politics, culture, etc. It is not about wanting to better understand, it is all about finding the minute failings (this is a term applied by the outsider) in individuals and groups and applying them to Israel as a whole. This is not reporting, this is find a way to paint a picture, frame a story, box a topic that fits the views of the reporter and the media outlet. As Freidman explains:

“Israeli actions are analyzed and criticized, and every flaw in Israeli society is aggressively reported. In one seven-week period, from Nov. 8 to Dec. 16, 2011, I decided to count the stories coming out of our bureau on the various moral failings of Israeli society—proposed legislation meant to suppress the media, the rising influence of Orthodox Jews, unauthorized settlement outposts, gender segregation, and so forth. I counted 27 separate articles, an average of a story every two days. In a very conservative estimate, this seven-week tally was higher than the total number of significantly critical stories about Palestinian government and society, including the totalitarian Islamists of Hamas, that our bureau had published in the preceding three years.”

For those of us who have been paying attention to the media, listening to what is actually being said, and talking to those living in Israel we have been aware of this massacre of the truth perpetuated by the media. I am grateful for the honesty that has been so succinctly reported in this piece and I hold out hope that, one day, actual reporting will return to the Middle East and Israel in particular. Maybe we can have a few honest voices on the ground when this current ceasefire is shattered by the sound of rocket fire.

Prolonging The Conflict

Israeli-distributed candies in the West Bank bear the slogan
'Here are some sweets because Hamas is making life bitter in the West Bank.'

For more than a month, Hamas and Israel have been doing back and forth both on the ground and in the conference room. Papers and missiles have been exchanged on a regular basis with no realistic end in sight. Those that haven’t been keeping current on the conflict probably don’t realize that it has been that long… it seems as though this is one of those unfortunate wars when we lose sight of the beginning.

During this prolonged conflict, ceasefires have come and gone and holidays have passed by without peace prevailing. Tisha B'Av offered little respite during this time but hope remained palpable as people reflected on the loss, the strife, the anger, the fear. What are usually marked as days unlike other in the surrounding blocks of the calendar, were a continuation of the same emotions dominating the regional psyche. For Jews, this was just another event to mourn during this sorrowful day.

Tisha B'Av, the Fast of the Ninth of Av, is a day of mourning to commemorate the many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, many of which have occurred on the ninth of Av.

Tisha B'Av primarily commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples, both of which were destroyed on the ninth of Av (the first by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E.; the second by the Romans in 70 C.E.).

Although this holiday is primarily meant to commemorate the destruction of the Temple, it is appropriate to consider on this day the many other tragedies of the Jewish people, many of which occurred on this day, most notably the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and from England in 1290.

It is during these times of what is usually holy celebration and reverence when the claws are drawn throughout the world. The back and forth between conflict and ceasefire, holiday and conflict, has the world in an uproar for all the wrong reasons. So who is to blame? Unlike many of the protests and ‘reports’ Israel is not to blame for the elusiveness of peace.

Every ceasefire that has been negotiated and strong armed have not been times for the people of Israel to break or the IDF to relax. They have served as perpetual countdowns to the next rocket to sail over the boarder at innocent civilians. This FACT seems to be lost on the world. However, as we have reflected on what has seemed like a prolonged period of mourning, we have kept in the forefront of our minds that, while the situation is tenuous, it will pass and be but a memory which we will forever remember. We are strong, we will fight, and we will not allow the world to destroy our land or expel our people. Hope will prevail and peace will once again return to our land.

On The Ground

 

This past week Israel finally sent ground troops into the Gaza strip. Not surprisingly, this cause cities in the United States to be invaded by misinformed masses of liberals who believe that the Israelis should simply follow the orders of the commandant and keep giving and giving until they get what they want... heck with 1967, they want Israel to return to the pre 1947 boarders (because the boundaries outlined by the United Nations were a Zionist plot). These protesters, on a certain level believe that Israel somehow deserves these rocket attacks… they would much rather see Israelis ignore the violence and propaganda, put their heads down and work. After all, work will set you free.

However, there were numerous opportunities given to Hamas by Israel to avoid this escalation. More opportunities than should have been given. Each time Hamas has refused. Finally, Prime Minister Netanyahu offered this final hand, this opportunity for de-escalation, and opportunity for a resolution and end to the violence. Given the circumstances, I don’t know if he could have phrased this any better:

To Ismail Haniya, and the leaders and operatives of Hamas:

We, the people of Israel, owe you a huge debt of gratitude. You have succeeded where we have failed. Because never before, in the history of the modern State of Israel, has the Jewish people been so united, like one person with one heart. You stole three of our most precious children, and slaughtered them in cold blood. But before we could discover the horrible truth, we had 18 days of pain and anxiety while we searched for them, during which our nation united as never before, in prayer, in hopes, in mutual support.

And now, as you continue to launch deadly missiles indiscriminately, intended to maim and murder as many civilians as possible, while you take cowardly refuge behind your own civilians - you continue to inspire us to hold strongly onto our newly discovered unity. Whatever disputes we Jews may have with each other, we now know that we have one common goal: we will defeat you.

But we are offering you now one last chance. Within 24 hours, all rocket fire - and I mean all rocket fire - will cease. Completely. Forever.

 

I give you formal notice that our tanks are massed at the Gaza border, with artillery and air support at the ready. We have already dropped leaflets over the northern parts of the Gaza strip, warning civilians of our impending arrival, and that they should evacuate southward, forthwith. If you fail to meet our ultimatum, we are coming in, and, with God's help, this time we will not leave. Every centimetre of land that we conquer will be annexed to Israel, so that there will never be another attack launched at our civilians from there.

Even so, we will continue to keep the door open to allow you to surrender gracefully. The moment you announce that you are laying down arms, we will halt our advance, and there we will draw our new borders. If you continue to attack our citizens, we will continue to roll southwards, driving you out of territory that you will never again contaminate with your evil presence.

It pains me deeply that your civilians will be made homeless. But we did not choose this war; you did. And if our choice is between allowing our citizens to be targeted mercilessly by your genocidal savagery, versus turning your civilians into refugees, I regret that we must choose the latter. If only you loved your people as much as you hate ours, this war would never have happened.

To the rest of the world: Israel has tired of your ceaseless chidings that we should "show restraint". When you have your entire population under constant missile fire from an implacable enemy whose stated goal is the murder every man, woman and child in your land, then you may come and talk to us about "restraint". Until then, we respectfully suggest that you keep your double standards to yourselves. This time, Hamas has gone too far, and we will do whatever we have to in order to protect our population.

Hamas, once again, I thank you for bringing our people together with such clarity of mind and unity of purpose. The people of Israel do not fear the long road ahead.

This conflict is not just about the rockets that are being fired or the troops on the ground. This is a conflict that has come to a head because of the drastically different values that are placed on human life. This is not a new observation by any means but it always seems to get lost on those that flood the city streets in the western world to protest the rightful defensive actions taken by Israel. Whereas the IDF stands between the threat and civilians, Hamas has put the civilians all around them to shield them from the consequences of their aggression… it is because of this dichotomy that you will continue to read about the chasm between the casualty totals.

With the conflict still raging and more and more reservists being called to serve, peace may be the objective but, right now, sanity is our goal. While I don’t anticipate a quick resolution, I pray for a quick and permanent end to the violence. All of which rests on the shoulders of the men and women of the IDF to whom we are all grateful and will continue to pray for. But, let us end this post in a way that you might not be expecting… with a little humor from Benji Lovitt whom I had the pleasure of briefly meeting during our Jerusalem days. He has single handedly given us many moments, one liners, pictures, and turns of phrase that have made us smile, if not laugh loudly and annoyingly, and in some of the more serious instances laugh so hard that hummus came out of our noses. So here it is, what I think is the best picture and caption from Benji Lovitt so far:

Aaaaand there went the ceasefire.
You just couldn't control yourself, could you, Hamas?
I mean, Jim.

 

When Prayers Go Unanswered

Ever since the news reported their disappearance, we have been hoping, praying, and some pleading for the safe return of Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, 16, the three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped on June 12. Yesterday, all those words that each of us kept repeating seemed to fall short as reports quickly spread that those three boys were found murdered with the last whispers of one of the victims recorded by a phone call placed to 100, Israel’s emergency hotline. “They’ve kidnapped me.”

This national and international tragedy came to a tearful conclusion today… while difficult for me to express, the first line I read in a Times of Israel article today perfectly captured that whish we are all experiencing:

“Despite frantic prayers and more than two weeks of desperate searching, the saga of the three kidnapped boys ended Tuesday with the mourner’s kaddish, the traditional prayer for the dead, with three families clasped in prayer and an entire country standing behind them.”

I heard the news, debates, and questions on the radio all morning and watched as the news streamed across my screen all day but until I read my email this evening I wasn’t even sure I would be writing this post (I encourage you to read the email pasted below from Rabbis Shraga Sherman & Mendy Cohen of Chabad of the Main Line). There are few words that can be said at this time that mean anything. It may be difficult for some to understand, and I have had to explain it a few times, but our connection to Israel is not just to a piece of land. We are one with Israel in body, mind, heart, and soul. No matter where we are in this world or where we are in life, we are one. These are our boys.

Unfortunately, as we still mourn we know that soon we will be defending ourselves to the same people that now offer their condolences because we are allowed to mourn and suffer tragedy but we are not allowed to fight back and defend ourselves against future tragedy. It is this constant back and forth of the emotional pendulum that also binds us together but, right now, we mourn. We silently remember ‘our boys’ and ask that our renewed prayers are heeded… let them be the last.

B"H

Shalom,

Yesterday, we all heard the tragic news from Israel. There are few words. Only grief. Sadness. Pain. For 18 days, the Jewish world was so united. We became one family. Our differences and labels of affiliations were pushed to the side. These 3 boys united us. They made us one. Eyal, Gilad and Naftali became our sons... our brothers... No, we never met them but they were OURS... We prayed, we cried, we demanded, we posted - BRING OUR BOYS HOME! It was OUR boys. The power of this unity deserved a different ending. Deserved a reunion of the Jewish world with their boys. Deserved an all night/all day dancing session at the Western Wall celebrating their safe return to their new large family, the family of Klal Yisroel. But it was not meant to be...

We are left heartbroken... numb... in grief... and angry...

First, we must mourn. There is a need for us to realize it is okay to cry and mourn the loss of a loved one... it is beyond words of consoling... it is real pain and tears... We lost 3 children... 3 brothers... As those families are now sitting shiva, we too feel that the deep sense of loss and the love we have for these children and their families.

It is only after we mourn that we will need to deal with our anger. The united Jewish family will have to stand strong and give the Land of Israel the support they will need and deserve.

Today is also the 20th yahrtzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, On the anniversary of a tzadik’s passing, all the light that he planted in this world—his teachings, good deeds, and everything in which he invested his life and being—all this shines brightly, so that anyone connected to him can receive blessings of life, happiness and wisdom. Today more than ever the world needs the comfort, the insight and the fortitude which the Rebbe taught us.

I have pasted below an article just released by Rabbi Jonathan Sachs, very well said…

Just as we mourn together today, so may we very soon celebrate together. May there be many Simchos by all of us, with the ultimate Simcha, the coming of Moshiach. May it already take place.

Rabbis Shraga Sherman & Mendy Cohen

P.S. - There will be a Farbrengen this evening at 9:15 p.m. (Chabad of the Main Line, 625 Montgomery Ave, Merion) marking the Rebbe’s 20th Yahrtzeit. It is a good time for us to be together and hear words of strength and inspiration. Please join us.

In memoriam Eyal, Gilad and Naftali from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

This past Shabbat we read the parsha of Chukkat with its almost incomprehensible commandment of the red heifer whose mixed with "living water" purified those who had been in contact with death so that they could enter the Mishkan, symbolic home of the glory of God. Almost incomprehensible, but not entirely so.

The mitzvah of the parah adumah, the red heifer, was a protest against the religions of the ancient world that glorified death. Death for the Egyptians was the realm of the spirits and the gods. The pyramids were places where, it was believed, the spirit of the dead Pharaoh ascended to heaven and joined the immortals.

The single most striking thing about the Torah and Tanakh in general is its almost total silence on life after death. We believe in it profoundly. We believe in olam haba (the world to come), Gan Eden (paradise), and techiyat hametim (the resurrection of the dead). Yet Tanakh speaks about these things only sparingly and by allusion. Why so?

Because too intense a focus on heaven is capable of justifying every kind of evil on earth. There was a time when Jews were burned at the stake, so their murderers said, in order to save their immortal souls. Every injustice on earth, every act of violence, even suicide bombings, can be theoretically defended on the grounds that true justice is reserved for life after death.

Against this Judaism protests with every sinew of its soul, every fibre of its faith. Life is sacred. Death defiles. God is the God of life to be found only by consecrating life. Even King David was told by God that he would not be permitted to build the Temple because dam larov shafachta, "you have shed much blood."

Judaism is supremely a religion of life. That is the logic of the Torah's principle that those who have had even the slightest contact with death need purification before they may enter sacred space. The parah adumah, the rite of the red heifer, delivered this message in the most dramatic possible way. It said, in effect, that everything that lives - even a heifer that never bore the yoke, even red, the color of blood which is the symbol of life - may one day turn to ash, but that ash must be dissolved in the waters of life. God lives in life. God must never be associated with death.

Eyal, Gilad and Naftali were killed by people who believed in death. Too often in the past Jews were victims of people who practiced hate in the name of the God of love, cruelty in the name of the God of compassion, and murder in the name of the God of life. It is shocking to the very depths of humanity that this still continues to this day.

Never was there a more pointed contrast than, on the one hand, these young men who dedicated their lives to study and to peace, and on the other the revelation that other young men, even from Europe, have become radicalized into violence in the name of God and are now committing murder in His name. That is the difference between a culture of life and one of death, and this has become the battle of our time, not only in Israel but in Syria, in Iraq, in Nigeria and elsewhere. Whole societies are being torn to shreds by people practicing violence in the name of God.

Against this we must never forget the simple truth that those who begin by practicing violence against their enemies end by committing it against their fellow believers. The verdict of history is that cultures that worship death, die, while those that sanctify life, live on. That is why Judaism survives while the great empires that sought its destruction were themselves destroyed.

Our tears go out to the families of Eyal, Gilad and Naftali. We are with them in grief. We will neither forget the young victims nor what they lived for: the right that everyone on earth should enjoy, to live a life of faith without fear.

Bila hamavet lanetzach: "May He destroy death forever, and may the Lord God wipe away the tears from all faces." May the God of life, in whose image we are, teach all humanity to serve Him by sanctifying life.

A Day Late And A Shekel Short!

I took this photo of the Jaffa Gate during our honeymoon in June 2009.

Every Jew connects with Jerusalem in their own way with the roots of our faith as the common thread among us. It is this deep passion and bond that makes this modern holiday resonate so deeply within us. It is the Holy City and our capital after all.

One of the many narrow alleys in the Old City, July 2011.

And even though I only spent about half a second living in Jerusalem, that short time has magnified the connection I have with the city. It is a bond stronger that steel that it is hard to describe to those who have never walked those ancient streets, gotten lost in the maze of alleyways in Old City, and placed their hand on the Kotel (Western Wall). It is this passion that prevents me from accurately putting into words the importance of Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day). It is that passion that forced me to let the holiday nearly pass before starting to write this post.

The Kotel, June 2009.

Even now, it is difficult to put this day into words. Taking the time to celebrate and free and unified Jerusalem has never been more important than it is today as we are constantly facing forces (mostly politicians) that seek to once again divide the capital. At the very least, those people are a shekel short of sanity. To understand the importance of liberation of Jerusalem during the Six Day War in 1967, you have to look at the centuries old struggle that led to that day. For this background, I have included the summary of the history found on Jewish Virtual Library website:

Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day in Hebrew) is the anniversary of the liberation and unification of Jerusalem under Jewish sovereignty that occurred during the Six Day War. It is one of four holiday (in addition to Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron, and Yom HaAtzmaut) that were added to the Jewish calendar in the 20th century. Yom Yerushalayim is celebrated on the 28th of the month of Iyar (one week before Shavuot).

The liberation of Jerusalem in 1967 marked the first time in thousands of years that the entire city of Jerusalem, the holiest city in Judaism, was under Jewish sovereignty. The destruction of Jerusalem was a watershed event in Jewish history that began thousands of years of mourning for Jerusalem, so, it follows, that the reunification of Jerusalem should be a joyous celebration that begins the process of reversing thousands of years of destruction and exile. Jerusalem is central to the Jewish tradition. Jews face in the direction of Jerusalem and all of the prayer services are filled with references to Jerusalem.

The observance of Yom Yerushalayim outside of the city cannot compare to its celebration in reunited Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, thousands of people march around the city and walk through the liberated Old City, where Jews were denied access from 1948 to 1967 while it was under Jordanian control. The march ends at the Kotel (Western Wall), one of the ancient retaining walls surrounding the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site. Once everyone gets to the Kotel, there are speeches and concerts and celebratory dancing.

Rare in the Jewish liturgy, a festive Hallel is recited during the evening prayers. This practice is only done on the first night (and, outside of Israel, on the second night) of Passover and Yom HaAtzmaut. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel declared that the holiday version of Pseuki d'Zimra and Hallel should be recited. According to the major religious Zionist halakhists (decisors of Jewish law), even those who do not recite the blessing over Hallel (psalms of praise) on Yom HaAtzmaut should recite it on Yom Yerushalayim because the liberation and reunification over the entire city of Jerusalem is said to be of an even greater miracle than Jewish political sovereignty over part of the land of Israel.

Many religious leaders also hold that the mourning restrictions of 33 days of the omer are lifted on Yom Yerushalayim for those who observe them after Lag B'omer. In the Progressive (Reform) community in Israel, the prayerbook notes that Hallel should be recited on Yom Yerushalayim but the Masorti (Conservative) prayerbook does not. The American Conservative siddur Sim Shalom mentions that Hallel is recited "in some congregations" on Yom Yerushalayim. When it is celebrated in liberal Jewish communities the commemoration tends to include special programs on Jerusalem and festive celebration.

Despite the fact that the religious Zionist community in Israel holds that Yom Yerushalayim is even more important than Yom HaAtzmaut, the non-Orthodox diaspora Jewish community generally does not observe Yom Yerushalayim. This may be because the holiday makes politically liberal Jews uncomfortable as the status of Jerusalem in the international community is debated, and the international community does not recognize the liberation and restoration of Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem as valid.

This holiday, this monumental moment in Jewish history, will continue to inspire and motivate Israel and the Jewish people in general to stand our ground. We cannot be forced to make near sighted sacrifices which will make long term peace and security an impossibility. Jerusalem needs to remain a free, unified, holy city if peace is every going to have a chance in Israel and the entire Middle East in general. And if you don’t believe me, get on a plane and see it, feel it, breathe it for yourself.



View of the Temple Mount at night with Mount Scopus in the background. June 2009.