YOM YERUSHALAYIM 5783
In Psalm 128 (5-6), King David gives us a blessing that we’ve seen come to fruition in our lifetime. It’s been made into a classic Israeli song. The verses are: “May Hashem from Zion bless you, [that] you may gaze upon the goodness of Jerusalem all the days of your life. And may we see our children and our children’s children united together and may there be peace for Israel.” The song goes like this—feel free to follow along p. 1034, 7th line:
Y’varech’cha Hashem miTziyon, urey b’tuv Y’rushalayim, kol y’mey chayecha. Urey vanim livanecha shalom al Yisrael.
Yesterday, the 28th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, was a special holiday in the Jewish calendar: Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day). I don’t want to let it pass without every one of us taking special notice.
One of the saddest books ever written was by the late Simon Wiesenthal: Everyday Remembrance Day; Chronicles of Jewish Modernism. In this book Wiesenthal chronicles the fate of Jewish people at the hands the Christian and Islamic world. He dares you, pick any day on the calendar—your birthday or anniversary—and see the atrocities that were done to the Jews on that day!
And while all this was happening in the last 2,000 years, there were no NEW Jewish holidays, no NEW celebrations for Jews. And now, amazingly in our generation, 2 new Jewish holidays have been added to the Jewish calendar. The 1st, on the 5th day of Iyar, commemorates the re-establishment of the State of Israel: Yom Haatzmaut (Israel Independence Day). And the other one was yesterday—the 28th day of Iyar—which was Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day). It was on this day—56 years ago during The 6-Day War—that Israel recaptured Old Jerusalem from the Arab armies that sought to destroy her. And the holiest site of the Jewish people—the Temple Mount and the surrounding neighborhoods, land on which Jews had lived since time immemorial—was once again in Jewish hands. Yesterday, 56 years ago, Jerusalem was reunited. It was one of the most momentous events in all of Jewish history.
Do you know that what happened to Jerusalem in 1967 was not the 1st time that it had been conquered. Let me read you the list of previous conquerors: the Canaanites and the Babylonians and the Persians and the Greeks and the Romans and once again the Persians and the Christians and the Muslims and again by the Christians, again by the Muslims and then by the Ottoman Empire and then by the British.
How did these countries and Empires acquire Jerusalem? They won it in a war! No one in their right mind would have dreamed of saying to any of them—whether it was King David or Navuchadnezzar or Alexander or Titus or Omar or the Pope or Saladin—no one would have ever said to them: “You can’t keep Jerusalem. You have to give it back.” Everyone understands the way of the world; “to the victor go the spoils,” “possession is 9/10ths of the law.” As Julius Cesar said: Veni Vidi Vici (I came, I saw, I conquered). Only with the Jews—still 56 years later—does the world call Jerusalem “occupied territory.”
It didn’t take long for the world to feel that way. On July 7th 1967, less than a month after the war concluded, the New York Times carried a letter by Dr Henry Van Duzen, a Presbyterian minister who was the retired president of the Union Theological Seminary in New York. He wrote: All persons who seek to view the Middle Eastern problem with honesty and objectivity will stand the aghast on Israel’s onslaught, the most violent ruthless aggression since Hitler’s blitzkrieg across Western Europe. Israel is attacked by 4 Arab armies and when it defends itself it’s “ruthless aggression?” After only one month we had already held Jerusalem too long—even for America’s newspaper of record! And that’s the way it’s been since day one. Gd blessed the Jews with Jerusalem, and the rest of the world doesn’t want the Jews to keep it.
Let me tell you what this means. The world dreams of the day when North Korea and South Korea will be reunited, when Cyprus, which is divided by Turks and Greeks, can be reunited. The world applauded when Northern Ireland reunited with Ireland and when North and South Vietnam reunited. The world turned upside down with joy when East Germany and West Germany and East Berlin and West Berlin were reunited.
The only place in the whole world where the world does everything possible to re-divide a city is in Jerusalem—and along with it. The only place in the whole world! The fact that for 2,000 years Jews in every generation pledged: Im eshkacheych Yerushalayim tishkach yimini (If I forget the old Jerusalem let my right-hand wither) … The fact that Jerusalem is mentioned 750 times in our Bible and not once in the Quran … The fact that the Christians have the Vatican, the Muslims have Medina and Mecca, but for Jews there is only Jerusalem ... The fact that when it was ruled by Byzantines and Arabs and Romans and Syrians and Crusaders and Greeks and Kurds and Mongols and Tartart and Turks, NONE of them made it their capital ... Only to the Jew is this land sacred … The fact that before 1967 when it was under Arab rule NOT one leader of a single Arab country, not one Arab foreign minister ever came to Jerusalem to pray. And when Muslims do pray, they turn their backs on Jerusalem … And the fact that during that period of time when it was held by the Arabs, they refused the Jew the right to even step into the old city … they overturned tombstones on the Mount of Olives Jewish cemetery using them as latrines and to build roads … they destroyed the 24 synagogues in the Old City, dynamiting them one by one … All this was ignored as the world was silent!
This past week Islamic Jihad and Hamas fired over 1500 rockets at civilian targets—apartment buildings, hospitals, schools—in Israel, including Jerusalem. You might think that America’s politicians would be supportive of Israel. Some were. But when it comes to the progressive left that seems to have an increasingly strong position in the Democratic Party, the messaging has been astonishing. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar tweeted: Israeli airstrikes killing civilians in Gaza is an act of terrorism. [Terrorism? After 1500 rockets launched at her, when Israel defends itself it’s terrorism?] Palestinians deserve protection. [They don’t need protection. Stop launching rockets at Israel and Israel won’t have to defend itself.] Unlike Israel, missile defense programs, such as Iron Dome don’t exist to protect Palestinian civilians. It’s unconscionable not to condemn these attacks on the week of [the Muslim holiday] Eid.
Omar is not alone. Congressman Jamal Bowman wrote: Enough of Black and brown bodies being brutalized and murdered, especially children. Enough of the inhumanity. The White House must act. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib joined in the fray with similar messaging.
Well, I’ve got bad news for them. Jerusalem—all of it, from the river to the sea—is NOT occupied territory! It is liberated territory. This was expressed so well by liberal writer Thomas Friedman in his book, From Beirut to Jerusalem, where he describes the return after The 6-Day War: Coming back to Jerusalem and the West Bank was not like meeting a strange woman for the first time, far from it, it was being reunited with an old flame. And as soon as they were back in each other’s arms many deeply repressed desires came to the surface.
That’s what happens when lovers reunite. What happened, what we’ve experienced, what we celebrated yesterday, is all in keeping the words of King David’s blessing to us in Psalm 128. Sing or hum with me as I sing it once more p. 1034, 7th line:
Y’varech’cha Hashem miTziyon, urey b’tuv Y’rushalayim, kol y’mey chayecha. Urey vanim livanecha shalom al Yisrael.
“May Hashem from Zion bless you, [that] you may gaze upon the goodness of Jerusalem all the days of your life. And may we see our children and our children’s children united together and may there be peace for Israel.” And to that let us all say, Amen!
