O Jerusalem

"Im eshkachech Yerushalayim, tishkach yemeeni” “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand lose its’ cunning.”

Jews have recited this prayer from Psalms, 137:5 for over two thousand years. This prayer and others typify the boundless Jewish yearning for Jerusalem that has persisted throughout the second Jewish Diaspora from the Land of Israel. This longing has been expressed in a myriad of ways, including poetry, stories, songs, prayers and paintings. Many Jews have realized their longing for Jerusalem by making Aliyah (immigrating both to Jerusalem and the rest of Israel). The Passover seder ends with the words: “Next year in Jerusalem!”

There is overwhelming archeological and historical evidence of the Jewish temples and significant Jewish history in and around Jerusalem and the land of Israel. Jerusalem is mentioned hundreds of times in the Tanach (the Jewish Bible) and is the heart and soul of the Jewish people. The Arch of Titus in Rome depicts the exile of the Jews from the land of Israel, bearing the treasures of the Second Temple of Jerusalem. There has always been a Jewish presence in the city of Jerusalem over the past 3000 years, with a Jewish majority in the city for much of the past 150 years. Jerusalem is as central to the existence of the Jewish nation as the right hand is to the life of most people. Why then, do I feel compelled to write this article in defense of the Jewish historical claim to Israel? Why then is the Jewish claim to Jerusalem, as Israel’s historical capital being challenged?

Once again, pressure is being exerted on the young Jewish state to make compromises or to relinquish its’ security positions in the name of ‘peace’. Israel is constantly being asked to act to prop up the ‘moderate’ Abbas, the Palestinian negotiating partner, who does not even have control over a significant portion of the territory that is presumed will become a future Palestinian state.

Yet again Israel must face an international community that is hell bent on demonizing her for performing the basic functions of a state; defending and providing for her citizens. Israel’s sovereignty is being questioned, including her ability to determine her capital city. No other country is challenged about its’ basic ability to determine its’ capital city, or its decisions to populate that city or provide housing for its’ citizens. How unsettling is it that the government of a supposed ally, backed up by other members of the international community act on the assumption that it is acceptable to intervene in such basic functions of government?

Also troubling is the recent attempt by the Advertising Standards Authority, the independent regulator of advertising in the media in Great Britain, to prevent an Israeli ad for tourism from including a photo of the Western Wall with the claim that it falsely gives the impression that the holiest site for Jews is actually in Israel. The authority claimed that the most spiritual site in all of Judaism is in contested East Jerusalem. Why, is always the knee jerk reaction to propose limits only on Jews, when a region is supposedly contested?

Jerusalem is and always has been the center of Judaism, despite the present attempts of the moderate Abbas’ government and other Palestinians to revise history and dejudaize Jerusalem. Important parts of Jewish history, such as the story of Masada, are being rewritten and appropriated by the Palestinians as their own. Archeological proof of ancient Jewish history, including the lives of Kings David and Solomon, is being removed and destroyed, in actions that are diametrically opposed to the beliefs and practices of the Supreme Muslim Council or Waqf, in the first half of the 20th century, which unquestionably asserted the centrality of the Temple Mount to the Jewish religion and the Jewish people and unequivocally stated that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem had been part of King Solomon’s temple, built on land purchased by King David.

Instead of hampering the decisions of the Israeli government about determination and development of its’ capital city, perhaps the international community should focus more attention on the Palestinian confiscation of Jewish history and their attempts to erase all evidence of the significant Jewish presence in their biblical historic homeland.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths/mf20.html
http://www.templeinstitute.org/wakf-1925-guidebook.htm