There is a recurring theme associated with Jerusalem - that of Jewish unity.


Jerusalem is the "city of peace," although it has been conquered thirty-six times in its long history. The psalmist King David wrote, "The built-up Jerusalem is like a city that is

Jewish unity is a necessary component to the completeness of the holy city.

bound together." (Psalms 122:3) The Talmud states on the expression "bound together" that Jerusalem "is a city that binds one Jew to another." (Jerusalem Talmud, Bava Kama 7:7)


The Psalmist continues, "For there the tribes ascended, the tribes of the G-d, as a testimony for Israel." (Psalms 122:3) King David sought unity of the nation, that they go as one to Jerusalem. Not as separate groups, but as one.


Jewish unity is a necessary component to the completeness of the holy city. It is a theme that is heard from the prophets, Talmudic sources and later commentators.


The first Yom Yerushalayim ("Jerusalem Day") did not occur until the time of King David. Until then, the upper city of Jerusalem had remained an impregnable Jebusite fortress since the time of the conquest of Joshua. Then, the book of Chronicles states, "And all of Israel gathered unto David saying, 'Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.'" (Chronicles I, 11:1) Three sentences later, "David and all of Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus; the Jebusite. The inhabitants were all there. The inhabitants of Jebus told David, 'You shall not enter here.' But David captured the Zion fortress, which is the city of David." (ibid. 11:4-6) Eventually, the Temple Mount itself would be purchased by King David and the First Temple built by his son and successor, Solomon.


All of Israel gathered and took part in Jerusalem's liberation. The Talmud in Yuma states, "Jerusalem was not divided among the tribes." (12A) In essence, every Jew has a portion in Jerusalem.


It is thus more understandable how strife is intolerable to this most holy city. How hatred and infighting between Jews and rival Jewish factions brought down Jerusalem, as the Talmud states, that the Second Temple was destroyed as a result of baseless hatred. (Yuma 9B) One hundred and thirty-three years prior to the Temple's destruction, in 63 BCE, the rivalry between the last descendants of the Hasmoneans, Hyrcanus and Aristobulous, over control of Jerusalem lead to Roman invasion and occupation by the general Pompey.


One hundred and thirty years later, as Judea struggled to maintain its independence, infighting pervaded Jerusalem. There were the Sadducees who rejected the authority of the rabbis. They turned the position of the high priesthood into a political post as they vied for power and control. The zealot groups fought against Rome as they opposed each other, and the Sicarii brandished knives as they assassinated their political rivals. The presence of such warring factions was intolerable to the holy city.


Just as Jerusalem was lost to strife, Old Jerusalem was liberated in 1967 by Jewish unity.


Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Neria, a close student of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, points out that the Talmud states, "The Passover sacrifice can only be brought when Israel enters (unified) through one gate." (Zevachim 114B) In a book Rabbi Neria edited, Moadei HaReiyah, he makes the following observation:


In May 1948, as the Haganah was engaged in a valiant struggle to hold on to Old Jerusalem, units of the armies of the Irgun and the Haganah were planning to break into Old Jerusalem to come to the relief of the surviving troops. They were two fighting forces, the Haganah represented the army of the Yishuv while the Irgun represented the Revisionist Zionists. (In the early stages of the war, there were still separate units of fighters from

Old Jerusalem was liberated in 1967 by Jewish unity.

the Haganah, Irgun and Lechi.) According to the plan, the Haganah was to enter the Zion Gate and the Irgun the Damascus gate. Had they succeeded in taking Old Jerusalem then, Rabbi Neriah states, there would have been a constant quarrel over who liberated Jerusalem. Then, Jerusalem would become a city of dispute.


It was only in 1967, when one force, the Israel Defense Force, entered the Old City through one gate, the Lion's Gate, that the city, along with the Temple Mount, would be liberated.


For the following weeks in 1967, the awestruck Jewish nation not only experienced great relief over surviving a dire threat to its existence, but they now celebrated the long-awaited liberation of Old Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. All Jewry, as one, shared in that moment.


Parts of the foregoing text were adapted from Moadei Ha'Reiyah, pp. 480-481.