As I have joined my fellow Israelis over the years in celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, I have sometimes tried to understand why this extraordinary city, where King David ruled and the Biblical prophets preached--the “theater of the most memorable and stupendous events…in the annals of the world,” in the words of the 19th-century American missionary J.T. Barclay--has been the setting for so much hatred and contention.
I found it hard to accept that, contrary to popular belief, the roots of the ongoing conflict lay in the insatiable territorial appetites of other monotheistic faiths that identify the Holy City with the origins of their creeds: Christianity, whose birth was in Jerusalem; and. more indirectly, Islam, whose post-Koranic traditions describe Mohammed’s journey to the Temple Mount astride his steed al-Buraq. After all, the prophetic message of justice and peace is central to these creeds as well as to Judaism.
I considered briefly that the competition for Jerusalem might somehow stem from the long- discarded notion that Jerusalem was the geographical center of the world. The prophet Ezekiel wrote (5:5): “Thus saith the L-rd G-d, I have set this Jerusalem among the nations….” In medieval times, this was often taken literally. At the end of the 12th century, the Anglo-Saxon pilgrim Saewulf visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and was shown the “place called Compas…which our Lord…himself signified and measured with his own hand as the middle of the world….” And in 1581 the German Protestant theologian and historian Heinrich Buenting published a striking woodcut map of the world in the shape of a clover-leaf with Jerusalem at its center.
Perhaps, I thought, the wrangling for domination might have its roots in the strategic value of Jerusalem, the crowning glory of the narrow strip of the land between the desert and the sea that has served as a bridge between empires north and south. A rationale, I realized, that holds little sway in the age of air-power and ballistic missiles.
Absent any alternative, I was forced to the depressing conclusion that the struggle for Jerusalem is fueled by distortions of the historical narrative that all too often lead to scant regard for the legitimate patrimony of the city where David founded the united capital of Israel and where the holy Temples stood.
Thus, for example, the declaration of the Mameluke Sultan Barsbay in the 15th century proclaiming Muslim possession of the traditional burial site of King David on Mount Zion: “ neither the Christians nor Jews shall have that place, but we will take it for ourselves.”
The sad irony of such misrepresentation is not only that it has it served to blur the incontrovertible evidence of Biblical, historical, and archeological sources. It has also tended to ignore the essential meaning of this unique metropolis—enshrined in the monotheistic creeds-- as the symbol of peace and justice and the embodiment of mankind’s noblest ethical and spiritual aspirations.
And this has led me to grasp the deeper significance of Jerusalem Day—Yom Yerushalayim .
We dance in the streets to express our joy and thanks that, in the words of the Psalmist (122:2) this great city is once more “knit together.”
At the same time, it is an occasion for the people of Israel and adherents of all faiths to reaffirm their commitment to the fulfillment of the vision of Isaiah (1:26) “You shall be called City of righteousness, Faithful City.”
Reflecting on his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the late 15th century when the city was under Mameluke rule, the German Dominican Friar Felix Fabri lamented “…the Christians would care little about the Saracens’ [Muslims’] [over]bearing rule in Jerusalem, provided only that we were allowed freedom to pass in and out of [the Church of the Holy Sepulcher] without fear…vexations and extortions.
"Neither would the Saracens mind if the Christians were Lords of the Holy City, if we would render up the temple [Church] to them. But since Christians and Saracens cannot agree…unhappy Jerusalem has suffered…and will continue to suffer….”
Since 1967, Israel has dedicated itself to give expression to the values that define this very special place. Only Israel has seen to it that the city is open and welcoming to all people to practice their beliefs and to worship in freedom, even as it strives to once again advance Jerusalem’s prophetic promise as a city of peace.
“Jerusalem: the city which miraculously transforms man into pilgrim: no one can enter it and go away unchanged.” (Elie Wiesel)
Come and be transformed.
And “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her” (Isaiah 66:10).
Quotations from the writer's: Jerusalem Book of Quotations, a 3000 Year Perspective