Approximately 1,500 English-speaking olim participated in a festive Yom Yerushalayim prayer at the Armon HaNetziv Haas Promenade, organized by OU Israel, in partnership with the Jerusalem Municipality and the Moreshet Yisrael Department.

This morning (Monday), a festive and moving morning prayer event was held to mark 58 years since Jerusalem’s reunification in the Six-Day War. Approximately 1,500 olim and visitors from English-speaking countries joined, as part of OU Israel’s annual tradition in collaboration with the Jerusalem Municipality and the Moreshet Yisrael Department.

At the event was Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King, head of the Torah Culture department Yehuda Naftali, and OU Israel’s Executive Director Rabbi Avi Berman. The prayer was led by Rabbi Noam Konigsberg, and took place at the Haas Promenade, with its breathtaking view of the Temple Mount and the site of the Holy Temple.

This year marks a full decade of this special prayer event being held under the auspices of OU Israel. In addition to olim from all over Israel, groups from seminaries, yeshivas, and families, came to celebrate Yom Yerushalayim together and show their thanks for the historic miracle of the city’s reunification.

Head of the Torah Culture department Yehuda Naftali told the celebrants: “Jerusalem is proud to welcome in olim and invite them to celebrate this special day together with us. This prayer is so meaningful, especially when it takes place facing the Old City of Jerusalem. We have to give thanks every single day for the miracles that we have experienced and give thanks to the soldiers protecting us - even as we celebrate.”

Deputy Mayor Arieh King added: "I want to thank OU Israel. There is no better partner to the municipality of Jerusalem related to Moreshet Yisrael, the heritage of our nation here in Jerusalem than the OU. People come to Jerusalem and they look at this same view and they think nothing changes, but if you look carefully it's changing. Every year you are sitting here things are changing."

Executive Director of OU Israel Rabbi Avi Berman, summed it up: “Gathering together in the Holy City of Yerushalayim, at this place that overlooks the Old City and to see - near where the Holy Temple once stood - sons and daughters, olim who came to Yerushalayim from around the world, is incredibly powerful. Everyone is expressing their thanks for all these blessings, and at the same time praying from the depths of the heart for the safety of our soldiers, a full recovery for our wounded, and the return of our captives. We hope for a year full of miracles, with Yerushalayim’s unique Divine Presence resting upon each and every one of us."