The Everlasting Joy of Jerusalem!

“Har ha-bayit b’yadeinu – the Temple Mount is in our hands!”

Each I time I hear the recording or see the images, I feel something inside.  Jerusalem has a powerful hold on our souls and imaginations.

Today is Yom Yerushalayim, commemorating and celebrating 53 years since the reunification of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War.  I think that Yom Yerushalayim has a different feeling than Yom Ha'Atzmaut.  Yom Ha'Atzmaut is the grand moment of national return, the rebirth of Jewish sovereignty in our ancient land.  Yom Yerushalayim is more spiritual, a profound and intimate opportunity to joyously celebrate the reunification of the Jewish soul with the Holy City.

Jerusalem’s unique spiritual role is noted by Isaiah (2:3):

כִּי מִצִּיּוֹן תֵּצֵא תוֹרָה וּדְבַר ה' מִירוּשָׁלִָם

For Torah shall come forth from Zion, The word of God from Jerusalem

What is the difference between Torah from Zion and the word of God from Jerusalem? 

Torah is the Jewish religion.  God established a covenant with the Jewish people of Torah, of Judaism.  The natural home for this covenant, the place for its fullest expression is Zion, Israel. 

Jerusalem has a different message.  The word of God is a spiritual force, an intimate religious feeling.  This feeling is felt most in Jerusalem.

Think of the power of the Kotel to elicit tremendous religious feeling from all who visit.  Jews – and non-Jews – are powerfully moved by the experience.  That is the spiritual power of Jerusalem.  On Yom Yerushalayim, we celebrate the reemergence of this experience.

Think of how the reunification of Jerusalem has impacted Jewish life today!

The reunification of Jerusalem was a powerful moment in history.  The weeks leading up to the Six Day War were fraught with terror.  The Arab armies were gathering, and their statements were threatening.  In Israel, they were digging mass graves for the thousands of anticipated deaths.  Diaspora Jewry was in a state of panic.  People thought it was the end of the State of Israel.

And then….

Yeshuat Hashem k’heref ayin – The salvation of God came in the blink of an eye.  (Midrash Pesikta Zutreta 4:17)

All of a sudden, like a bolt of lightning, a victory that was unimaginable.  This is also the dvar Hashem from Jerusalem, a Divine message of redemption, transforming the terror into celebration.  (We can certainly appreciate a reminder about the possibility of redemption today.  It will happen!)

The reunification of Jerusalem transformed Jews forever. 

I have heard Rabbi Lookstein describe on several occasions how the Six Day War transformed the identity and personality of world Jewry.  He describes Jews before 1967 as maintaining a “question mark” posture.  They were stooped, uncertain, tenuous.  After 1967, Jews stood up tall and straight like an exclamation point!  A popular post-Six Day War image was of a Jew transforming into Superman in a phone booth.  (See above.)  Subsequent Jewish involvement in public activities like the Soviet Jewry movement or the rise of pro-Israel activism trace their roots directly back to the 1967 victory. 

Har ha-bayit b’yadeinu!  Our proud Judaism traces itself directly back to these words. That is what we are celebrating when we celebrate Yom Yerushalayim.

I never had to imagine an Israel without a unified Jerusalem.  Today each of us should try to find one way to connect to the eternal legacy and power of Jerusalem to uplift our souls.

"Har ha-bayit b'yadeinu!" was not only the announcement of a military objective in 1967.  It remains a declaration of pride in the Jewish present and hope for the future.