We will not forget the importance of Jerusalem - opinion

There is too much misunderstanding and a lack of understanding among some Jews and non-Jews alike around the world about the centrality of Jerusalem to Judaism regarding both ancient and modern times, and the connection between now and then.

I was at a neighbor’s wedding, this week, and as is commonly the practice at Jewish weddings, certainly the ones I’ve attended in Israel and the Diaspora, the groom stated: “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.” (Psalms 137)

The groom then stepped on a glass (well-wrapped), shattering it, symbolizing the destruction of the Temple. As at many Jewish weddings, the words were also sung by those in attendance to one of the several beautiful tunes that have emerged over the years.

I’d like to suggest a difference in the nuance of what this custom represents. In the Diaspora, breaking the glass symbolizes destruction and exile; in Israel, breaking the glass symbolizes that the glass is not full. We have returned to the land, but the return is not complete.

Several years ago, a Palestinian journalist called me as I attended a wedding and as the song was being sung. I moved to the back of the audience at the wedding ceremony in order not to disturb the proceedings, but he could still hear the singing of the song in the background.

He asked me, “You’re at a wedding? The singing seems so sad.”

Remembering our connection

I explained to him about the theme of the song. In his own words, he was blown away that Jews would do this on a happy occasion when a bride and groom are celebrating the beginning of their new life together.

“That’s exactly why we’re singing it,” I countered. The weddings I’ve attended have generally been quite festive, even a little wild at times, I explained to him. Yet, a moment is marked during the ceremony to make sure that we keep things in perspective and that we connect the present to the past and also to the future.

His reaction was one of surprise, linking such religiously nationalist thoughts to extremists. I once received the same type of reaction when on a visit to the Western Wall during Barack Obama’s presidency and received a phone call from an Obama aide.

“People like you also visit there?” he asked. Firstly, I asked him what “like you” means. Secondly, I explained that I was at the Western Wall, which Obama had also visited.

Thirdly, I explained that even concerning the Temple Mount, the objections you will hear from Israeli politicians range from haredi MKs who say it’s off limits due to its holiness, to left-wing Knesset members who will agree that everyone should have the right to ascend the mount, but that it’s a powder keg. Neither one of these two types of politicians would deny the connection of Jews to their biblical capital of Jerusalem.

Concessions for peace

MANY YEARS ago, while working on Israeli public radio, I interviewed then-MK Yossi Beilin on Jerusalem Day to get his feelings about the day. I said that I knew what a right-winger would tell me, but wanted to hear from him, an architect of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians.

He told me, “Jerusalem is historically the center of the Jewish world. There is no denying that. Promoting a peace accord with the Palestinians, making painful concessions in the name of peace, does not contradict that.”

That is a very prevalent point of view that I’ve heard from many among Beilin’s ilk. He himself was a longtime Labor party member, who later became chairman of the further-Left Meretz party.

On the other hand, I once said to MK Ahmad Tibi in a radio interview, “Let’s make a deal: We already accept that your third holiest shrine is located in that area, and you should have the right to pray there; can you acknowledge that the Temple Mount is our holiest shrine and we should have the right to pray there?”

He refused, repeating over and over in response to my persistent questions that it was a Muslim holy site.

My mother, who made aliyah with my father in 1980, would say that she only wanted to live in Jerusalem. She realized that there were other choices besides Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, but to make her point, she would plainly state, “I didn’t make aliyah for Tel Aviv. I made aliyah for Jerusalem. If I wanted Tel Aviv, I would have stayed in New York, it’s better than Tel Aviv.”

Former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk once said that he was told by senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat that the Palestinians didn’t realize how important the Temple Mount was to the Israelis until they continually refused to compromise on maintaining control there.

But if there is a lack of understanding, or a refusal to acknowledge, among Palestinians regarding Jerusalem’s centrality to Judaism, we have a problem among some Jews, as well.

I’m sure it’s a small minority, but I once encountered a couple of United States Orthodox students who had come to study in Israel for a year and did not know when Jerusalem Day was, not even what Jerusalem Day is. They had no idea that had they come as students to Jerusalem in May 1967, for example, they could not have prayed at the Western Wall.

I’ve also heard the claim from a US Orthodox Jew – again, I’m assuming it’s a minority view – that Jerusalem Day is a political occasion. I’m not even sure what he meant; perhaps it was just a decision made by an Israeli government or a political outcome for Israelis, as opposed to a miraculous moment for Jews worldwide.

I AM grateful for my parents’ decision to make aliyah. My parents initially made their decision to do so in 1970, a decade before they actually made the move. Looking back on it, I’ve told people that at the time, as a little kid, I had no idea how the idea to make the move evolved.

It’s true that they made that initial decision while on our first visit to Israel, and we had distant relatives living in Israel who were trying to convince us that the place for Jews was in Israel and not Brooklyn. But I could not imagine at that time that we would make aliyah.

However, friends have countered my surprise by asserting that in the aftermath of the Six Day War, there was a surge in that sort of feeling that Israel was the place to be. There was a surge in Jewish identity, including religious identity.

It didn’t mean you were an extremist. It meant that you knew you were witnessing a modern-day miracle. You knew that your ancestors could only pray in the direction of Jerusalem and could only put up a picture of the Western Wall on their living room wall to remind them that Jerusalem was in that direction.

You, on the other hand, could now put your hands on the stones of the Western Wall. This is Jerusalem Day.

Jerusalem Day is not a day to hound Muslim residents and shopkeepers in the Old City. It is a day to proudly wave the Israeli flag, if you wish, and march your way to the Western Wall while respecting those for whom it is not a holiday.

It is not a day for our enemies to launch a war against us because they, like Tibi, refuse to accept that Jerusalem has been our capital and will always be our capital.

It is a day to remember that even as we break the glass at a wedding, we know that the glass of our national identity is at least half full, if not more. These are not extremist thoughts. This is our heritage, which we can cherish and perpetuate every day of the year.

The writer is the op-ed editor of The Jerusalem Post.