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Friday, November 13, 1981

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

'Jerusalem' Fascinatingly Depicted as 'Song of Songs' by Urises

Jerusalem, in the historic photography at Colorado
records, is the City of David
College, Harvard and
because it was the capital of New York University,
Judea, the kingdom of served as associate direc-
David and Solomon.
tor of the Center of the
Jerusalem is the
Eye, an Aspen, Colo., col-
Yerushalayim that spells
lege of photography.
City of Peace, vet it has been
The photographic ele-
a battleground. Jeruslalem
ment in this volume is so
belongs to all faiths in the
impressive that it could well
same sense as Judaism be-
serve as a symbol of perfec-
longs to all faiths as the
tion for students of the art.
Mother of Religions. There-
Like the book itself, the wife
fore, in its role as the capital
emulates the husband by
of Israel. Jerusalem con- tracing every available de-
tinues as Jerusalem the tail in portraying the capi-
Golden.
tal of Israel, by utilizing the
In this sense, it echoes the historic and resorting to all
- Song of Songs - which is the
that is available from the
subtitle to the immensely archeological projects
charming volume which have unearthed the
- Jerusalem - (Doubleday).
beginnings and the evolu-
A couple with acknowl- tionary in Jewish history.
edged records of notable
Leon Uris proves his abil-
achievements in two
ity in research and studies
spheres of creativity, one as
as they have already been
author, his wife as photo-
evidenced in his earlier
grapher, created this over-
works.
whelmingly charming book.
From the mountain to the
Leon Uris, author of emergence into highest
numerous best sellers. glory, Jerusalem's por-
- Exodus, - "Mila 18, - which
trayal by Uris is poetic as
was the story of the Warsaw well as dramatic, filled with
Ghetto resistance to the beauty that has become
Nazism, and other modern holy for Jewry and accepted
classics, wrote the text for in that role by mankind.
this ""Song of Songs"' Uris paints this glorious
entitled "Jerusalem. -
painting:
Jill Uris, who studied I'm gonna walk in

A statue of the martyr Januz Korczak is in
Jerusalem. Korczak was a prominent physician and
writer, a lecturer at the University of Warsaw. His
juvenile books and a folksy child-care radio program
had made him a national celebrity before the war. In
the Warsaw Ghetto, Korczak waged an unequal battle
for the survival of thousands of children and wrecked
his own health in the process. In a world gone mad, his
orphanage and works became a tower of light. In the
final days, Korczak's orphanage was surrounded and
emptied. Although the German authorities wanted to
keep him alive, he and eight of his teachers had al-
ready made their grim decision. Going to the head of a
line of 4,000 children at the dreaded train depot, he
comforted and led them on their final journey to the
Treblinka extermination camp where he met his own
end as well.

the sadness of no-man's
land, the walls, the
barbed wire, the deserted
streets, and the deter-
iorating areas along the
frontier. For whatever
reason, this city has only
flourished under the
Jews. Nobody else ever
paid a great deal of atten-
tion to Jerusalem.
"The Crusaders had a
high regard for the city and
were willing to sacrifice
their lives for it. The British
had an historic feeling for it.
But only under the Jews —
both in ancient and modern
times — has it been the cap-
ital of a nation.
"'When the Arabs had the
choice, they bypassed
Jerusalem and built Ramie
as their capital — for the
brief period they had a capi-
tal in this country at all.
They never really developed
Jerusalem and grew much
attached to it only when
others ruled it. The Arabs
expressed their passion for
Jerusalem when the
Crusaders ruled it and
again since we have gov-
erned it. In between, there
was very little feeling for

LEON and JILL "[IRIS

Jerusalem!
I'm gonna talk in
Jerusalem!
Sing in Jerusalem!
Be in Jerusolem!
High up!' In Jerusalem
when I die!
Be in Jerusalem!
Swing in Jerusalem!
Shout in Jerusalem!
Pray in Jerusalem!
High up! In Jerusalem
when I die!

"The unabashed exulta-
tion of this spiritual liken-
ing Jerusalem to heaven
has been echoed by man-
kind for over 3,000 years, as
befitting the most vener-
ated site on earth. She is
made of golden stones, not
one of which has remained
unturned by scholars and
holy mon. Everything about
her is subjected to sublime
glorification, her air, her
walls, her valleys, those
paths trod by the sandals of
prophets and saints, those
places of agony, her sacred
mount, even the necropolis,
her city of the dead. It is said
the world has 10 measures
of beauty and nine of these
belong to Jerusalem
"Jerusalem has known
the hosts of 36 wars. She has
been reduced to ashes 17
times. She has risen 18. She
has been sanctified by blood
and martyrdom. She knew
the hoofbeat of Assyrian
war chariot, chilled to the
battering
attering
machines of Rome, heard
the hissing arcs of Saladin's
sabers and the rattle of
Crusader mail ... and the
tattoo of Israeli paratroop
gunfire. She has seen more
passion and love and more
human savagery than any
other place in the world.
"Jerusalem has variously
been described as the center
of the world, the eye of the
world and the navel of the
world. She is regarded as
the halfway house between
heaven and earth. Her loca-
tion, off the commercial
beat, difficult for agricul-
ture, in a constant search
for sufficient water, without
natural wealth, tells us that
she should not have a place
among those cities consid-
ered as great. But
Jerusalem is the greatest of
the great, for she alone has
achieved immortality on
moral and ethical grounds

"The Old City is
entered today through
seven magic gates lead-
ing into a vortex of holy
fires, of smells orancient
spices and a cobblestone
labyrinth that eventually
finds the heart of hearts,
the Temple Mount. From
this place David, Jesus
and Mohammed all made
their ascensions to their
celestial temples ...

"All that holiness not-
withstanding, Jerusalem is
very much a modern city
with traffic jams, working
stiffs, rude salespeople,
bureaucrats of the nation's
capital, surly and rebellious
juveniles, a military
presence because of unre-
solved boundaries, trains
and buses and donkeys, jit-
tery horn-blowing drivers,
magnificent women, decent
restaurants and the full kit
of civic maladies. She is a
city of round-the-calendar
holidays and round-the-
clock cultural events."
Uris "Jerusalem" text is
a history of religious
developments, of the
emergence of differences
and the creation of dogmas,
of the differing viewpoints
and the personalities and
sages who comprised them.
Christianity's rise and
the events that preceded it,
the Messianic in Jewish
tradition, the Apostles, the
bloody wars — they are all
in this portrayal.
Therefore, the drama-
tic tour provided for the
reader who is introduced
to every nook and corner
of Jerusalem the Golden,
the City of David that has
been subjected to so
many conflicts, so many
wars in efforts for con-
quest.
The current volume gives
the recognition due the cap-
ital of Israel.
Teddy Kollek, the
dynamic mayor of
Jerusalem, is among the
heroes of the current
episodes, the symbolic in
the progress attained since
the June 1967 war. There is
a tribute from Uris to Kol-
lek that also defines the de-
votion and dedication to
Jerusalem as Israel's capi-
tal, as the historic pointing
to a continuing role for the
Holy City. As Uris presents
the Kollek litany:
"It is correct, is it not, to
leave our visit to Jerusalem
with the words of Teddy
Kollek, as told in his auto-
biography, written with his
son Amos.
"'Today Jerusalem is a
beautiful city, and I often
wish I could take people
back in time and show
them the city before 1967:

the city, and it suffered con-
spicuous neglect.
'... it is the soul and
heart of the Jewish people.
A body can live without a
limb; it cannot live without
its head, heart and soul . .
now the unity of Jerusalem
is an irreversible historic
fact. The shock of the Yom
Kippur War, which we still
have not overcome, is noth-
ing compared to the trauma
that the Jews of Israel and
the Diaspora would experi-
ence if Jerusalem were di-
vided again. I cannot im-
agine how the Jewish
people and the state of Is-
rael could survive such a
blow intact.' "
The chronology of
Jerusalem is in itself an
immense record, a record
of sanctity as well as war-
farei of the creation of the
center of what could be
termed the headquarters
of the world in the sense
of its sanctity.
A few details from that
chronology provide factual
guides for an appreciation of
the historical collected for
the impressive Jill and Leon
Uris "Jerusalem":

Chronology* of Jerusalem

BCE
3000

.

Earliest discovered remains of habitation
at Jerusalem on the hill of Ophel
1013-973 King David makes Jerusalem the capital of
the united kingdom of Israel
973-933 King Solomon builds the First Temple
587
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, con-
quers Jerusalem, destroys the Temple and
exiles Jews to Babylonia.
538
Cyrus, King of Persia, conquers Babylon
and allows Jews to return to Jerusalem
515
Completion of the Second Temple
445
Nehemiah, governor of Judea, rebuilds the
walls of Jerusalem
172
Jerusalem becomes a Hellenistic polis
named Antiochia
169
Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Seleucid king,
plunders the Temple. Practice of Judaism
forbidden
167-141 Maccabean war of liberation
131
Siege of Jerusalem by Antiochus VII
63
The Roman general Pompey conquers
Jerusalem and destroys the Temple
37-4
Reign of Herod the Great, who rebuilds the
Temple
CE
26-36
Pontius Pilate procurator
30
Crucifixion of Jesus
41-44
Agrippa I, King of Judea, builds new city
wall known as the "third wall"
66-70
First great Jewish revolt against the Ro-
mans
70
Destruction of the Second Temple by Titus
and fall of Jerusalem
132-135 Bar Kochba's war of freedom; Jerusalem
again Jewish capital; second revolt of the
Jews
135
Emperor Hadrian's total destruction of
Jerusalem.

614
Persian conquest of Jerusalem
638-1099 The Moslem Period
1099-1187 The Crusader Kingdom
1250-1517 The Mameluke Period
1517-1917 The Ottoman Turkish Period
1917-1948 The British Mandatory Period
1948-1967 The Divided City
1967
Six-Day War in which Israeli troops cap-
ture the Old City from the Jordanians.
Jerusalem liberated and reunited

"Jerusalem" is indeed the
"Song of Songs" as aptly de-
scribed and portrayed by
Jill and Leon Uris. It is

among the most fascinating
books about Israel's reli-
gious legacies and her capi-
tal. —P.S.

