Question Of The Week:

Who first founded Jerusalem as
the capital of Israel?

pv\0,0 6u!>

r

:JOMSLIV

helping jewish families grow'

WZ PS Pho to

After reclaiming
Jerusalem, Israelis
began the largest
restoration project
in the history
of the state.

*

41 04
.

At The (jo

Yom Yerushalayim
IV recalls the terrible battle
fought to win Israel's capital city,
and celebrates its reunification.

Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor

ach year on the 28th of lyar (Friday, May 14, in 1999), the
Jewish people observe Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day.
Why do we need a holiday for Jerusalem? After all,
Jerusalem is constantly in the hearts and minds of Jews. The city is
mentioned dozens of times in the daily prayers, in the Birkat haMa-
zon (grace after meals), the marriage ceremony and even the funeral
service.
Yet there is a solid historical rationale for celebrating Yom Yerusha
layim. Unlike Lag b'Omer or Shavuot (Yom Yerushalayim falls
be-ween the two), Jerusalem Day is a holiday of recent origin. It com-
memorates the Israeli reunification of Jerusalem during the Six-Day
War of June 1967.
In Israel's 1948 War of Independence, the fighting between the
fledgling state and its Arab enemies was particularly intense in and

E

5/7
1999

Detroit Jewish News

75