EDITOR'S WATCH

Coming Home To Yerushalayim

Jerusalem

We traversed a winding road carved
through rock, negotiating a check-
ing David proclaimed
point protected by gun-toting soldiers
Jerusalem the eternal capital
barely out of high school.
of Israel 3,000 years ago.
Huge shadows cast by the late-day
Today, the city is the center-
sun surrealistically framed
piece of a young, vibrant
Jerusalem, which means
country, the soul of a biblical
"City of Peace" (Ir Shalom).
land, and the heartbeat for
Ironically, peace is some-
three major monotheistic
thing that still eludes this
faiths: Judaism, Christianity
crossroads of culture, her-
and Islam.
itage and ethnicity.
Known in Hebrew as
As we passed Mr. Scopus,
Yerushalayim, Jerusalem is
we saw Hadassah Medical
steeped in history and spiritu-
Centre and Hebrew Univer-
ality, yet abuzz with the rat-a-
sity. As we neared Mr. Mori-
tat-tat of construction and
ROBE RT A.
ah, we spotted the Dome of
redevelopment. It's exhilarat-
SKL AR
the Rock and the Old City's
ing and captivating, yet
Ed itor
stone walls.
daunting with undercurrents
Meanwhile, our anticipa-
of political, religious and
tion mounted.
social strain that forever gnaw at you.
We stopped at the Wall of Life and
Still, it's a city that easily transports
endeared ourselves to its picture-post-
you from the ruins of the Second
Jamal Bader is an insightful Arab who makes jewelry in his shop in the Old City's
card view of a city the Babylonians
Temple at the Western Wall to the
Christian Quarter.
and later the Romans tried to wrest
bustle of commerce at the Mahane
from the Jews by destroying our tern-
Yehuda Market.
Yehuda Street, from Jaffa Gate to the
on Haas Promenade. Haas overlooks
pies.
Mayor Ehud Olmert is right: "For
Great Synagogue, from Cardo Max-
As
the
echoes
of
the
Muslims'
call
Jerusalem
and
all
its
splendor,
the
city's
Jews to be in Jerusalem is the essence
imus to Via Dolorosa, from Yad
to worship muffled the sounds of the
tensions over pluralism, governance and
of everything we are fighting for and
Vashem to the Israel Museum, from
modern city, we recited the She-
security notwithstanding. Nowhere
everything we are dreaming of."
Independence Hall to Ammunition
would I rather have been to greet the
hecheyanu, the blessing of gratitude,
Even if you harbor just a touch of
Hill, from B. Cohen Judaica to the
upon reaching Yerushalayim.
Shabbat bride, and to enjoy the sensa-
Yiddishkeit, this is where it will
King David Hotel, Jerusalem is a city
There we had come as pilgrims to
tions of what it truly means to be Jewish
emerge.
that speaks directly to you.
pray for peace — for ourselves, our
and part of a religion that dates back to
Tourists on the third Michigan
One of the Old City's holiest sites
family,
our
country
and
Israel.
the
time
of
Abraham
and
Sarah.
It's
a
Miracle Mission a few weeks back
is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
There we fulfilled the ultimate
religion that has battled slavery and per-
ascended Jerusalem from the north,
built in 1149 on the site of Jesus' cru-
mitzvah: We had come home — come
secution — and that has regenerated
via the Jordan Rift Valley and the east-
cifixion.
home to Yerushalayim.
itself and prospered.
ern slopes of the Judean hills. We were
The next day, we welcomed Shabbat
From Mea Shearim Quarter to Ben
five days into our 10-day trip.
COMING HOME ON PAGE 35

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LETTERS

LETTERS FROM PAGE 31

terrorist activities in order to gain the
land for Albania. For reasons that
stomach me to think about, the U.S.
is now supporting the very group that
it labeled only 12 months ago as dan-
gerous terrorists, a group whose leader
is an anti-Semite.
Please think about this. Kosovo,
Serbia's religious capital, is in danger
of forcefully being taken from the
Serbs and given to a Muslim group.
Sound familiar? The leaders that the
U.S. set up in both Croatia and
Bosnia are famous for their anti-
Semitic stands. [Croatian President
Franjo] Tudjman's own autobiography
contains a detailed plan for a solution
to Europe's "Jewish problem." One
can only wonder why the U.S. is
doing this.
Those refugees fleeing are not nec-

essarily fleeing the Serbs. The bomb-
ing, as well as the KLA's activities,
caused many to flee. My own friends
and relatives cannot flee, but are
trapped inside of Serbia as their homes
and workplaces, hospitals, memorials,
religious places of worship and schools
are bombed. The U.S. won't report
how many children and innocents
they have killed. Canada has reported
that the U.S. is using experimental
modified nuclear weapons on the
Serbs.
If NATO gets away with this in
Serbia, don't think that Israel will
escape. Please take a stand against
NATO's violence. Remember that a
particular race was once blamed and
accused of all sorts of things, and was
nearly wiped out. Almost the whole
world believed the lies perpetuated

about this race. The Serbs were one of
the few who protected that group.
Dawn Markovic

Windsor, Ont., Canad

Victimization
And Holocaust

The following are excerpts from an
article by-Jonathan Mark from the
New York Jewish Week of April 23,
1999. Miles Lehrman from the JTA
News Service was quoted as saying,
"As we remember the victims of the
St. Louis and all the eventual victims
of the Holocaust, we have a better
understanding why we have a Kosovo
... while murder and mass atrocities
run rampant." A newspaper ad run by

the American Jewish World Service
evoked a Holocaust context with,
"Once again there's a reason-to
remember." This was the line under a
picture of refugees clustered on and
alongside a train.
It is asked here are the Albanian
Kosovars analogous to Hitler's inno-
cent victims, killed for genocidal rea-
sons in a war they didn't ask for?
The pertinent question is when
does the media commence the telling
of a story? In Israel, for example, the
Arabs prefer to begin the tale with ter-
ritory occupied in July 1967, rather
than in Hebron in 1929 or even 1948.
In Yugoslavia, when does the story of
the new holocaust begin?
According to a 12-year-old edition
of the New York Times (Nov. 1, 1987),
LETTERS ON PAGE 34

5/ 1 4
1999

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