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ditorials
Editorials and Letters to the Editor are posted and archived on JN Online:
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It Is Our Jerusalem
Photos by Bi ll Hansen
R
arely in modern history has
the question of who owns
Jerusalem been so vividly
in the forefront of world
attention. The visit this week of Pope
John Paul II to the Holy Land merely
underlines the complexity of this most
passionately felt question.
For more than 3,000 years,
we have looked to Jerusalem
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as the fountainhead of our
s
belief in a covenant with God. .2
0...
We remember it in our
prayers as the eternal symbol
of the fact that we were cho-
sen above all tribes to light the
way to a better world for all humanity.
In exile, we promised ourselves "next
,,
year.
Only in the last half century have
we been able to dream that next year
has come. When Israel's soldiers
walked through the gates of the old
city of Jerusalem on July 6, 1967, we
saw the dream had become real.
We understand how Jerusalem pulls
Christian and Moslem alike. Their
desire is simple: assurance that they
can come and go freely to the places
where their savior or prophet had their
most ecstatic union with their god.
We believe there can never be a true
peace for Jews until Christians and
Moslems are convinced that access is
unshakably guaranteed.
And we Jews must be the guaran-
tors, for no one else has the right to
do so. The other religions make claims
to a place where something happened.
They do not claim those events creat-
ed a title to the land that is as eternal-
ly binding as the one we hold.
This is good, because it means that
with a fair will on all sides, the needs
can be satisfied. If Christians and
Moslems are willing to renounce a
purely geographic, territorial claim
linked to a civil government, surely
the Jewish people of Eretz Yisroel and
of the diaspora both can bind them-
selves to enforceable guarantees about
the uses of these holy places.
Jerusalem need not be divided
politically or governmentally in order
to create the conditions of access that
can satisfy the reasonable needs of
other religions. Indeed, such a division
would only assure continuing strife, as
each side would jockey for the mar-
ginal advantage of a street here, a
square there.
As the news stories in this issue
IN FOCUS
Related stories: beginning on page 6
Related commentary page 39
disclose, a de facto co-existence
already is in place. Arabs, Jews,
Christians and Moslems get on with
their daily lives, even if they are not
regular dinner partners
because of religious and
cultural differences,
because they know the
alternative would be mad-
ness.
As the momentum for a
peace pact with the Palestin-
ian Authority grows, extrem-
ists on all sides are heightening their
demands. Ultimately, they will have to
explain why they think unrelenting
confrontation is a better course than
that of reasoning together toward an
agreement that will meet the legiti-
mate territorial, security and spiritual
needs of all the parties.
Pernicious Ideas
As the accompanying commentary by
Jonathan Tobin explains, the idea of a
divided Jerusalem is gaining intellectu-
al currency. Tobin is right to worry
about the State Department's Arabist
tilt and even more to worry about the -
notion gaining some Jewish sponsors.
As the peace process becomes re-
energized, we need to provide some
pretty intensive re-education to
explain to the American majority why
we cannot ever start down a path that
would compromise our absolute claim
to the-city. Our leaders know what
they have to do — and the sooner
they get on with it, the better.
At the.same time, we think it might
be an excellent idea to do more to
reinforce to our children why we can-
not compromise on this issue. We can
envision our day, congregational and
supplemental schools organizing a spe-
cial day before the end of the academ-
ic year to review'the history and
meaning of this first shining city on
the hill. Perhaps the American Jewish
Committee or a local outreach group,
such as the Jewish Community Coun-
cil, would be willing to provide speak-
ers.
We dare not assume that our chil-
dren understand the centrality of
Jerusalem to Jewish identity. Now is
the time to make sure. El
Up With Song
Debbie Friedman's songwriting and singing talents commanded the spotlight in
a family Purim concert at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield
on Sunday. Above, the Los Angeles-based singer performs. Below, Dawn Isaac
of Waterford and daughters Sarah, 8, right, and Shea, 11, take in the show,
which drew a sellout audience of more than 650 people to Handleman Hall
and Auditorium. The concert was part of the JCC Julius Chajes/Encore Con-
cert Series in cooperation with Temple Israel.
3/24
2000
37