Commentary
Asserting Jerusalem's Jewish heritage
New York/JTA
A
mong his many statements
related to Israel in the last
couple of weeks, President
Obama got at least one thing right
when he said at a London news
conference that Jerusalem goes
deep into how the Jewish
people think about their
identity.
As we marked 44 years
of a reunited Jerusalem
on June 1, we should
appreciate the centrality
of Jerusalem to Jewish
identity.
This is why most Israelis
and American Jews con-
sistently reject the idea
that Israel surrender
swaths of the holy city as
part of a peace deal with
the Palestinians.
Jerusalem has been a touchstone
of our identity throughout our his-
tory, and our contemporary experi-
ence gives Jerusalem a central place
in our faith today.
From the religious perspective,
when Jews pray, we face toward
Jerusalem — and the Temple Mount
in particular — no matter where we
are in the world. We pray each day
for the welfare of Jerusalem, and we
conclude our most sacred services,
Greenberg's View
the Passover seder and Neilah on
Yom Kippur, with the pledge and
prayer, "Next year in Jerusalem."
The King's Call
Historically, we regularly read bib-
lical accounts of our forefathers
and mothers that take place in and
around Jerusalem. King
David made the city his capi-
tal 3,000 years ago, and it
has been the national capital
of the Jewish people — and
no other nation — ever since.
Only brute force has kept
us out. Such was the case,
we must still recall, from
1948 to 1967, when Jews
were barred entry to the Old
City and denied worship at
the Western Wall during the
time that the West Bank was
controlled by Jordan.
Power Of One
Since Jerusalem's reunification in
1967, the city has been open to all.
As noted by Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu in his recent address to
Congress, "Only a democratic Israel
has protected freedom of worship for
all faiths."
Moreover, reunification has enabled
Jerusalem to flourish economically
and culturally. While it is a poorer
city than Tel Aviv, Jerusalem has a
vibrant tourist trade, entrepreneurial
businesses and first-rate theater and
museums.
Some, in Israel and elsewhere,
assert that Jerusalem can be easily
divided with minimal impact upon the
life of the city, let alone the sanctity
and safety of its holy places. Indeed,
there are neighborhoods, especially
those to the east of the West Bank
security barrier, where Jews seldom
venture.
But modern Jerusalem is far more
an interwoven checkerboard of
Jewish and Palestinian areas than
starkly segregated enclaves. The
Arab area of Beit Safafa lies between
the Jewish neighborhoods of Talpiot
and Gilo, while the Arab neighbor-
hood of Sheikh Jarrah lies between
the Old City and the Jewish neigh-
borhood of French Hill. Moreover, an
area like the City of David or Silwan
may have more Palestinian than
Jewish residents, but it is deeply
connected to Jewish history.
It is no more feasible to separate
the Palestinian and Jewish neigh-
borhoods of Jerusalem from one
another than to ethnically divide the
neighborhoods of Manhattan.
Forever United
Proponents of a "two-state solu-
tion" are wont to say that "everyone
knows" what the details of a deal
are. Those details
often include the
presumption that
Jerusalem will again
be divided and will
serve as the capital
of two states: Israel
and Palestine.
It is high time to
repudiate this pre-
sumption. The inter-
national community
would never expect
the Muslims to cede
sovereignty over
Mecca, the cradle of
their faith and his-
tory, any more than
Americans would
be asked to return
Philadelphia to the
queen of England.
The Jewish people
should be afforded
no less respect.
Jerusalem must
remain united under
Jewish sovereignty.
Days after the 1967 Six-Day War
and the reunification of Jerusalem,
one of the great leaders of religious
Zionism, Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Neriah,
wrote that the Jews were not wor-
thy to hold onto Jerusalem in 1948
because they were divided into many
factions.
"In 1967," he wrote, "we entered
the city through one gate, the Lions'
Gate, with one army, the IDF, under
one flag."
Of course, we Jews find ourselves
in many factions today. We must
fight on many fronts to assert the
Jewish heritage of Jerusalem. As
we reflect on this Jerusalem Day,
or Yom Yerushalayim, we must com-
mit ourselves to confronting those
who would redivide our capital from
without and to working to unify the
Jewish people from within.
We must do it for the sake of
Jerusalem. II
standing
guard •
Nathan
Diament
is director
of public
policy at the
Orthodox
Union.
For
Israel And
Our Jewish
Community
Contact members of Michigan's
congressional delegation and ask
them to co-sponsor resolutions
(in the House, H. Res. 268; in the
Senate, S. Res. 185) that call on
the Obama administration to lead
opposition to unilateral Palestinian
statehood efforts in the United
Nations. Only the path of direct
negotiations with Israel will lead to
a Palestinian state. The resolutions
also threaten a major change in U.S.
relations with the Palestinian Authority,
including a suspension of aid, if it accepts
an unreformed Hamas. Hamas must
renounce violence, accept Israel's right
to exist and abide by previous Israeli-
Palestinian agreements. Congressional
contact information is at: detroitjcrc.org/
get_involved/index.php?page=17834.
Prepared by Allan Gale, Jewish
Community Relations Council of
Metropolitan Detroit
@ June 9, 2011, Jewish Renaissance Media
June 9 2011
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