metro >> analysis & opinion
"But when you go
over the Jordan, and
dwell in the land
which the Lord your
God causeth you to
inherit, and He giveth
you rest from all your
enemies round about,
so that ye dwell in
safety."
Jerusalem-born
Michal Galazan
Korman shows a
pho of her father,
AmiA, yho fought
on behalf`of Israel.
- Deuteronomy 12:10
Celebrate Jerusalem!
On Yom Yerushalayim, Jews affirm their eternal capital.
I
t's a political briar patch and perhaps
the major sticking point to any Israeli-
Palestinian peace agreement. It's the
eternal, indivisible capital of the Jewish
people — the centerpiece of Jewish iden-
tity.
It's Jerusalem, mentioned hundreds of
times in the Tanach, the Hebrew Bible.
Typically, diaspora
Jews "ascend" to
Jerusalem, a testimonial
to the kingdom it once
was part of, through the
Naomi Shemer Mount
Scopus Tunnel leading
from the Jordan Valley.
The late
As the Jerusalem stone of
Naomi Shemer, this ancient hilltop city
composer of
of immense biblical
"Jerusalem of
meaning unfolds, you
Gold"
scramble to take it all in
— the historic grandeur,
the spiritual tug, the Jewish resilience.
You arrive awestruck.
Jerusalem, the holiest of Israel's four
holy cities, is surreal: exhilarating, cap-
tivating, inspiring, humbling. The city
is a bustling and diverse city of 800,000
people — Israel's largest metropolis and its
poorest. It's religiously significant to Jews,
Christians and Muslims, with the Western
Wall, Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the
Al Aqsa Mosque all within the same square
mile. The Muslim call to prayer, church
bells and shofar blasts give the city a rich
cacophony.
The city includes 200,000 Arabs, many
of whom live in the eastern
Southfield resident Michal
sector and imagine this portion
Galazan Korman's Jerusalem-
of the city as the capital of a
born parents, Rachel and Amiel
new Palestinian state that also
Galazan, came to America in
would include part of the West
1969, intending to stay two
Bank and all of the Gaza Strip.
years as shlichim, Israel emissar-
It's precisely this contentious-
ies. With two young daughters,
ness that makes the holiday of
including Michal, they lived
Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem
briefly in Seattle before moving
Day, so conflicting for Jews
a year later to Detroit, where
Rober t Sklar
and Arabs alike. This year, the
the economic outlook was bet-
Contri buting
holiday falls on May 8. It com-
ter and where they had another
Edi for
daughter. Locally, Amiel was
memorates reunification of
a Jewish educator; Rachel was
Jerusalem and establishment of
a nurse at Sinai Hospital of
Israeli control over the Old City
Detroit, training originally in Israel. Amiel,
as a result of the Six-Day War in 1967.
After the 1967 ceasefire on June 7, Israeli a veteran of the Six-Day War, died at age 59
Defense Minister Moshe Dayan declared,
in 1997; Rachel lives locally.
"We have returned to the holiest of our
Korman clings to her ancestral roots in
places, never to part from it again:'
Jerusalem, a unique city she insists is non-
Dayan promised "full
negotiable in terms of any peace treaty.
religious freedom and
"When you go to Jerusalem today,"
rights to Christian and
Korman says, "you see Arabs and Jews
Muslim fellow citizens:'
sharing the city in every way. Both peoples
He added, "We did not use the bus system, the trains, the roads,
come to Jerusalem for
the malls, the public services — and it is
the sake of other people's
peaceful:'
holy places and not to
Turf Battles
interfere with the adher-
Moshe Dayan
Some Jews who embrace keeping
ents of other faiths, but
in order to safeguard its
Jerusalem whole under Israeli gover-
entirety and to live there together with oth-
nance still elect to de-emphasize Yom
ers — in unity:'
Yerushalayim as a day of celebration
Psalms 122:3, often recited on Yom
because of political and emotional over-
Yerushalayim, relates a similar theme:
tones. Others, myself included, don't
"Jerusalem, that art builded as a city that is
believe the Jewish-Arab conflict neces-
compact together" — a city uniting all.
sitates dividing Jerusalem or underplaying
its unity.
That's not to say some sort of agreement
couldn't be reached giving Arabs some
autonomy and uplifting identity within the
heavily Arab portion of the Israeli city. This
long has been the position of the Jewish
News. Israel hardly wants to discredit the
city's connection to Islamic-Christian reli-
gious history.
Jerusalem's eastern sector was under
Jordanian control from Israeli statehood
in 1948 until the city was reunited in the
Six-Day War of 1967, a war triggered by
Arab aggression. During that time, Jews
were banned from the Old City and denied
worship at the Western Wall. Also, the holy
city of Hebron and Rachel's Tomb were off
limits to Jews.
Reunification was a prize of Israel's vic-
tory in war. It's not something to be cast
about as a bargaining chip. Israel's 1980
Jerusalem Law upheld the 1967 annexation
that united the city.
Golden Backdrop
Ever since King David defeated the
Jebusites and declared Jerusalem the capi-
tal of the Israelite nation more than 3,000
years ago, the city has been the interna-
tional capital of the Jewish people.
As I walked its cobblestones, explored its
ruins, experienced its museums, savored its
heritage and prayed at the only remaining
segment of the retaining wall of the Temple
Mount last year as part of a synagogue mis-
sion, I realized why Naomi Shemer, one of
Israel's most revered songwriters, penned
Celebrate on page 24
22
May 2 • 2013