oints of view

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Essay

Our Jerusalem

Historic Jewish capital tugs earnestly at your Jewish soul.

From Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, you capture a stunning view of the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock and the Old City walls.

Jerusalem, Israel

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The Jewish world will pay tribute to
Jerusalem's reunification this Sunday, May
17, during Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem
Day — an annual holiday.

ur journey toward Jerusalem,
holiest of Israel's four holy cit-
ies, began in the Judean Desert,
City Of Contrasts
home to 1,000 species of flowers, Bedouin
sheep and goat herders, a glimpse of the
Jerusalem is a city of history and hustle as
Dead Sea along the Jordan border, and
well as ruins and traffic — with 800,000
mountains, cliffs and chalk hills that stir
residents, 300,000 in the mostly Arab east-
your meditative yearning.
ern neighborhoods.
The road sign signaling Maale Adumim,
It's Israel's largest, poorest, most eclectic
the largest Israeli settlement in the West
city.
Bank with a population of 40,000, tips
Spirituality flows in the Old City, whose
you off that Jerusalem, Israel's
defensive walls and city gates
majestic, contentious, united
date to the late 16th century
NW-
capital, is nearing.
and Ottoman rule. The Old
As you "ascend" into
City boasts a Muslim Quarter, a
Christian Quarter and smaller
Jerusalem, in deference to the
sacred kingdom it once was
Jewish and Armenian quarters.
part of, and go through the
The Western Wall, Church
Naomi Shemer Mount Scopus
of the Holy Sepulchre and
Tunnel, the Jerusalem stone of
Al Aqsa Mosque are within
this biblical hilltop center of
this third of a square mile.
religious life reveals itself with
Shofar blasts share the Israeli
Robert Sklar
arresting vistas of the Temple
soundtrack
with church bells
Contributing
and
the
Muslim
call to prayer.
Mount, the Old City walls and
Editor
The golden Dome of the
the Mount of Olives cemetery.
Rock marks where Muslims
You see neighborhoods of
the Arab-dominated eastern sector of
believe Muhammad rose toward heaven
Jerusalem, which the Palestinians eye as
in the seventh century — and where it is
the capital for their hoped-for state, as well believed Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac.
as the historic splendor and new develop-
The Old City grips you regardless of
ment in the Jewish-dominated western
how many times you touch the limestone
expanse. In the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel blocks, walk the cobblestones, explore the
captured east Jerusalem, which had been
tunnels, enter Jaffa Gate or pray at the
under Jordan's control since Israeli state-
Western Wall, the relatively small western
hood in 1948.
segment of the walls surrounding the

Temple Mount, located on Mount Moriah.
King David defeated the Jebusites
more than 3,000 years ago by declar-
ing Jerusalem the capital of the Israelite
nation. Ruling forces have come and gone
— Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans,
Byzantines, Crusaders, Muslims, Ottoman
Turks and British. Jews have had a pres-
ence here for nearly 2,000 years and have
been the majority since the 1840s.
Independence Hall in Tel Aviv is where
David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israeli
statehood on May 14, 1948. But it's
Jerusalem where you'll find the Knesset,
the Israeli Supreme Court, the Israel
Museum, Hadassah Hospital and Hebrew
University.
I love to cite the closing of song-
writer Naomi Shemer's pulsating ballad
"Jerusalem of Gold":
"Yerushalayim all of gold
Yerushalayim bronze and light
Within my heart I shall treasure
Your song and sight:'

Mount Of Awe
The security barrier along the seam
zone between Israel and the Palestinian-
controlled West Bank was evident as
Temple Israel of West Bloomfield's
three buses of 120 mission-goers passed
through the Jerusalem checkpoint on
April 28. We headed to the Mount Scopus
overlook at Hebrew University for a pan-
oramic view of the old (remnants of the
King Herod-improved Second Temple)
and the new (Mamilla open-air mall where

we shopped); archaeological digs and
building projects run parallel.
It was here, to Mount Scopus, we had
come to say the Shehecheyanu, the bless-
ing to fete very special moments — and
to exude our love for Eretz Yisrael, the
biblical land of our forebears that included
the modern state as well as the West Bank,
biblically called Judea and Samaria.
Together we were awestruck, exhilarated
that we, as Jews, were truly home — at
one with the Jewish people.
Led by Rabbis Harold Loss and Paul
Yedwab and Cantor Michael Smolash, we
sang the Shehecheyanu, danced the hora,
sang "Oseh Shalom" and clapped in joy
at our alluring surroundings. We had a
long day of tour and travel, beginning in
the Upper Galilee. Yet suddenly, we were
energized.
Atop Mount Scopus, Loss shared how,
years ago, congregants Sarah and Irving
Pitt gave $10,000 to Temple Israel with the
proviso that anyone on an adult mission
who didn't relish it could seek a refund.
After 10 years, the money, still intact, went
into a temple scholarship fund.
"The Pitts had a love of life and of
Israel:' the rabbi said. "And the lesson they
taught was to always set aside dollars to
help take care of others:'

Life Changing
The mood among mission-goers was
mixed on whether Israel should give up
the eastern sector in negotiations with
the Palestinians — I've long championed
Our Jerusalem on page 48

May 14 • 2015 47