I

n this week’
s portion, the Torah 
seems to be speaking of the holy 
city of Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 
12:5-6) because it appears in 
the context of Israel’
s entry 
into the Promised Land and 
the necessity to destroy the 
altars of idolatry before estab-
lishing our Temple to God. 
But why is Jerusalem not 
named?
Maimonides offers expla-
nations. First, he felt that 
publication of the name of 
the unique city would only 
incite the other nations to 
make war against Israel in 
order to acquire Jerusalem 
for themselves. Second, the 
other nations might attempt 
to destroy the city if only so 
the Israelites do not acquire 
it. And finally, Moses feared 
all the tribes would fight over 
it, each desirous of having 
Jerusalem within its own bor-
ders.
I believe there is even further sig-
nificance behind Moses’
 reluctance to 
reveal the precise name of the city. In 
the ancient world, every nation-state 
had its own god who, the citizens 
believed, lived within the boundaries 
of that nation-state. Jerusalem was 
to be the city which would house the 
Holy Temple of God but God would 
exclusively dwell neither within the 
Temple nor within that city; God 
was the Lord of the entire universe, 
who could not be encompassed even 
by the heaven of the heavens, by the 
entire cosmos, so certainly not by a 
single structure or even a single city.
There is one place in the world, 
teaches Moses, where God has con-
sistently been recognized as the 
Creator of the world and foundation 
of ethical monotheism for all of 
humanity. One’
s name is not one’
s 
physical being, but one’
s name is the 
medium by which one is recognized 
and called upon. 

Malki-Zedek, ancient king of 
Jerusalem and identified with Shem, 
the son of Noah, recognized God 
as the power who enabled 
Abraham to emerge victorious 
in his battle against the four 
despotic kings and rescue 
Lot from captivity. Abraham 
himself recognized God as the 
ultimate arbiter over life and 
death, the one to whom we 
must commit ourselves and 
our future, when he brought 
his beloved son Isaac to 
the akedah on Mount Moriah 
(Jerusalem). God’
s name is 
on Jerusalem; it is the city 
in which the God of ethical 
monotheism is to be recog-
nized and served.
Finally, the name Jerusalem 
is not specifically mentioned 
because this recognition of 
God as the guardian of justice 
and compassion, lovingkind-
ness and truth is necessary not 
only for the people of Jerusalem, not 
only for all the tribes of Israel, but 
rather for the entire world. 
When God initially elects 
Abraham, the Almighty charges him 
and his descendants with a univer-
sal mission: “Through you all the 
families of Earth shall be blessed”
. 
(Genesis 12:3). 
The prophet Isaiah speaks of our 
vision of the end of days, when the 
Holy Temple will rise from the top of 
the mountains, and all nations will 
rush to it to learn from our ways: 
“From Zion shall come forth Torah 
and the word of God from Jerusalem 
… so that nation shall not lift up 
sword against nation and humanity 
will not learn war anymore.” 
May the God who cannot be con-
fined to any physical place reveal His 
teaching of peace and security from 
Jerusalem, His city, to every human 
being throughout the world. ■

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is chancellor of Ohr Torah 
Stone and chief rabbi of Efrat, Israel.

Rabbi
Shlomo Riskin

The City Of Peace
The City Of Peace

Parshat 

Re’
eh: 

Deuteronomy 

11:26-16:17; 

Numbers 

28:9-15; 

Isaiah

66:1-24.

(Shabbat 

Rosh 

Chodesh)

spirit

torah portion

August 29 • 2019 39
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