Happy 40th Birthday Jerusalem!

Some of the greatest days of my life have been spent in the “holy city.”  Exactly 17 years ago, I met my wife Melissa at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.  Since then I have been back and forth to Israel numerous times, including the years I lived there for Cantorial school.  “Ein k’mo yerushalayim – there is no place like Jerusalem!”

Our davening is filled with references to Yerushalayim.  In the daily amidah we recite “Velirushalayim Ircha – Jerusalem, your city” three times each day.  At the pinnacle of a bride and groom’s joy, we recite “Im Eskachech Yerushalayim…if I forget thee Jerusalem” just before breaking the glass – a symbol of mourning for the destruction of the “Beit Hamikdash, our Holy Temple.”  After a full day of fasting on Yom Kippur and at the conclusion of the Pesach seder, we sing “L’shana Haba’a B’yerushalayim – next year in Jerusalem.”  In the grace after meals – birkat hamazon, we say “u’venei yerushalayim ir hakodesh bimhera veyamenu – rebuild Jerusalem, the Holy City, speedily in our days.”  Above all, we pray facing east, always directing our prayers towards Jerusalem. 

The nusach (liturgy) is continuously making reference to Jerusalem.  It is therefore fitting that we celebrate Jerusalem’s 40th year as a unified city.  On May 16th, we will commemorate Yom Yerushalayim, marking forty years since the reunification of Jerusalem following the six day war.  Forty years ago, Jerusalem was a divided city, including the old city which was controlled by the Jordanians.  During the period from 1948 to 1967, Jordanian political control led to the complete denial of Jewish religious access to the holy places of Judaism. After the fall of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem in 1948, its Jewish inhabitants were expelled; fifty-eight of its synagogues were either destroyed or desecrated by being used as stables by the Palestinian Arabs. The great domed Hurva Synagogue and Porat Yosef Yeshivah were among those that were blasted into rubble. Hundreds of tombstones from the old Jewish cemeteries on the Mount of Olives were pulled out and used for paving roads or even for latrines. Indeed, neither Jewish nor Muslim Israelis were permitted to visit their holy places. Jews who were citizens of other countries were also denied the right to visit the Western Wall.

Imagine a Jerusalem where you could not go to the Kotel and walk through the cobblestone streets of the Old City.  Picture a Jerusalem were the King David Hotel was on the Jordanian border.  We have come so far in forty years.  The Rabbis teach that there is a "Yerushalayim shel mata," the modern city of today, and a "Yerushalayim shel mala," a holy and spiritual Jerusalem.  May the Jerusalem of today continue to be the eternal capital of Israel and the Jewish people and may the spiritual Jerusalem continue to guide is in our prayers as we strive for the ultimate redemption.  On May 16th, pray for peace in the Holy City of Yerushalayim – and give thanks for this precious jewel.

Cantor Eric Moses