A cynosure of Torah, of art, of justice, of mercy, of sparking children and wizened elders, of poets and politicians, the wealthy and the poor, museums, monuments . . .
If you were born in 1991, you grew up with 9/11 — and with a unified Jerusalem.
If you were born in 1981, you grew up with Bill Clinton — and with a unified Jerusalem.
If you were born in 1971, you grew up with the explosion of the Challenger — and with a unified Jerusalem.
If you were born in 1951, not to mention earlier, you grew up with a divided Jerusalem, an occupied Jerusalem, a denied Jerusalem.
Forty-nine years ago this Sunday, this unexpectedly, spectacularly, wordlessly changed.
For the first time in 19 years, Jews were allowed to pray at the Western Wall. For the first time in 1,897 years, Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish people, was under the control of the Jewish people. The unrealized yearnings of poets, the unfulfilled prayers of sages, the fantasies and dreams of Jews far and wide, suddenly exploded into reality. The soldiers who captured the Old City of Jerusalem and liberated the Western Wall —secular, war-hardened soldiers — wept. Unbelieving. Struck with emotions they did not know they had. Overwhelmed by depths of Jewish identity they did not know they had.
Jerusalem is a blessing, a gift, a beauty, a sacred trust, a bustling metropolis, a cynosure of Torah, of art, of justice, of mercy, of sparkling children and wizened elders, of poets and politicians, of the fabulously wealthy and the dirt poor, of museums and monuments and glorious sunsets. Whatever your age, let us celebrate Jerusalem’s unification this Sunday —and never take her for granted.
Copyright © 2016 by the Intermountain Jewish News
