The oneness of Jerusalem
Jerusalem, painting by Ruth Mayer
Every Jew however, is passionate about the city, even the Jew who may never have physically set foot there or breathed its air, for mystically every Jew knows Jerusalem, every Jew’s mind’s eye view of the holy city is a reality.
Robert Stone’s novel, “Damascus Gate”, describes it as the place “where the destiny of man was written, where words of fire were made flesh, where prophecy uttered in remote millennia determined the morning”.
It is the place “where the past, present and future intersect into one continuous entity that makes the holy city quite different from anywhere on earth. Metaphorically speaking – Jerusalem is the mountain that touches heaven.”
The holiness of Jerusalem accompanied the Jew through history, even in exile.
The Jew lived and died for Jerusalem. Not just one holy site there, but the whole city. All of Jerusalem is the Jewish holy site.
When the city was divided, our heart was torn. When synagogues, study houses and cemeteries were desecrated, even God joined us in our tears.
The world did not quite understand then, but it must now. Especially the Christian world, which knows the Biblical texts about Jerusalem and the end of days when all mankind will come there to the mountain of the House of the Lord.
They may not all know the mystique of Jerusalem as we do, but they must not allow the oneness of the city to be again compromised.
