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We Will Not Forget the Importance of Jerusalem

(Jerusalem Post) David Jablinowitz - There is much misunderstanding about the centrality of Jerusalem to Judaism. At Jewish weddings, the common practice is for the groom to state: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy" (Psalms 137). Many years ago I interviewed MK Yossi Beilin, an architect of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians who later became chairman of the Meretz party, on Jerusalem Day. He told me, "Jerusalem is historically the center of the Jewish world. There is no denying that. Promoting a peace accord with the Palestinians...does not contradict that." In the aftermath of the Six-Day War, there was a surge in Jewish identity and in the feeling that Israel was the place to be. It didn't mean you were an extremist. It meant that you knew you were witnessing a modern-day miracle. You knew that your ancestors could only pray in the direction of Jerusalem and could only put up a picture of the Western Wall on their living room wall to remind them that Jerusalem was in that direction. You, on the other hand, could now put your hands on the stones of the Western Wall. This is Jerusalem Day. The writer is the op-ed editor of the Jerusalem Post.
2023-05-18 00:00:00
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