Jerusalem: A Modern Miracle

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On Saturday night and Sunday
we will celebrate Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day celebrating the reunification
of Jerusalem in
1967.

 

The reestablishment of the
State of Israel in 1948 and the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 can be looked at as modern
day miracles.

 

Rabbi Doron Perez, head of
the World Mizrachi Movement in Jerusalem
points out how miraculous it is that the Jews survived the exile from 70 CE to
1948. Rabbi Yaakov Emden says that the survival of the Jews in the horrific
galut (both physically and spiritually) may be an even greater miracle than the
exodus from Egypt.

 

Yet Rabbi Perez explains that
the former miracles of the exile were hidden miracles of a people struggling to
survive amidst tragedies and difficulties while the miracles of returning to
the Land of Israel and returning to Jerusalem
are even greater open miracles of triumph and redemption as the Jews began to
thrive in their own land.

 

While Yom Haatzmaut marks our
national freedom, Yom Yerushalayim , the day that we returned to the Temple Mount,
The Kotel and the Old City marks our spiritual
freedom.

 

The question now is how we
appreciate the miracle of the return to Jerusalem.
Are we taking advantage of the opportunity to pray at the Kotel? The past few
years I was at the Kotel for Shacharit on Yom Yerushalayim with Religious
Zionist students from all over the county yet on a regular basis it is mostly
the Charedi community that takes advantage of the opportunity to pray there.
Although the Temple Mount is technically “in
our hands”, Jews are still being arrested for trying to pray there. Since
September there have been many stabbings and attempted stabbings within the
walls of the Old City (Lion’s Gate, Damascus Gate etc.).
If Jerusalem is
truly united, Jews should be able to walk freely throughout the city.

 

May we merit the miraculous
time when Jerusalem
will become truly united, where people of all religions will be able to pray at
their holiest sites and walk the streets without fear.

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