Jerusalem is the Capital of the Jewish People and only the Capital of the Jewish People.
Jerusalem is the Capital of the modern State of Israel.
The city is located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern edge of the Dead Sea.
Jerusalem is a holy city to the three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
King David Ben Yishai (970-1040 BCE) established Jerusalem as the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel in 1000 BCE, and his son, King Solomon commissioned the building of the First Temple in the city.
Though, Jerusalem, after the death of Jesus had become holy for Christianity and in later years, somewhat a focal point for Islam. Jerusalem has never ever been any other nation’s Capital. It has always been the Jewish People’s Capital.
In 70 CE, under Titus, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and burned the Temple, decidedly ending the Great Jewish Revolt against the Roman rule that had begun four years earlier. The Western Wall is part of what survived King Herod’s complex, the last man to have ruled the Kingdom of Judea.
After Islam came to be, one Caliph after another established presence in the city and in stages have built the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the ruins of the destroyed Jewish Temple.
Though the Romans destroyed the 2nd temple and expelled the Jews from their Homeland, nonetheless, some Jews remained living in their Holy City. In fact, history attests that Jews inhabited Jerusalem in continuity and the city was never devoid of Jewish presence.
Jerusalem is not only the Jews’ Holy City. Jerusalem is not only the Capital of Israel. It is also the heart of the Jewish People.
Yet, in 1949, when the Jews fought the Arabs, in their War of Independence, they could not defend and hold to the Old City, where their Holiest, Temple Mount and the Western Wall are located.
For nineteen long years, the Old City of Jerusalem was in Arab hands and Jews were not allowed to go pray there. The Jewish Nation’s heart was broken in half. In one chamber, Jewish blood was flowing fast. The Israeli-Jews were building their Capital, expending it beyond the ancient wall. The new part of the city was gurgling with a Jewish presence and became the official Capital of the State of Israel, the official home to the State of Israel’s government.
The city other chamber, the Old City, just across the cease fire lines was forbidden to Jews and no Jewish blood was flowing through it. That part of the Jewish heart needed mending.
This mending came, rather as a surprise. In 1967, at the end of the Six Day War, Jews were praying at the Western Wall. History was made. The Jewish heart was finally mended. Jerusalem was unified under the State of Israel rule.
The Arabs who illegally occupied the Old City of Jerusalem for nineteen years, now want the make what they call “east” Jerusalem, their Capital. It breaks the Jewish heart again.
Large part of the international community supports this idea, deliberately ignoring the depth of the spiritual calamity such division will cause. But the Arabs know what such division will do. Dividing Jerusalem is part of their ongoing large scheme to try break the Jewish Nation’s spirit, thus get closer to destroy its Homeland, the State of Israel.
In her song, ‘Jerusalem of Gold,’ Nomi Shemer, the late Israeli songwriter, captured all the feelings Jews have for their Holy Capital City, Jerusalem.
Shemer wrote the original song for the Israeli Music Festival of May 15, 1967, a celebration of Israel’s 19th Independence Day. At that time, the Old City was still under the Arab-Jordanian rule, Jews had been barred from entering it and many Jewish holy sites had been desecrated.
Three weeks after the song was published, the Six-Day War broke. Not knowing what in store, the song became a battle cry and morale booster for the Israeli troops getting ready to fight a war of unknown outcome. Shemer even sang it for the troops before the war broke and before it was sang officially at the festival, making the IDF among the first in the world to hear its golden words.
When, on June 7, the Israel Defense Forces captured the eastern part of Jerusalem and the Old City from the Jordanians, Shemer heard the paratroopers singing her song “Jerusalem of Gold” at the Western Wall. She then added a final verse, reversing the phrases of lamentation. The Old City was returned to its owner and there was no more need to long for it and weep (Lyrics: http://www.jerusalemofgold.co.il/translations.html).
The state of Israel has done a great job keeping the entire City of Jerusalem safe and open to all the religions’ worshippers.
Let us sing, Jerusalem of gold, and of bronze, and of light, behold I am a violin for all your songs.
Jerusalem is the heart of the Jewish People, it must not be broken.
Just as no one’s heart should be divided – or broken – neither will Jerusalem be the Capital City for two People. It is the undivided Capital of the Jewish Nation only, for infinity.
Ofra Haza Yerushalaim Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold) subbed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlIJOAZ1pak
