Jerusalem...Reflections After My Trip

Friday night sermon/January 6^th

“Thus says the Lord: I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand for every age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”

This vision was written by the prophet Zechariah after the Babylonian exile. Yet it rings true for anyone who has been in Jerusalem in our own time. The city has a nature unlike any modern capital of a modern state. With the Old City in its midst, there is definitely a sense of holiness that abounds. As I walked through a narrow tunnel in the Old City last week, after leaving the excavations of the original city of David, I saw the bedrock upon which the original Kotel (wall) surrounding the Temple had been built. I also saw the large hewn stones resting on the bedrock that had supported the southern wall protecting the Temple Mount, a portion that can no longer be seen above ground. I was struck by the massive nature of the stones and the amount of labor that went into constructing the wall. It was obvious that it had held a place of great importance in the life of those who labored to make it a reality for the people of Israel. When I came to the end of the tunnel, I emerged into the daylight and found myself hearing the sounds of multiple services being held near the Kotel and near Robinson’s Arch. There were Bar and Bat Mitzvah ceremonies galore. There were some with men and women davening together. There were Bar Mitzvah ceremonies with men and boys being watched by women and girls standing on chairs looking over the side of a mechitzah. There was also a minyan of women donning tallitot who were reading Torah and raising their voices in song. Jubilation filled the every nook and cranny of the space while Torahs were being carried and read. Everyone’s voices filled the air on that particular Monday morning, and there was no doubt that holiness was in that spot!

Old men and old women do fill the streets in Jerusalem. They are tending babies in carriages, watching children playing in the parks, and making their way down crowded streets carrying bags of groceries. Some are independently manning the stores and shops. Others are being cared for by personal attendants who look after their safety and well-being. As I met them on the streets I wondered if I would have the physical strength to walk the hills and cobblestones when I become their age.

Children are also everywhere! They are noisy, lively, and extremely joyous. Some go to public schools that are secular in nature, some go to public schools that are religious in nature. Yet in the parks they all play together, those with tzizit hanging out of their clothes and those without, those with long skirts covering their legs and those wearing leggings. The language of play bridges the external differences.

I was thrilled to be in Jerusalem over the last two days of Chanukah because it made the miracle of Jewish presence in this land a reality. As Abby, Yehoshua, and I took their little ones through the winding alleyways of Nachalaot, there were chanukiyot glowing outside the houses for all to see. Informal groups gathered together singing Chanukah songs while various individuals strummed their guitars and played their drums. It was obvious that the spirit of a faithful remnant had filled the area in which we walked illuminating the darkness with their joyfulness as much as with the glow of their oil filled lamps.

Jerusalem is like no other place that I know. Israel is like no other place I know.

It was Abraham Joshua Heschel who wrote, “What is holy about the Holy Land? It is not only because its space is filled with frozen echoes of a voice heard in the past. Eretz Yisrael is a prelude, an anticipation. The Holy Land is regarded as the place where the divine plan of history can unfold its pristine and unique meaning. The land of Israel has been sanctified by the words of the prophets, by the suffering of a whole people, by the tears and prayers of thousands of years, by the labor and dedication of pioneers. ..The State of Israel is not only a place of refuge for the survivors of the holocaust, but also a tabernacle for the rebirth of faith and justice, for the renewal of souls, for the cultivation of knowledge of the words of the divine. By the power and promise of prophetic visions we inhabit the land, by faithfulness to G-d and Torah we continue to survive.”

I thank G-d that the prophetic visions are a reality for us today and hope and pray that we will all work to ensure that it will be reality for never-ending generations to come.

Amen.