from the heart of jerusalem: rabbi binny freedman

Joyful 49 for 3,000 year old city; Jerusalem again celebrates its unity, may it be forever

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Yom Yerushalayim, which commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem following the Six-Day War in June 1967, 49 years ago, is observed on 28 Iyar (this year, June 5). Jewish Star columnist Rabbi Binny Freedman is based in the Old City, where he is rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Orayta.

My earliest memory of Jerusalem was in the summer of 1968. My parents were leading a group of teenagers to Israel and my older brother and I were along for the ride. I was 5 years old, and I can still remember getting off the bus and walking to the Kotel. I could not understand why my mother was crying; it was the first time I had seen someone crying tears of joy. Her response to my query: “Because we have finally come home.”

Home. Such a powerful word, especially for a people that has wandered the face of the globe for so long.

What makes this city so special?

Some will say its history — here the prophets walked, King David dreamed of the Temple his son Solomon finally built, and, according to Jewish tradition, Abraham was prepared to offer Isaac upon the altar.

Some will say it is its diversity, as people from all backgrounds and faiths converge and find their place in this holy city. Just the other day as I was walking through the Jaffa gate, I passed groups from no less than 17 different countries and nationalities before I reached the steps to the Kotel.

“Amim har yavo’u” (“Nations will come from all over the world to this mountain”) said the Prophet, and here we are 2,800 years later living the dream.

All over the world Jews pray facing Israel. In Israel, Jews pray facing Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, Jews pray facing the Old City. In the Old City, they face the Temple Mount. On the Temple Mount, Jews pray facing the exact spot were the Temples once stood.

All the way back in the Song of the Sea sung by the Jewish people after G-d spilt the sea, we sang of the “Temple of G-d prepared by your hands…” Jerusalem ultimately became our holiest city because it housed the Temple. And what was that Temple? 

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