Dateline Jerusalem — The Hebrew word for heat wave is sharav. The more familiar Mideastern term to describe the unbearably hot dusty winds that accompany temperatures between 95 and 105 degrees is khamsin. Israelis know that means air conditioners 24/7, driving instead of walking, staying indoors. It is chokingly hot, dry, a time when forest fires rage throughout the country. It is a hot time that often leads to unrest from Arabs bent on the destruction of Israel and the establishment of Jerusalem as their capital. Yet this is a joyous time when Israelis celebrate the holiday of Shavuot, and Jerusalem Day when Jews wave flags, sings songs, parade through Jerusalem to the Kotel (Wailing Wall or Western Wall), the holiest site in Judaism, the only remnant of the Holy Temple.
The holiday of Shavuot commemorates G-d giving the Torah (Bible) to the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai 50 days after the Exodus from Egypt, over 3300 years ago. It is a time to stay up all night learning in synagogue and attending lectures and discussions on Torah. We stand and read the Ten Commandments in synagogue, the first 10 of 613 commandments given by G-d to the Jewish people. We read from the Book of Ruth, the most notable convert to Judaism, the great-grandmother of King David whose descendant will be Moshiach (Messiah). It is traditional to serve cheese dishes on Shavuot since the first meal after receiving the Torah was a dairy meal. What can be better to celebrate this occasion than various delectable cherry and blueberry cheese cakes, sweet cheese blintzes, cheese lasagna, fettuccine alfredo, and eggplant mozzarella, my favorite dishes. Like most Jewish holidays, the food is symbolic of the holiday.
It is most appropriate that Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem after Israel’s capture of the Old City in the 1967 Mideast war, a war forced upon the State of Israel by its attacking Arab neighbors, occurs around the time of Shavuot. It is significant that the 1967 war lasted only six days, reminiscent of the creation of G-d’s world, which was created in six days. Just as the miracle of creation and G-d’s resting on the seventh day, this was the miracle of tiny Israel overcoming surrounding Arab armies in six days. The number of miracles that enabled Israelis to overcome the odds against them is staggering. Israel’s planes reached the many Egyptian airfields without being detected by Egypt. Although the Jordanian army detected them, there was a problem in the code words used when they tried to notify the Egyptians. Thanks to G-d, Israel won the war against all odds.
Over 3,000 years ago, in 1004 BCE, King David established Jerusalem as the capital of the Kingdom of Israel, the eternal capital of the Jewish people. Jerusalem is mentioned 667 times in the Torah, not once in the Koran. Until the 10th century, it was referred to as Siyyun (Arabic for Zion) and Beit Al-Makdis (Arabic for the Hebrew Beit HaMikdash, the holy Jewish Temple) by Muslims. In the 13th century, Yakut, an Arab biographer, wrote “Mecca is holy to Muslims, and Jerusalem to the Jew.” Yet the Arab world has brainwashed the rest of the world into believing that the Jews have no claim to Jerusalem and that Jerusalem should be the capital of a new Palestinian state. Although Muslims controlled Jerusalem at times, they never made it their capital. Jordan ruled Jerusalem from 1949-1967, the Mamelukes and the Ottoman Turks ruled in the seventh century. Interesting to note that Arabs did not come to Jerusalem until the seventh century, 2,300 years after the Jews, when the Muslims invaded the area. Jerusalem never has been the seat of government for “Palestinians” or any Muslims. Jews are the only people who ever considered Jerusalem as its capital.
Jerusalem is the essence of the Jewish people. For thousands of years Jews have prayed towards Jerusalem and the Temple Mount while Muslims pray with their faces toward Mecca and their backs to Jerusalem. Jews break a glass at weddings in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem, hoping for the rebuilding of the Holy Temple. Every year at Pesach (Passover) we say, “Next year in Jerusalem.” The holiest sites for Jews are in and around Jerusalem. As the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel, Ben Gurion, said, “We shall not give up any part of Jerusalem willingly…the nation that has kept faith for over 2,500 years to the covenant that was made to those who were first exiled by the rivers of Babylon — not to forget Jerusalem.” This was reiterated by Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu when he said, “Only a democratic Israel has protected freedom of worship for all faiths in the city. Jerusalem must never again be divided. Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel.” When Moshe Dayan liberated Jerusalem in 1967 he stated, “We did not come to Jerusalem to conquer the Holy Places of others, and not to interfere with the adherents of other faiths, but in order to safeguard its entirety, and to live there with others, in unity.”
Jerusalem cannot be divided. Only under Israeli rule has there been freedom of worship for all religions. Jewish holy sites, when under Muslim rule, have been desecrated, turned into chicken coops and animal stalls. Synagogues have been destroyed, holy objects looted and burned, graves desecrated, tombstones used as latrines and smashed to pave roads. So many Jewish holy sites are in “East Jerusalem” and the areas claimed by the usurping Palestinians. Israel has been called an apartheid state, yet Arabs living within Israel are granted Israeli citizenship while the Palestinians have declared their Palestinian state to be Judenfrei (free from Jews), just like the Nazis. While negotiating with Israel during “peace talks,” the Palestinians refuse to recognize the State of Israel, and they demand its extermination. Yet the U.S. and Europe are forcing this belligerent Palestinian state down Israel’s throat, choking out G-d’s promise to the Jewish people. Despite left wing politicians and the “Opposition” to Bibi’s new government, 92 percent of Israelis believe in keeping Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel.
As Israelis celebrated Jerusalem Day at the beginning of the week and will observe Shavuot after Shabbat, we are cognizant and thankful for all the miracles and wonders given to us by G-d.
L’hitraot. Shachar