As Jerusalem Day begins, I share these reflections on the holy city \u2013 what it means and what it has meant to different people and different traditions.\u00a0 Like the city itself, the various comments both compliment and contradict each other.\u00a0 My personal reflections for this Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, will be posted later.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor three thousand years, Jerusalem has been the center of Jewish hope and longing. No other city has played such a dominant role in the history, culture, religion and consciousness of a people as has Jerusalem in the life of Jewry and Judaism. Throughout centuries of exile, Jerusalem remained alive in the hearts of Jews everywhere as the focal point of Jewish history, the symbol of ancient glory, spiritual fulfillment and modern renewal. This heart and soul of the Jewish people engenders the thought that if you want one simple word to symbolize all of Jewish history, that word would be \u2018Jerusalem.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 \u2014 Teddy Kollek<\/p>\n
\u201cTen measures of beauty descended to the world, nine were taken by Jerusalem.\u201d \u2014Talmud: Kiddushin 49b<\/p>\n
\u201cHere (Jerusalem), tears do not weaken the eyes, they only polish and shine the hardness of faces like stone.\u201d \u2014 Yehuda Amichai, Israeli poet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem<\/strong> of a lunatic asylum.\u201d\u00a0 Thomas Paine<\/p>\n “No people blessed as thine, no city like Jerusalem” -Christian Hymn<\/p>\n “One prayer in Jerusalem is worth 40,000 elsewhere.” -Islamic Saying<\/p>\n \u201cJerusalem is a festival and a lamentation. Its song is a sigh across the ages, a delicate, robust, mournful psalm at the great junction of spiritual cultures.\u201d \u2014 David K. Shipler, author and journalist<\/p>\n \u201cJerusalem will only be redeemed through [the merit of giving] charity.\u201d \u2014 Talmud: Shabbat 139a<\/p>\n \u201cThere are three gates to Gehinam (hell) \u2013 one of them is in Jerusalem.\u201d \u2014 Talmud: Eruvin 19a<\/p>\n \u201cPray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces.\u201d \u2014 Psalms 122:6-7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As Jerusalem Day begins, I share these reflections on the holy city \u2013 what it means and what it has meant to different people and different traditions.\u00a0 Like the city itself, the various comments both compliment and contradict each other.\u00a0 My personal reflections for this Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, will be posted later. \u201cFor three…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5,1],"tags":[104,105,108,109,107,45,12,106],"class_list":["post-881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-israel","category-jewish-holidays","category-judaism","category-politics","tag-jerusalem","tag-jerusalem-day","tag-jerusalem-in-christianity","tag-jerusalem-in-islam","tag-jerusalem-in-the-bible","tag-middle-east","tag-politics-2","tag-yom-yerushalayim"],"yoast_head":"\n