We all know that the city of Yerushalayim serves as the spiritual center of Judaism.
It is toward Jerusalem that we turn in prayer, and it is the physical site that we aspire to visit – and, for many, ultimately to call home. Blessedly, the city has achieved remarkable growth in recent years. Construction cranes are a near-permanent feature of the city’s skyline, and new neighborhoods and buildings are springing up almost faster than one can keep track.
It’s therefore somewhat perplexing, if not frustrating, that among a specific sector of the city’s population, specifically its secular residents, Jerusalem has been experiencing a mass exodus in recent years.
Perhaps from a purely economic perspective, this trend may bring with it certain benefits by opening up real estate for foreign investment and allowing many new people to realize their dream of purchasing a home in Jerusalem.
But this phenomenon also carries real risks and is representative of a broader challenge that must be addressed.
Historically, Jerusalem was chosen by King David as the capital of the Jewish dynasty not because it was necessarily the preferred location of his own tribe. For the tribe of Judah, the more natural and preferred choice would have been Hevron, which sat in the heart of the Judean lands. But David understood that if he were to be recognized as a king of all the Jewish people, a more unifying location was needed. Jerusalem, which sits at the meeting point of the kingdoms of Judah and Binyamin, was an ideal choice. Specifically, Har Habayit literally sits at the junction between these two kingdoms.
The profound message behind this decision, and one which brings us back to our 21st century challenge, was that a city of such remarkable significance to the identity of the Jewish people must reflect and respond to the needs and interests of all the segments of the population.
It was for that reason that we learn throughout the Talmud that the city of Jerusalem, unlike other parts of the Land of Israel, was never divided among the tribes. It was established and designed as a city for all the Jewish people.
Many centuries later, the day of Yom Yerushalayim was introduced to the Jewish calendar but was largely adopted and embraced by a particular sector of society; the Dati Leumi (National Religious) community.
This is no doubt a shortcoming in the day’s conception and implementation and something which needs to be addressed.
Yom Yerushalayim should be a national day of celebration on par with Yom Ha’Atzmaut, just weeks earlier on the calendar. The day should have the participation of the masses, with millions of Israelis taking to the streets of the city, proudly dancing and singing with the flag that represents the miraculous return of our people to our land and its cities.
If we are to successfully state that Jerusalem is ours, a critical statement in the face of an increasingly hostile world that wants to deny us that historical right, this statement cannot and must not be reserved for any single segment of Israeli or Jewish society.
For Jerusalem to truly be ours, it cannot simply be reserved as a political or geographic demarcation on the map. Its central role to our Jewish identity needs to be something internalized in the heart of each and every Jew, both in Israel and around the world.
If we can successfully make that transition and elevate Yom Yerushalayim into a truly national day of recognition and pride, the unification of Jerusalem will mark one of the most significant Jewish and Israeli victories in our modern history.
Rabbi David Stav is the founder and chairman of the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization and he is the chief rabbi of the city of Shoham.
