Artzeinu—Our Land—Israel—How often do you think of Israel as a place on a map or as a modern nation? How often do you think of Jerusalem the capitol of King David and of the Modern State of Israel? For those of us living in this part of the world we can be overcome by the reality of the intensity of life here. The life in the Land is intense but the scrutiny of the International community can be even more intense. Is this focus of the nations justified? I think the answer is yes and no. No, the issues that Israel is scrutinized for are not the right issues, or the focus is disproportionately on Israel with a negative eye. And yet, yes the focus on this Land and City are justified in the sense that we are the navel of the earth. Being at the meeting point of three continents, and the crossroads of multiple cultures, Israel is a nexus for many things happening in our world today. This intensity though, is not a totally new occurrence.
Israel is mentioned over 2,500 times in the Bible and Jerusalem is mentioned over eight hundred times. The Bible speaks not only about theology and faith, but in a large way about this relationship between man and his maker happening in a certain place, this small sliver known as Israel and in this small landlocked capital known as Jerusalem.
Living here in Jerusalem more than 60 years after the establishment of the State of Israel, after millions of Jews have returned from the four corners of the earth to live in our homeland, we are surprised again and again as to the extent that the other nations of the world also have various plans of their own for our city. For many nations, Jerusalem is seen as the key to regional and global peace.
In many ways Jerusalem is no different from other capitol cities in that we have a steady stream of dignitaries visiting the city. But unlike most capitols, there are no embassies in Jerusalem! The diplomats come to Jerusalem for meetings with government officials but then retreat to Tel Aviv to their embassy. This is not just because they would rather live by the sea. No, Jerusalem is not recognized as the undivided capitol of Israel by these nations. Some of the nations and world organizations have gone as far as proclaiming that Jerusalem should become an international city under the auspices of the United Nations, who surely would care for it best.
A number of months ago I was in Los Angeles over a weekend at the end of October. I knew in the back of my mind that Halloween is celebrated widely at the end of October, but had not thought about it as I made my way to the U.S. for MJTI meetings. I was in for a very real surprise to see all the jack-o’-lanterns on the lawns and ghosts and cobwebs. This really got crazy on the night itself when out of the woodwork came a multitude of adults dressed up as devils, ghosts, and Playboy bunnies. To say the least it was a bit of a culture shock for me, as the last time I experienced Halloween was as a kid some 25 years ago. As I watched these adults walking around in crazy costumes, I thought of the story of Purim and the festival that we celebrate here in Israel every year during the month of Adar.
Jews all around the world celebrate Purim, with costume parties for the children and the delivery of gift baskets to friends, but I think there is nothing like the richness of this experience here in Artzeinu. During the month of Adar, the last month of the sacrificial calendar, we are almost ready to clean our homes for Pesach and remember that festival of redemption, but before we can do that we have the opportunity to celebrate another great festival of redemption—the miraculous saving of the Jewish people from the descendant of the Agag king of the Amalakites, Haman. He came seemingly close to bringing about the extinction of the Jewish people, but Hashem intervened through the agency of Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, who were in just the right place at the right time.
I recently returned from a three-week stay in Jerusalem. MJTI held its first Master’s level course at our new center in the city, and I helped to lead the course.
Our topic was Jerusalem itself—past, present, and future.
For thousands of years, Jerusalem has been the geographic center of the world for the Jewish and Christian imagination. With the shift from twentieth-century conflicts of political ideology to twenty-first-century conflicts of religion, the city now also occupies a central role on the stage of world affairs.
However, it has not always been so. With the exception of a few brilliant eras of power and prosperity, Jerusalem has largely been a backwater town—taking a backseat to Damascus, Samaria, Caesarea, and— more recently—Tel Aviv. Remote from the major trade routes and lacking in natural resources or agricultural capacity, Jerusalem had little to recommend it.