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Commentary;
Rabbi Berel Wein has written compelling words about our Jerusalem of Gold. Too bad that this piece won’t see light of day amongst dumbed- down, leftist propaganda-endoctrinated Israelis. Too bad that it will probably be passed over by Shas politicians! MB
Jerusalem, Earthly and Heavenly, by Berel Wein (Jerusalem Post)
“The heavenly Jerusalem resonates in our souls and hearts and that is what makes life in the earthly Jerusalem so meaningful and important.”
Excerpts;
A number of years ago I visited San Diego, California to deliver a lecture at a local synagogue. On the next day, I prevailed upon my friend and colleague, the rabbi of the synagogue to accompany me across the US-Mexican border to visit Tijuana…. On the way back, crossing into the United States from Mexico an incident occurred that has remained stamped in my memory ever since.
The burly Mexican American customs officer at the border examined my passport and paused. He then asked me in awe and wonderment: “Do you really live in Jerusalem?”
When I answered affirmatively he looked at me and said: “How blessed you must be to be able to live in Jerusalem.”
It was a moment of transcendent revelation to me. Truly, I should feel fortunate and blessed to live in Jerusalem. The customs officer confirmed a truism to me that, like other truisms in life, I sometimes tend not to remember and concentrate on.
I live in a very special place at a very special time. I have an opportunity granted to me that was denied to generations of my more worthy ancestors. I should savor and appreciate this opportunity and not treat it in a cavalier or mundane fashion. The Jewish past has an opportunity to currently live with and through me. There is responsibility carried with this opportunity.
“There has never been a Jewish power in our history that contemplated willingly ceding Jerusalem or any part of it to others, especially to sworn enemies who denigrate our faith… It is the complete disregard, whether out of ignorance or ideology, of the heavenly Jerusalem that brings one to compromise the very existence of the earthly Jerusalem, a Jerusalem…”
THE CAPITAL’S diplomatic fate is a hot topic of conversation these days. The people who claim to represent our best interests regarding the city apparently only see the earthly Jerusalem. In their practicality they have become wildly impractical. There is no way for a body to survive once its heart has been broken asunder.
There has never been a Jewish power in our history that contemplated willingly ceding Jerusalem or any part of it to others, especially to sworn enemies who denigrate our faith and question our right to exist. It is the complete disregard, whether out of ignorance or ideology, of the heavenly Jerusalem that brings one to compromise the very existence of the earthly Jerusalem, a Jerusalem that we should feel so blessed and appreciative to control.
A friend of mine summed up the matter when he told me this story about his aged father who had just come to Israel on aliya in his eightieth year. The son settled the father in a very comfortable senior citizen residence in the coastal part of the country. But after two months the father insisted on relocating to Jerusalem. He said: “I have not waited for 80 years to finally come to the Land of Israel and not to live in Jerusalem.”
We see the traffic jams, the torn-up streets, the problems of living in a metropolis that is still developing. That is the earthly Jerusalem. But the heavenly Jerusalem resonates in our souls and hearts and that is what makes life in the earthly Jerusalem so meaningful and important.
How can it be otherwise?
To read the entire piece, click here.
