Every year on Jerusalem Day – the holiday that all Jews should be celebrating today – I reconnect to the high Jewish/Zionist rhetoric about the city.
Jerusalem: The city that is the beating home of the Jewish heart, the capital that is the ultimate expression of Jewish national renaissance, a place of birthright where you feel brushed by the wings of Divinity.
As Jews have sung and prayed for 3,000 years, “If I forget Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy” (Psalms 137:5-6).
As Jews affirm at every wedding ceremony and at the climactic moments of Passover and Yom Kippur, “Next year in fully rebuilt Jerusalem!”
These aspirational sentiments genuinely drive to the core of my identity, and they reflect absolutist attitudes: I am not willing to compromise on the spiritual or political future of the united city.
My commitment to elevating and improving Jerusalem and turning it into the touchstone for global faith and peace is an ultimate and unequivocal one. And no one other than Jerusalem’s indigenous people, the Jewish People, and their sovereign government, the State of Israel, can do so.
Jerusalem transformed into an international capital city
Indeed, over the past almost 60 years, Israel has sagaciously transformed the city from a backwater town to a truly radiant international capital city sparkling with energy and creativity.
Israel developed Jerusalem as an attractive city because it cares; because Jerusalem is the historic centerpiece of Jewish peoplehood and the modern State of Israel.
Therefore, Israel must declare clearly and proudly: A united Jerusalem under exclusive Israeli sovereignty is the key, not an obstacle, to peace and security in the city.
A partitioned Jerusalem will die, and lead to violence that would suck the lifeblood from the city in every way – culturally, religiously, economically, and more.
But of course, ruling a united Jerusalem carries with it great responsibility, and Israel must do an even better job than it has thus far. It must defend, expand, and administer the city generously for all residents.
On the security side, this means rebuffing radical Islamic and Turkish subversion in Jerusalem alongside the nefarious activities of hostile foreign NGOs, enforcing security perimeters around the city (the security fence is a dangerous, sad joke), halting wildcat building in the Arab sector, ending Muslim violence and incitement to violence on the Temple Mount, and protecting Christian and other religious minority leaders from harassment.
(I applaud the decision announced this week to turn the compound near Ammunition Hill, from which the rotten UNRWA was finally evicted last year, into a national site housing an IDF museum and new recruitment center.)
On the civilian side, this means expanding the borders of Jerusalem to build at least 6,000 new apartments every year for young families; investing in the welfare of Jerusalemite Arabs in the eastern precincts of the city through upgraded roads and water/sewage infrastructure, authorized/controlled home building, many new classrooms (in Arab schools that teach Hebrew and the Israeli high school curriculum), employment initiatives, local police stations to handle civilian matters, etc.
I also think that the 400,000 Jerusalemite Arabs should be offered Israeli citizenship.
On the religious side, this means fair sharing of the holy sites, especially the Temple Mount. There is plenty of room, loads of undeveloped and even desolate sections of land on the vast Temple Mount Plaza where a Jewish house of prayer could be built without interfering in any way with Muslim shrines and prayer practices.
Nobody needs to feel threatened by the presence of Jewish petitioners tucked away in a corner of the Temple Mount, unless, of course, your opposition to Jewish prayer and visitation stems from wholesale denial of indigenous Jewish rights in Jerusalem and the Land of Israel, which, alas, has become almost mainstream Palestinian discourse.
It is time to negotiate space- and time-sharing arrangements on the Temple Mount – like those in the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron – based on principles of peace, tolerance, and religious freedom – for Jews and non-Jews alike.
In short, Israel ought to increase investment in all aspects and sectors of Israel’s capital for the greater good of both Jewish and Arab residents. More rigorous security control, good governance on the local level, and equitable management of the holy sites are the core of sovereign political action that will keep Jerusalem whole. Taken together, these moves will ensure forward Zionist momentum to secure the national goal of a livable, prosperous, and luminous Jerusalem.
On Jerusalem Day 1988, the late, great scholar and religious leader Rabbi Dr. Aharon Lichtenstein told his yeshiva students that “It is important that we know how to appreciate the privilege of walking in the streets of Jerusalem. The dream held dear by generations has come true; the dream of hundreds and thousands of years….”
“But we must appreciate Jerusalem not just as a capital which is flourishing economically, aesthetically, socially, and politically, but also as (an expression of) the Divine Presence appearing and disappearing ‘on the mountains of spices/separation’ (see the Song of Songs 2:17).
“We should see not only the glory that exists, but also long for the glory that was prophesied. A formidable challenge awaits us. We must realize that longing and seek to set matters right.”
Indeed, Jerusalem Day should be appreciated and celebrated in all its manifestations – as a historic achievement, a political challenge, and a spiritual opportunity. It should become a true national holiday, a highlight of the Jewish year, no less than Independence Day. It should also be an election campaign issue: Who is best going to dynamically develop Jerusalem?
The writer is managing senior fellow at the Jerusalem-based Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy. The views expressed here are his own. His diplomatic, defense, political, and Jewish world columns over the past 30 years are at davidmweinberg.com.