May 22/2015

The significance of “Yom Yerushalayim” – Jerusalem Day

As we head into the holiday of Shavuot next week, we should highlight an equally significant holiday we celebrated earlier this week - the commemoration of the 48th anniversary of Jerusalem Day, when Jerusalem was united under Israeli rule -19 years after the establishment of the State of Israel, 2,000 years after Jerusalem had been conquered by the Roman Empire, and 3,000 years after it was proclaimed the capital of the Jewish Kingdom under King David. 

For thousands of years Jerusalem has been at the core of our Jewish being. No matter where in the four corners of the earth Jewish communities were scattered, what language they spoke and what society they lived in, the return to Jerusalem was the focus of our prayers and yearnings.

Jerusalem bound us together as a Jewish people in the past, and it binds us as we chart our course into the future. When we get married, we not only wed our future to a new life partner, but also to Jerusalem, which has been our life partner for the past 3,000 years, as we recite from Psalm 137:5  "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.  If I do not remember you, let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.”

Today we are living in an era when the words of our prophets are literally being fulfilled, as Jerusalem once again serves as the capital of the Jewish people under Jewish rule, and its streets are filled with and bustling with life. 

For thousands of years, the land of Israel and Jerusalem, as our capital, united and galvanized us as a people. When we finally regain sovereignty over our ancestral land and capital, the State of Israel and Jerusalem will continue being the central pillar of our Jewish existence.

Hag Shavuot Sameah,

Yaron Sideman

Consul General of Israel to the Mid-Atlantic Region