sketch

Est. 1981MY JERUSALEM
The Eternal City

Introduction by Alan Dershowitz
Editor: Ilan Greenfield
Photos by Ziv Koren

publishing house ‫בית הוצאה לאור‬

JERUSALEM    NEW YORK

Copyright ©Gefen Publishing House
Jerusalem 2017/5777

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JERUSALEM OF GOLD  And in the slumber of tree and stone 
Captured in her dream 
by Naomi Shemer  The city that sits solitary 
And in its midst is a wall. 
The mountain air is clear as wine 
And the scent of pines  Jerusalem of gold, and of bronze, and of light 
Is carried on the breeze of twilight  Behold I am a violin for all your songs
With the sound of bells. 

Jerusalem I’m looking out at the old city of Jerusalem from my room at the Legendary
King David Hotel as I write this introduction to “My Jerusalem.” I see city walls
By Alan M. Dershowitz1 built by Suleiman in the 16th century, the golden dome of the Rock built in the 7th
century and the many structures representing the diverse history and populations
Introduction of this ancient city. I cannot see the Western Wall, which dates back to the Second
Temple at the beginning of the Common Era, nor the Jewish quarter, where Jews
1 Alan M. Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus and author of Taking the Stand: My Life in the have lived for millennia.
Law and Electile Dysfunction. But I can feel my connection to these living symbols of the long Jewish history
of Jerusalem. Jews throughout the centuries have felt this connection, though
relatively few experienced it in person, until the beginning of modern Zionism.
The vast majority connected through prayer, aspiration, song and longing.
Following each exile, Jews vowed not to forget and promised each year that the
next one would be in Jerusalem. Years ago I bought a Jewish prayer rug designed
and created in Persia a century and a half earlier. The biblical scenes that adorned
it were pristine, but at the center of the rug, the image was worn down and barely
visible. I asked a Persian Jew to explain the anomaly: “The rubbed out image was
of the Western Wall, and every time a family member passed by, they kissed it with
their hands, thus causing it to warn down.”
Although Christians regard Jerusalem as an important place, its importance
derived largely from its Jewish history. Jesus came to Jerusalem as a Jew; he
confronted the moneylenders in the Jewish Temple; he was crucified because
he was a Jewish dissident. For Muslims, its important pales in comparison with
Mecca and Medina, as evidenced by the fact that it is never even referenced by
name in the Koran. For Jews it is Tzeyon---Zion. It is the location of the Holy
Temples, the direction in which Jews turn when they pray, the place to which
exiles hope to return. Jerusalem is mentioned in virtually every religious book.
It is as impossible to conceive of Judaism without Jerusalem, as it would be to
imagine Catholicism without the Vatican, Mormonism without Salt Lake City or
Islam without Mecca and Medina.
Jerusalem is also one of the most divisive political hot spots in the world. It has
been fought over, destroyed, changed hands, divided, blessed and cursed. It lacks
the military, geographic, industrial or commercial importance of other great
capitols. It is small, infertile, lacking in water and difficult to access. Yet more
people have died for it than for any comparable area. The ghosts of its bloody
past keep re-materializing in every generation. The letters that form the word
“Yerushalaim” include the word for peace, but it has never experienced real peace

for any considerable period of time. The closest it has come is the current era, constituted a significant majority of the population of the entire city of Jerusalem,4
following the liberation of the Ancient City from its illegal Jordanian occupation as they had for the previous century. The Jewish quarter had synagogues,
between 1948 and 1967, and its reunification. Despite terrorist attacks against yeshivas, cemeteries, and other Jewish institutions. Jews also properly controlled
its Jewish civilians, it has become a unified city with no barbed wire barriers, no Mt. Scopus, on which they had built the Hebrew University and the Hadassah
Jordanian snipers firing at civilians from beyond those barriers, and of formal Hospital. Finally, Jews regarded the Western Wall as it holiest site, akin to the
exclusions from any areas of the unified city based on religion. Jews pray at the Vatican for Catholics and Mecca and Medina for Muslims.
Western Wall, Muslims at Al-Aqsa, and Christians at the Church of the Holy Those facts are simply not disputable. Neither is the fact that the Jordanian army
Sepulchre. Yet its future remains uncertain, because it has become the focal conquered these areas during its illegal attack on the newly formed State of Israel
point of political diplomatic, religious, ethnic, nationalistic and philosophical in 1948. These areas were then unlawfully occupied by Jordan which committed
controversies. Nor will these differences be easy to resolve, because of the massive war crimes against the Nation State of the Jewish People. It destroyed
emotions that attach to the word “Jerusalem.” the holy places, turned grave stones into urinals, and ethnically cleansed all these
“Jerusalem”! There are few words in any language that inspire so much passion: Jewish areas, making them judrein. The United Nations never condemned Jordan
Love, fear, hate, division, danger, violence—and, yes, even stupidity. Since others for its two decade long illegal occupation of these areas.
have written about the more obvious passions, let me focus on how Jerusalem In 1967, Egypt and Syria were preparing to illegally attack Israel, but Israel
makes smart people stupid. engaged in a lawful preemptive strike against these two aggressors. At the
Consider the recent controversy regarding the Security Council resolution of beginning of the war Jordan did not attack Israel, and Israel informed Jordan that
December 2016 ,23.2 That resolution declares, in effect, that Israel’s control over it would not try to retake these Jewish areas if Jordan stayed out of the war. But
the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem, the Western Wall and the access roads to Mt. Jordan illegally attacked Israeli civilian areas by firing rockets into West Jerusalem.
Scopus are all territories that Israel has illegally occupied since it unified Jerusalem Israel responded by liberating the Jewish areas of the Old City of Jerusalem and
in 1967. How many times have we heard “smart” people say that “the whole capturing the West Bank. It then allowed Jews to move back into the Jewish
world, except for Israel, agrees” that any changes made to the pre1967- borders quarter, opened the access roads to Mt. Scopus to Jews, then for the first time since
between Israel and Jordan are illegal?3 It may well be true that the whole world 1948, permitted Jews to pray at the Western Wall.
believes that, but if so, the whole world is wrong. Yes, when it comes to Jerusalem Under what bizarre legal theory can it be claimed that Israel illegally occupies
the whole world can be wrong. the Jewish areas it lawfully liberated from an unlawful military aggression and
The whole world is wrong because it willfully blinds itself to the indisputable facts occupation by Jordan? Whose land is Israel supposed to be illegally occupying,
that led to Israel taking control of these historic Jewish areas. since these areas were never supposed to be part of Jordan or an Arab state? Only
Here are the facts. Before 1948-1947, when the United Nations divided because it involves Jerusalem, could so stupid an argument be accepted by so
mandatory Palestine into two areas – one for the Jewish people and the other many smart people.
for the Arab people, with Jerusalem having a special status – the Jewish quarter Jerusalem will remain a diverse and contested issue unless thoughtful people
of Jerusalem was populated by Jews, many of whose families have lived there for begin to consider rational solutions that entail reasonable compromises and
centuries. Indeed, the official census of Jerusalem in 1944 established that Jews mutual recognition of legitimate historical claims. In the essays that follow, the
reader will encounter a wonderful mixture of history, religion culture, emotion,
2 The text of the resolution is available at https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/sc12657.doc.htm. politics and other elements.
3 Most recently, CNN’s Don Lemon said this, echoing Yousef Munayyer the executive director of the Palestinian
4 According to the study “Demographic History of Jerusalem,” in 1944, there were 97,000 Jews in Jerusalem and
Campaign for Palestinian Rights) “There is no country [in the world, with the exception of Israel] that recognizes only 30,600 Muslims and 29,400 Christians. See http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/demographic_history_of_
this.” For a transcript see: Twenty-Four Days Until Trump’s Inauguration: Trump’s World View: Israel’s War of jerusalem . See also Alan M. Dershowitz, The Case for Israel, Ch. 9 .
Words and Obama White House; Kerry to Outline, 2016 QLNE 39645569.

PM Netanyahu’s Speech at
the Jerusalem Reunification
Day Ceremony 

June 1, 2011
Ammunition Hill

Iwould like to share some of my memories of my childhood in Jerusalem with you.  From
Sanhedria in the north to Talpiot in the south, the city was under fire or under the threat of
fire – always under the threat of fire.  I knew this as a child of three years old, because I remember
my mother’s voice.  Every Saturday, I would go out with my brother, Yoni, who was six at the time,
to the Talpiot neighborhood, up Ein Gedi Street.  Both of us would walk to visit Professor Yosef
Klausner who lived up the hill.  We had to cross a field and we would pick flowers and bring them
to Professor Klausner.  His house was one of the last houses in Jerusalem.
Each time, Mother would tell us: “Only to Professor Klausner’s house, not one meter further.”  My
mother was an intelligent woman because several years later, only several hundreds meters beyond
that at Ramat Rachel, Legion soldiers shot Israelis who were there at the time – four archaeologists
were killed and 14 others were injured.
I grew up.  When I was six or seven, I already had a bicycle.  Every once in a while, the bicycle had
to be fixed and Father would take it in, and I would come with him to the bike shop.  The shop was
at Mamilla near his office, the Hebrew Encyclopedia office, and past that were several garages, and
in them were the bike shops.
There too, I was told: “This far and no further.  If you go further, the snipers can shoot you from the
walls of Jerusalem.”  Today that place is the David Citadel Hotel, exactly there.
When we were even older, we would go to the movies, usually in downtown Jerusalem.  We would
walk along King George Street, near the “Yeshuron” Synagogue.  Today, the Bat Sheva Hotel is
there, if I’m not mistaken.  There was a wall there, and that wall was built because there were snipers
targeting pedestrians, children.  That was Jerusalem.

I had a happy childhood, as did my fellow Jerusalemites, including Ruby One day that changed.  I remember that day, and I remember the
Rivlin.  As children, we adapted to everything, but I want you to know words spoken by Motta Gur, words that shook my heart.  I remember
how the city was then. that shortly afterwards, like thousands of others, I was swept up in a
There was a scar running through the middle of town – of barbed wire river of people flowing – simply flowing – towards the Western Wall. 
fences, a no-man’s land, landmines, abandoned areas.  There was a dump.  And I remember that feeling of tremendous transcendence, a spiritual
People would bring cars there; Jews would bring junk there; Arabs would uplifting that beat in each and every one of our hearts.  We will never go
pour garbage there, but that’s what was there.  The scar cut across the city, back to the days when we had to climb to the roof of the Terra Sancta
with snipers on the walls and walls built to protect against the snipers. building to see the Old City.  We will never go back to the days when the
Under such conditions, it is obvious that the city could not develop.  It city was divided.  We will never go back to the days when the city was
was strangled, it was withered, it had no future. wounded and torn apart, because on the day that Jerusalem was liberated,
on the day the city was reunited, the wound was healed and the scar
disappeared.

Speech made by Shimon Peres,
President of Israel, at the
ceremony commemorating
the reunification

Jerusalem, May 28, 2014

“Jerusalem Day” is the holiday of the eternal city reunited.

It is the celebration of a city from which thousands of years ago, the prophets issued the cry for
justice and peace.
A city that gathered its children under its wings in inspiration, profound faith and the longing for
peace.
A city that can simultaneously include spiritually uplifting characteristics as well as upheavals
that require immediate action.
For countless generations, Jerusalem has been a source of global inspiration, with a rich past and
an even more promising future.
On the outskirts of Jerusalem, in the City of David, sights, sounds, and voices intermingle,
representing the full spectrum of religious communities.
Jerusalem carefully upholds freedom of religion and worship, and respects the sites that are
holy to all religions, so that every believer can pray according to his own prayer book, without
disruption or censure.
As Simon Sebag Montefiore wrote in his book about Jerusalem, “The history of Jerusalem is the
history of the world.”
The city that is the capital of Israel has become a focal point of world interest.
A city that was sometimes closed for political reasons, but is now open and permits every person
to visit, at any time and with their own personal prayers.

Jerusalem has never stagnated – it
preserves its heritage and renews itself.
There is no place in the world that
ignites such powerful longing for
making pilgrimages or breathing the
mountain air.
Every day at dawn, the holy sites come
to life, each in its own special way.
When the sun rises over Jerusalem, it
is as if heaven and earth have met.

Shuk Machane Yehudah

By Natan Sharansky

My first glimpse of Jerusalem came in the form of a photograph fifty years ago: A young Israeli

soldier standing by the Western Wall, the light shining on his face. That very young man by that very
old wall revolutionized our life. We suddenly discovered that we were so much more than oppressed
individuals in the Soviet Union: We belonged to a nation with a glorious past, and we could belong

to its exciting new future. Emboldened by this promise, we defied the Soviet authorities and fought
for our right to go to Israel. After years of struggle, I walked up to the ancient stones from the picture,

its promise a tangible reality at last.
The Western Wall remains a special place for me. But if you truly want to taste Jerusalem’s present, if
you truly want to experience that future we envisioned from behind the Iron Wall, you should go to
Jerusalem’s Machane-Yehudah market – the Shuk.
I first visited the Shuk a few days into my life in Israel. After years in the Soviet Gulag, where I had
little to no choices, I found myself surrounded by more colors and smells and sounds than I could
count. Captivated, I became a weekly pilgrim to this celebration of options, visiting it early every
Friday morning.
In the Shuk, all our pasts are present. The Bukhari market beckons from one side, inviting me to
stroll through its spacious passages and barter for some fruit. The Iraqi market lies on the other side,
its narrower passages overflowing with squabbling vendors. They argue constantly and compete for
the opportunity to offer me coffee with strong opinions on the side. But they all unite when politics
come up, stating grimly that the government – any government – is bad. And finally, ahead lies what
I call the Ashkenazi market, where, like in Europe, everything is more expensive, looks better, but
tastes exactly the same.
Underneath these names and partitions lies a different story, the one that defines Israel itself: We
may come from different pasts, but we share the same present. Throughout all the parts of the Shuk
Jews and Arabs stand side by side, shouting and joking and cursing fluently in both languages, no
matter where they’re from.

When I first started frequenting the Shuk, I proudly carried all my It became somewhat of a tradition for Israeli politicians to brave the shuk,
groceries in bags. I had to stop, though, when the massive terror attacks of and its vendors’ shouted praise and censor, before elections. Later, if they
the nineties wreaked havoc in the vicinity of the market. I was a minister at win, they celebrate their victory with a visit to the Western Wall. I always
the time, and my bodyguards turned my weekly pilgrimage into a military liked to do the opposite. The Western Wall is all about promises and faith,
operation, complete with two armed soldiers and armored gear. Under a natural place to reflect and pray before we’re tested. But when we want to
these circumstances I could no longer carry anything, and so I bought celebrate, there is no place better than the shuk, alive as it is in its unique
two shuk carts (trolleys) to tow my weekly spoils. messy glory. There, surrounded by colors and smells and lively Israelis,
“These are too small,” the vendors shrewdly told me. “Let us make them towing my large carts and choosing oranges and strawberries, I can lose
bigger for you, and only for 10 nis!” One thing led to another, and I found myself in our dazzling present. There I can actually taste that promising
myself towing two carts as tall as the soldiers that accompanied me. I still future which I glimpsed in a photograph as a boy in a foreign land.
use these carts today.

My Jerusalem

Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin, Tenth President of the State of Israel

Jerusalem is the city where I was born and where I grew up. In our family home in the Rehavia neighborhood, during the final years
of the British Mandate and the first years of the new State of Israel, my late father, Professor Yosef Yoel Rivlin, translated the Quran
from Arabic to Hebrew.
One of my most vivid childhood memories is the evening of Kat Tet BeNovember- the twenty ninth of November, 1947. I was eight
years old.
We were the lucky owners of the only radio in Rehavia, and our neighbors and friends gathered together around that radio, to listen
to the live broadcast of the United Nations vote on the Partition Plan, heralding the end of the British Mandate and the partition of
Eretz Yisrael into two states.
Even as a child, I felt the great tension, as the grown-ups listen to each YES and each NO, as they counted the votes. But it was late
and I was tired- I fell fast asleep fully dressed. But when the voting ended, my father woke me up as waves of celebrating people began
to fill the streets. We walked up to the area in front of the Jewish Agency building on King George Street where circles of dancers
whirled. But even then the joyful celebration was tempered by anxiety as to what the following days would bring.
And I remember the days that followed. The first two victims were killed only the next days; as the rejoicing gave way to battle. As our
enemies, who could already then have had their own state, decided instead to fight against us, and so began our War of Independence.
My -14year-old brother joined the fighter and even I helped. I became “commander of a water tank” – we children pumped water
from the wells which we distributed, 3 times a week.
The history of Jerusalem in the early years of the State is also my personal and family history. One of the first neighborhoods to be
built outside of the Old City, Nahalat Shiva, was settled by seven familied led by Moshe Yoel Salomon and my great grandfather,
Yosef Rivlin. I studied in the Rehavia Gymnasia, and was an enthusiastic member of the Scouts that met in a neighboring building.
Football always played an important role in my life as I was an avid supporter of the Beitar football team, whose home was the yard of
the YMCA building on King David Street.
A few years ago, when I was the speaker of the Knesset, the President of Brazil visited bringing with him the gavel that was used by the
[Brazilian] President of the UN General Assembly in 1947. I could never have dreamed- certainly not as a child dancing in the streets
of Jerusalem- that one day I would have the privilege of chairing a meeting of the Knesset of Jerusalem using the same historic gavel
from the day the UN declared the future establishment of the State of Israel!



Address by Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin Inaugurating
the Jerusalem 3000 Festivities
in Washington DC

October 25, 1995

Jerusalem is the heart of the Jewish people and a deep source of our pride. On this festive
occasion, thousands of miles from home, here and now, we once again are raising Jerusalem
above our highest joe, just like our fathers and our fathers’ fathers did.
Jerusalem has a thousand faces- and each of us has his own Jerusalem
My Jerusalem is Dr. Moshe Wallach of Germany, the doctor of the sick of Israel and Jerusalem,
who built Sha’are Tzedek hospital and has his own in its courtyard so as to close to his patients day
and night. I was born in this hospital. I am a Jerusalemite.
My Jerusalem is the focus of the Jewish people’s yearnings, the city of its visions, the cradle of
its prayers. It is the dream of retuning to Zion. It is the name of millions murmur, even on their
deathbeds. It is the place where eyes are raised and prayers uttered.
My Jerusalem is the jerrycan of water measured out to the besieged in 1948, the faces if its anxious
citizens waiting quietly in line for bread, the sky whose blackness was torn by flares.
My Jerusalem is Bab-el-Wad- the road to the city- which cried out “Remember our names forever.”
It is the ashen faces of dead comrades from the War of Independence, and the searing cold of the
rusting armored cards among the pines on the side of the road.
My Jerusalem is the great mountain, the military cemetery on Mount Herzel, the city of silence
whose earth holds the treasured thousands of those who went to bitter battle- and did not return.
My Jerusalem is the tears of the paratroopers at the Western Wall in 1967 and the flag which once
more waved above the remnant of the Temple.



My Jerusalem is the changing colors of its walls, the smells of its markets and the faces of the
members of every community and every faith, where all have the freedom of thought and freedom
of worship in the city where holiness envelopes every stone, every word, every glace.
And my Jerusalem is the City of Peace, which will bear great tidings to all faiths, to all nations: For
the Torah shall come forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem… Peace be
within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces. (Isaiah 2:3)
We differ in opinions, left and right. We disagree on the means and the objective. In Israel, we all
agree on one issue: the wholeness of Jerusalem, the continuation of its existence as capital of the
State of Israel. There are not two Jerusalems. There is only one Jerusalem. For us, Jerusalem is not
subject to compromise and there is no peace without Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, which was destroyed eight times, where for years we had no access to remnants of our
Temple, was ours, is ours, and will be ours- forever.
This is the time to welcome and say thank you for the resolution that uplifts the heart of every Israeli
and every Jew, to relocate the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, the beating heart of the Jewish
people We have always regarded Jerusalem as united, as Israel’s capital, and under its sovereignty.
We always knew it and we always acted on this basis. We welcome every new partner in this effort
and we welcome every new embassy to Jerusalem. We extend a particular welcome to our great
friend, the United States of America.
We are moved by the action of Congress. We are moved by the spirit it expresses. We are moved by
the overwhelming majority. We are moved by the fact there were no “Republicans” or “Democrats”
when it came to this vote.
I will carry this display of the American people’s friendship and support back to Israel, back to my
home and my office in Jerusalem. My Jerusalem becomes yours as well.
“Here tears do not weaken eyes” wrote the Jerusalem poet Yehuda Amichai. “They only polish and
shine the hardness of faces like stone.”
Jerusalem is that stone.
From distant Washington, Shalom to you, Jerusalem.



Ammunition Hill:
Where I Met My Wife

Naftali Bennett

Ilove Jerusalem more than any other place on earth. Consider this – who else can stand in a
city and say, “this is where my direct ancestors lived, 3000 years ago”?
Then, like now, Jerusalem was the capital.
Then, like now, Hebrew was the spoken language.
Then, like now, we lived, worked, traded and raised our families here.
Then, like now, we believed in the same Torah.
Then, like now, we had a sovereign Jewish State, paving roads, collecting taxes and defending
ourselves.
And Jerusalem is also where I met my wonderful wife, Gilat; on Ammunition Hill – the site of
one of the most heroic and important battles of the Six Day War.
She was a young soldier – an education instructor in the Israel Paratroopers corps, and I was
a young student at the Hebrew University, after finishing my military service as a company
commander in a Special Forces unit. She asked that I come to the hill, and speak to high school
students; that I tell them my personal ‘army stories’ – she wanted me to motivate them to serve
in combat units.
I did. And that’s where I first saw her. We had very different upbringings. She was raised as a
‘hilonit’ – a secular Israeli. I was raised ‘dati’ – an observant Orthodox. Our backgrounds and
approaches to religion were different, but something clicked. The rest is history.
Ammunition Hill is where our family’s story began. Like generations before me, and like Jews
all around the world, mine and Gilat’s personal story is part of Jerusalem’s collective Jewish
experience.



”Guts but no Commonsense”:
Entering a Divided Jerusalem

Deborah Lipstadt
April 1967

It was March 1967. I was spending the year at Hebrew University. For the long spring break I planed a visit to Greece
and Turkey. Then, after too little thought, I decided that it made sense that, rather than return to Israel from Turkey,
I fly to Beirut and travel from there through Damascus, Amman, and East Jerusalem. I would come “home” via the
Mandelbaum gate, the Israeli border crossing between East and West Jerusalem.
At the American Embassy in Greece I obtained a clean passport, one with no “incriminating” Israeli stamps. It was a
fascinating trip. Even in Damascus, I rarely felt in jeopardy as a Jew. I faced more hassles as a woman traveling alone.
The highlight was the Old City and environs. I never imagined that in seven weeks time I would be able to return to
these places without subterfuge.
Then it came time to return. The border crossing consisted of a -50yard concrete expanse, once a busy street. At one
end was a small structure occupied by Jordanian border police and at the other, a portion of a stone house that once
belonged to the Mandelbaum family and now occupied by Israeli border police. Flags and a flimsy divider indicated
where one country ended and the other began. As I crossed over that divide I realized I could shed the cover story I had
relied on for the past week. Only then did I recognize that for the first time in my life I had been a Jew in “hiding.”
In Mandelbaum House two bored border police sat behind a counter. One asked the purpose of my “visit.” In Hebrew
I explained that it wasn’t a visit but a return. As I began to describe what I had done the second guard ignored the
tourist he had been helping and joined his colleague in peppering me with questions: where had I been, what had I seen,
and how had I fared.
After about fifteen minutes, I turned to leave. As I maneuvered my luggage out the door I heard one guard, using a
slightly off color term, admiringly say: “Yesh la batzim,” she has guts. The other quickly responded: “Aval ayn la sekhel,”
but she lacks common sense.
As I look back from a perspective of fifty years, I am not sure about the first attribute but I am about the second.
And I am glad for it.



Why I Love Jerusalem

MK Isaac Herzog

The same way one cannot explain why one falls in love with someone else, I cannot explain my
love of Jerusalem. As soon as I enter the city, I feel different. A mixture of hidden memories and
ancient anxieties surfaces. I am in love with you, O Jerusalem.
My memories always take me back to my childhood years, spending time at my grandmother’s
home on Ibn Ezra Street in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem and traveling with her by bus
all over the city. She was called “the rabbanit” (wife of the rabbi), Rebbetzin Sarah Herzog, the
widow of the legendary chief rabbi of Israel Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog, my namesake. She was
a very active leader in her own right (Herzog Hospital in the city was a lifelong mission for her
and bears her name), and thus her house was always open for the needy and the poor as well as
an endless flow of guests from the Jewish diaspora around the world. Every Shabbat morning she
would open the door, and visitors unknown to her would pour in to bless Kiddush on the wine
and enjoy the rabbanit’s wonderful apple cake. As I travel and meet Jews all over the world, I still
receive regards for my late savta for those wonderful moments.
I love the scents of the city, I love its architecture, the story of each building, the understanding of
the source of it all and the sense of the indefinite. I am amazed by the Kotel (Western Wall), the
holy sites, the mountainous beauty all over. I cannot take my eyes off the mix of its inhabitants and
visitors. My feelings are inextricably intertwined with my family’s generational personal history.
My great-grandfather Rabbi Joel Leib Herzog and his wife Miriam are buried on the Mount of
Olives. My grandfather Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog and his wife Rabbanit Sarah are buried in the
Sanhedria neighborhood cemetery. My father, Chaim Herzog, the sixth president of the State of
Israel, is buried in the national cemetery on Mount Herzl. There are numerous commemorations
of my family around the city, but my passion is different. What I am endlessly seeking in Jerusalem
is its life: the story of its people, its multiculturalism, its human engines of academia, culture,
religious pluralism. It is the heart of our nation in all aspects, the center of its democracy and
governance.
As the classic Israeli song about the Kotel goes, “There are people with hearts of stone and there are
stones with a human heart” (Yossi Gamzu, “Hakotel”). As I stare at the stones of Jerusalem, they
always speak out to me as humans. And yes, they cry out for peace in the eternal city of peace.



My Jerusalem

Kevin Bermeister

Five or six time each year I travel from Sydney Australia to Jerusalem, my destination at
the center of the world. The spiritual character of the city is holy, but this adjective, which
means separate, also describes its distinction and uniqueness.  On many occasions over the
past 3500 years the indigenous nation of Israel swam against the ebb and flow of opposing
forces to return to their unified root, the mountain on which ancient Jerusalem was built. But,
unification is ominously observed from south of the ancient city by what was once the British
High Commission, now the United Nations. Their compound sits directly on the north south
line that divides the city east and west through Israel’s holy mountain.  
On each visit I am reminded that those who struggled to realize Jerusalem’s inherent potential
paved the way for today’s leaders to express it. This is a unique city that  affords privilege to
people of such diverse cultures and the world’s most popular religions to demonstrate life in the
worlds’ microcosm as they oscillate toward permanent, lasting peace.
Over the past twelve years I have seen the development of new roads, rail, city transportation,
promenades, neighborhoods and attractions. I have watched the city prepare itself for a bright,
prosperous, united future by developing industries like bio-tech, tech, education and especially
tourism.  The remarkable efforts have already opened the gates and tourists from China, India
and Japan are arriving to witness the marvels of Jerusalem’s treasures.
The city’s reorientation to accommodate people of the east promises to balance its 2000
year emphasis and modern development of its western face. With this rising change I believe
Jerusalem’s full potential will ultimately be realized and its united constituents will reap the
benefits that flow to and from the world.
On this special occasion, the 50th year of Jerusalem’s unification, let us not forget those that gave
their lives for the struggle as we hope and pray for a permanent unification that brings with it
prosperity for all.



My Jerusalem

Michael Steinhardt

My feeling for Jerusalem is that of a romantic. Having been an atheist for decades
somehow Jerusalem sparks in me a spirituality not otherwise available. Whether it’s
the stone or the lights or the hills, there is for me a romance. Yes I know that’s a funny word
but at times I almost feel I am slightly above the ground when I walk in Jerusalem. Now you
might say that walking Machne Yehuda is certainly not other worldly, but here too this unique
combination of masses of people, most of them happy, buying and selling, results for me in an
elevated, spiritual picture. When I drive from the airport to Jerusalem, and the road climbs the
hills, here too I feel I am entering someplace special. Even now in New York I can close my eyes
and feel the glories of Jerusalem and know it is my first of second home and always will be.



My Jerusalem

By: Matthew Bronfman

What Jerusalem means to me as a Jew, as a member of the diaspora, and as someone who
desperately wants peaceful coexistence for the people of the region.

To this day, when I hear ‘Jerusalem,’ a vivid image from thirty years ago immediately comes
to mind. As I was driving towards the city that evening, I felt compelled to stop on the
side of the road and marvel at its breathtaking glory. The disappearing sunlight reflected on
the surrounding hills, illuminating their signature greenery, gold and stone. In that moment, I
felt a profound sense of peace and beauty, one that has come to epitomize the unique spiritual
essence that is my Jerusalem.
Jerusalem has been the city of the Jewish people since the days of Kind David. It is central to
our nation - those who reside there as well as those in the diaspora. There is a spiritual and
emotional connection – one that inexplicably unites every Jew from each corner of the earth,
and one that cannot and should not be denied. Jerusalem our eternal city.
However, Jerusalem is also important to both Christians and Muslims. Just as one cannot
deny the centrality of Jerusalem to the Jews, one similarly cannot deny that other religions feel
connected to the holy city, and thus arises the ever-lasting conflict, the dark cloud overhanging
our cherished city.
It devastates me that my precious Jerusalem differs so drastically from the Jerusalem of so many.
That a place of such incredible spirituality can also be a place of endless conflict.
Jerusalem begs for peace yet she suffers from strife. She is hope and she is fear. But my Jerusalem
is historical and modern, religious as well as secular. She embodies advanced technology and
ancient Torah; she is both Church and State.
My Jerusalem is unlike any other city in the world. For thousands of years, the Jewish people
have prayed to return to our eternal capital and Homeland, and have begged to be able to pray at
our holiest site. The last remaining wall of our holy temple, built by King David and revered for
centuries, is the hub of the only place around which all Jews can truly unite. The Kotel is finally
ours, and has brought our people together in ways that we cannot even fully comprehend.

The temple is tantamount to my Jerusalem, a physical and a spiritual representation of
the ideals and values that are inscribed in our Torah. It is a place to pray for strength, to
better ourselves, to forgive, and to beg for forgiveness. The temple is inspiration to be
kinder, wiser, and to strive to live by the six hundred and thirteen mitzvot.
Now, thirty years later, I still find tranquility through looking at the ancient walls of the
Old City; its light is poetic – unspoken, yet tremendously powerful. For me, this poem is
one of grace, hope and understanding.
My Jerusalem is a sanctuary, a vibrant city, and a complicated and beautiful bride. She is
mystical and real, and she lives in the depths my heart and captures my truest aspirations.
It is my most sincere prayer that someday soon, the glorious beauty, undying hope, and
overwhelming spirituality that encompass my Jerusalem begins to also characterize the
Jerusalem that is seen by our entire world.

Jerusalem

Pastor John Hagee

Jerusalem, the center of the universe.
Jerusalem, the City of Gold.
Jerusalem, the undivided capital of the covenant nation of Israel.
Jerusalem, the place that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob calls home.
Jerusalem, the experience that forever changed my life.
From the moment I first walked the ancient cobblestone streets of that Holy City, I sensed a
divine presence there—a type of supernatural peace known nowhere else. I have traveled the
world but only Jerusalem has felt like home.
Jerusalem is where Abraham, the father of all who believe, placed his beloved son, Isaac, on the
altar of sacrifice at Mount Moriah, reflecting his absolute faith in G-d Almighty!
Jerusalem is the city King David conquered 3,000 years ago, making it the eternal capital of
Israel!
Jerusalem is where Jeremiah and Isaiah penned the principles of righteousness that became the
moral foundations of civilization.
Jerusalem is where a Rabbi named Jesus of Nazareth established the covenants of my faith that
are chiseled in the depths of my soul.
Jerusalem is where Messiah will rule the earth for 1,000 years of perfect peace in the world to
come.
Jerusalem is the city that holds my heart.
When I prayed at the Western Wall, I stood next to a rabbi who bowed his head at every
mention of G-d’s Holy Name. I knew the L-rd was listening to his prayer and at that very
moment I heard the Lord speak to my heart to bring Christians and Jews together in an
atmosphere of unconditional love and mutual respect. It was a seemingly impossible task were it
not for the help of the Lord.

I entered the city of Jerusalem a pilgrim…and walked out of its gates a
Zionist. I believe all that the Holy Scriptures say of Jerusalem and have
dedicated my life to sharing these truths with the world.
May all of Zion rejoice as Jerusalem celebrates its Jubilee and may G-d’s
blessing be its cherished hope for tomorrow.
Yes, this Holy City has forever changed my life. Jerusalem means
eternal—for as poets have declared, “Jerusalem is the port city on the
shore of eternity.”