Yom Yerushalayim: A day of glory, gratitude and remembrance

BY RABBI ZE’EV SMASON & RABBI YONASON GOLDSON

You’ve seen the photograph. Three Israeli paratroopers, their eyes glistening with tears, gaze up at the ancient stones of the Western Wall in awe and wonder. Jerusalem is ours!

On June 7, 1967, with enemy tanks massed on Israel’s borders and murderous Arab rhetoric promising to drive the Jews into the sea, the Israeli air force launched preemptive strikes against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Against overwhelming odds, Israel’s forces prevailed.

Two days later, on the 5th of the Hebrew month of Iyar, a small band of soldiers navigated the serpentine streets of Jerusalem’s Old City to enter the courtyard of Israel’s most sacred site. In one mystical moment, the Wall returned to Jewish control for the first time in 2,000 years.

It was there, in Jerusalem, that King David established the seat of his monarchy 3,000 years ago, that Solomon built the first Temple, that pilgrims gathered for the festivals three times each year, that the sages of the Sanhedrin convened to rule on Torah law, that the Maccabees re-inaugurated the daily service to their Father in heaven. Indeed, it was in Jerusalem that the revered sage Nachmanides arrived in 1267, exactly seven centuries before Jerusalem Day, one of a steady stream of Jews returning home from their long and bitter exile among the nations.

The prophet Zechariah refers to Jerusalem as Daughter of Zion. The name describes the eternal capital of a Jewish nation secure in its land, guided by the teachings handed down from Sinai, ruled by an enlightened monarch from the Davidic dynasty. Across the span of history, Jews have retained that connection, praying daily for our return to the land we left only at the point of a spear.

And yet, we hear again and again demands that Israel surrender its ances-