The Jewish Story: Jerusalem, the Once and Future City

in esketh official I'm teach takamine if I forget you O Jerusalem let my right hand wither teeth back leonid llyich a key you know as greatly in know I'll add you shall I'm our Rosh sympathy let my tongue stick to my palate if I cease to think of you if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy interlude Jerusalem the once and future city that opening line I just read is actual quote from Psalms it's from the same chapter in Psalms which is by the rivers of Babylon where we sat and wept as we remembered Zion it's the sound of Exile it's the sound of the people already looking backwards at Jerusalem you know there's something very strange about the power of Jerusalem that can even make us walk backwards through time with our eyes fixed on the place that we came from even as we move forward into our future and it was Daniel that set that pattern for us you remember Daniel way back when when we started this story it's about a boy who's far from home feeling lost but he has a dream about where he came from and where he's trying to get back to so we've been focused on the unfolding of Daniels vision for the future since we started the Jewish story but don't forget he was also the first one to turn back toward Jerusalem in his past and pray three times a day on his knees and as someone who actually spends quite a bit of energy in three times daily prayer I can tell you it's a mystery how prayer binds together the past the present in the future and it's a mystery that's best embodied by the city of Jerusalem you know how is it that my experience in the present cause me to turn toward the promised of the past in order to pray for a future that's a better place there's something about Jerusalem but that's line if I forget you O Jerusalem let my right hand wither yet a lot more focus in the Jewish story than its first appearance in the Psalms you may recall that at the first Zionist Congress in Basel Herzl had to fight off accusations that his vision was just a secular nationalist one divorced from the past of Judaism and in addition to his assertion that Zionism is a return to Jewishness even before there's a return to the Jewish land he got up in front of the entire Congress at the end and he swore an oath or really in truth affirmed an oath that the Jews had been swearing for over 2,000 years in huge a line if I forget you O Jerusalem let my right hand wither and all of the delegates swore together to remember but we know at this point the Jewish story that Mary is not simply a question of recalling what was right our whole journey has been one of telling a story of the past in order to shape present identity that can get us to the future of which we dream and that's why the delegates at that first fateful Congress swore never to forget the past and then what do they do they went out and began building a people in the present that could actually change their future and what they swore would be the foundation of their memory was Jerusalem Zion but to the Zionists Jerusalem was mostly the once and future city her present incarnation most of them never saw and even if they did they saw it as well I don't know problematic at best and we'll get to that part of our story I on the other hand have the incredible merit of living just outside of present-day Jerusalem I'm actually looking at it at my window right now and I have made the point so many times in this story that the present element of identity is so fleeting just like that that most of us live in attention in reality between the memory of what was an aspiration or anxiety about what will be attention between the past and the future and I want to take a moment today and just be present to the present because things are happening right now in Jerusalem right now this week this day you know we just celebrated the 51st anniversary of the return of M Israel to the Temple Mount and even if our grip is somewhat weak haha might be a day know that cried that the soldiers made when they first reached the heart of the old city that the Temple Mount is in our hands isn't just an empty slogan and if our grip is somewhat weak I'll tell you why because we're not quite sure what to do with it don't forget a blessing is only a blessing if you have the kaeleen if you have the vessels to receive it but that's okay temple was a vision of the past and an aspiration for the future for so long it's just gonna take a while for the present to catch up but it will and I watch is that hope you did as well as just this week the United States officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the sovereign state of Israel everyone's calling it right a historic moment and I agreed but it was a funny thing that struck me as living in present Jerusalem is that my brush with history this week mostly had to do with traffic and transportation problems and it's easy to grumble about the present when the weight of the past in the future take precedent for a few hours and snarl things up but seriously what struck me most about the speeches people were making pro/con the embassies move is a good mover or whatever however you think of it was how more or less everybody agreed on the past that Jerusalem is the heart of Ami's rail what they were fighting about is how they felt the present would affect the future was this moved the nail in the coffin of the peace process as if it weren't already full of nails or was it the foundation for a just and lasting peace now I'm not gonna weigh in on either right now but I do want to share this thought from the nationalist leader Zev Jabotinsky and as I promised already a couple times we're going to see his story in full because it plays out to our very day in very important ways and this lot comes from his essay the iron wall where if you've heard of it you might be surprised if you haven't actually read it to know he begins the iron wall but committing to protect Arab rights within the future state that he's fighting to fountain but in order to do such a thing he makes a critical observation and it's an observation that anyone who was watching the embassy opening as the riots on the Gaza border were unfolding simultaneously would do well to consider here's the quote as long as the Arabs feel that there is the least hope of getting rid of us they will refuse to give up this hope in return for either kind words or for bread and butter because they're not a rabble but a living people and when a living people yields in matters of such a vital character it is only when there is no longer and hope of getting rid of us because they can make no breach in the iron wall not till then will they drop their extremist leaders whose watchword is never and the leadership will pass to the moderate groups will approach us with a proposal that we should both agree to mutual concessions then we may expect them to discuss honestly practical questions you hear that it's a voice from the past offering food for thought on the present and what the future might just hold so in honor of Jerusalem I want to try something different I want to paint a little bit of a picture of Jerusalem past present and future because I actually did something that I've never done before in honor of Jerusalem I went out on Jerusalem day and I spoke to a few people about what they see when they look around them in the city and one of the people I met was my dear friend and compete rate Zeb Oren sneaked in his professional life he's the director of international affairs for the City of David if you don't know what that means he actually stands before the kings and princes of hour-a-day meaning he represents the core of the ancient city of Jerusalem really the beginning of the story of our people in many ways two senators congressmen journalists governors people of all type and his mission is to tell the story of Jerusalem on the behalf of the Jewish people so I asked him what he saw when he looked around on Jerusalem day 57 78 2018 and this is what he said I see a miracle I see the title of this show is the Jewish story a story has context it has a beginning as a middle has an end now we may not know how many pages this story has but there's something amazing that I asked my students recently when I have the privilege of teaching I said you know how is it that during the times of the Bible that people the Jewish people that we were able so easily after we see the plagues in Egypt and the splitting of the sea the manna falling from heaven and we're living we enter the land and you have the prophets in the temple and the open miracles and yet one theme repeatedly is either that we complained or we sinned how is that possible when we had such a clear vision before our eyes that there was a God there is a God right how does that happen and one thing I said to my students is that we the Jewish people collectively during those years we came to view miracles as part of normal we took them for granted and once you take something for granted it's easy to complain and so when you look around Israel today and specifically Jerusalem there's no shortage of challenges that one can point to of ways that we can make things better we can improve upon things but it's also important to understand that if you go back a hundred years ago and beyond and would have said to any of our ancestors let me paint a picture for you there is going to be a sovereign Jewish state of Israel with a Jewish government and a Jewish army and Jerusalem as its capital with the Temple Mount in the western wall the Mount of Olives in the City of David and that you can go whenever you want to pray you know at the western wall and you can just get on a plane and come whether it's for a few days or for a few weeks or a few months or a few years or you could move here at your choice they would say the Messiah must have come and we're living in a time of miracles that what we take for granted in the scope of the Jewish story is nothing but miraculous and so the blessing that that I would give is something I heard once from a teacher of mine or by Moshe liftman who said when we say in the the shmona s ray the silent benediction 18 blessings that the Jewish people say three times a day one of the things we say is Vitelli na na no boo shoo crowded Sambora Haim right let my eyes behold the return of your presence to Zion in mercy and reminiscently said what are we really saying for asking for in those words it's not that we're asking for God to return to Zion it's actually we're asking for God to open our eyes so that we can see that he's already returns meaning God is here the miracle is the fulfillment of the prophecy it's playing out literally before our eyes and what we're asking and this day Jerusalem day once a year at least let us be able to look past all the challenges all the work that still needs to be done and be able to see everything that has and is happening before our eyes so Jerusalem today is complex because it's real it's a capital city not just a memory or a dream and trust me I know that Jerusalem of day needs a lot of work socially economically religiously you know even aesthetically it could use some serious help and I often think that the problem with the aesthetics in our wonderful country is that everything is either thousand-year-old ruin or a building that was thrown up 50 years ago in order to last until things finally settled down and we could worry about how it actually looked Jerusalem has very little of the lived-in organic beauty that I have experienced in other places because the present is so brief when compared to the length of the past or the weight of the future but when I do let myself feel it as I walk the streets of Jerusalem I can feel that I'm living the dreams of 2000 years even though I don't allow it to shut my eyes to the realities of the present on the contrary my attitude is that the merit of living these dreams makes me want to fulfill the promise of or Jerusalem could be but there's a time to be critical and a time like like Zev said just see the miracle to let yourself be wowed tomorrow maybe even tonight we'll take our critical visions and we'll fight to make it better but today let's celebrate the miracle and the joy that celebration I believe was actually one of our greatest aids in facing the mountain of work that remains to be done so like I said I went out on the streets of Jerusalem on Jerusalem day and I didn't just speak with my friends I got to tell you I was way out of my comfort zone and KOCO vote all the honor to the people who do these types of things regularly but I find it incredibly challenging to walk up the stranger on the street with a microphone in my hand and say hey what do you see when you're looking around I'm used to being safely alone with the mic and just talking to you but here's a taste of what I heard from the people who are out on the streets on Jerusalem day and feeling wowed by the miracle a lot of you some he was born Latino shimmy over shall I read a solution I'm a techie boots I deliver teller you shall I'll not come idea will shun me ah everywhere you were using Malacca luckily I'm a Shopaholic ela you shall I become shitty or shall I call omnium Chihuly ovata our main Emilio sharma shows a vote our committee shall believe everyone who ever lived in Jerusalem it will always be an art without a man so can you tell me just a sentence of what it is to be in Jerusalem today we feel like we've completed our cycle that we're now here in Israel but with Jerusalem ours and the world's beginning to recognize that a tower it's ours and we won Eurovision last night and we had the gyro Italian race here for three days never before done in the history of Europe we just saw teenagers marching with Israeli flag down the center of the city singing and he baby and one word to say of Jerusalem you could say to her right now one word welcome home awesome what are you Dame's Matthew um Anna we're from Germany Germany so you're young you're still I'm you're in Jerusalem on the big day what do you see when you look around well I think people are getting excited a lot of people like a lot of a lot of things set up and right now yeah and it's just beautiful to see why'd you come because we had a wedding here yeah your wedding your way yeah and you see like a week ago oh my gosh you guys are still king and queen I'm so you could say one word to the city one word to give it what would it be either in whatever language you like and it's just I love wow that's hard that's just love love yeah city of our heart oh thank you thank you so much result Oh YUM you shall I'm matawaia Birkhoff money will connect about oh he can see many people come to celebrate Jerusalem mm-hmm it's a great city I was living in Jerusalem all my life oh you were born here yeah born here and I love this city and the people as malacca like universal amazing me laughs I thought unique what do you see in Jerusalem today if Jerusalem day today Jerusalem is the golden golden city and it makes me cry a golden fish beautiful you Jerusalem and Jerusalem day what do you see out there today I see Jerusalem's coming out and we were coming out early today because there will be no buses from 3 o'clock to 8 o'clock today that's right I stayed up until 2 o'clock to watch the Eurovision and that's a special thing for young euro shall I am a gift that we got to bring young yerushalaim I'm here 46 years from New York and did say one word to Jerusalem as a city what would you say there she's special there's nothing like it in the world thank you so much today is a very special day today is the redemption of a Jerusalem I asked people all over the world and come to Jerusalem and tell them about the importance and the only nests the reason in Jerusalem align the city what would you say to her today and she's beautiful she should get more and more beautiful than in the years the tests so that's a little bit of what Jerusalem sounds like in the present maybe not every day but at least a day when we can let ourselves see the miracle onwards to the past if you've been listening to do a story for a while you know that I can speak endlessly about what was but I've taken your attention for weeks months for some of you years I'd rather you can hear this thought about the link between the Jerusalem of the present and the Jerusalem of the past once again from my good friend Zev Ornstein you work for the City of David what do you think David would say if you could see this city now I think David would say the same thing that probably Solomon and and so many others like you know just give you a story that not long ago two years ago dr. Eilat Mazar announced the discovery of the seal of the King Hezekiah it says on the seal Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah founded the footsteps of the Temple Mount and I had this daydream about this seal after she announced its discovery and it's an amazing thing to be able to see it with your own eyes I haven't held it but I've been I've seen it talking about this piece of clay right from a financial perspective it's worth nothing it's just a piece of clay and you can imagine that Hezekiah he stamped his his signet ring into this clay attached a clay seal to the letter that he was sending and and somehow it ended up on the floor right and he's like ah no big deal all right I got a million of those and I have a stage in where Isaiah the prophet turns to and says you know what seal that you just the ceiling pressure you just let slip onto the floors like yeah what about it this is well you know that some nearly three thousand years from now twenty seven hundred years from now that seal is gonna be found and that's a guy I would probably be like okay whatever no big deal that's cool but all right what's a big deal he says no you don't understand it's gonna be found by your descendants and has okay I mean they're still be Jews in 2700 years I mean look what the kingdom is Kingdom of Israel has just basically been wiped out we've just nearly been wiped out ourselves by it by the Assyrians and you're telling me in 2700 years the Jewish story is still going on that's that's that's pretty intense then Isaiah says to him well not only that it's going to be found by your descendants in the capital of the sovereign Jewish state of Israel and I imagine that Hezekiah would then turn today and say listen if not for the fact that you're a prophet I would say you're crazy but because you're a prophet I guess it's true it's it's an amazing thing and as I imagine you know King David where God said to David I'm gonna establish an eternal dynasty with you and with your descendants and I can only imagine a day would come today and say God God is true God is true what bet their message could the past have for the present so what I see when I look into the future well anything is possible and for full disclosure sake I want to tell you that I am an apocalyptic optimist which is kind of a fancy way of saying that I'm pretty sure things are gonna get worse before they get better but I'm very sure that they will get better at some point and I believe in salvation so I've got hope so anything's possible but not everything is in our hands and it really does look like it might get worse first but it definitely is going to get better people I don't have to promise you it's been promised so in my eyes looking into the future is not a passive act even if I'm trying to take the sort of analytic pose of reading the writing on the wall and telling how the future emerges from the past with the present it's not just a question of decoding because sometimes looking into the future is actually choosing to see what ought to be and through that very choice bringing it into being in my eyes this is the secret of the connection that always exists between you shall I'm tell mala usually I'm shall Mata Jerusalem above and Jerusalem below and if you're interested in the topic you can always send me an e-mail I'll shoot you a little source sheet but for now Jerusalem above gel Matta looks like our vision of the future and when that vision is a dream of the world not yet seen or it's an idea of an idealized past that we once had or both in Jerusalem below looks like the present which always depends on how you see it good bad ugly and beautiful but Lamar Lamont above and below are always connected so looking to the future in Jerusalem is never just a passive observation sometimes it's a seeing in to being you have to have what rubbish Lamar called Messiah eyes but that doesn't mean you're looking at the world through rose-colored glasses it's meaning you choose to see that which you believe ought to be and that act of seeing brings it in the being it works with people and it can work on the city as well and the fact that Jerusalem above is always connected to blow also connects past present and future in a way that can shape the world as a whole because I only look at the imperfections of Jerusalem per has I can be easily overwhelmed I mean it's a crazy city out there I've been living around here for about 17 years I've seen blood in the streets and I'm praying every day to see a house of prayer for all people but I'm well aware that the only name for interfaith gathering on the Temple Mount of these days is a riot but if I can see Jerusalem present in light of her past things open up a bit I moved to raha meme it's a bit of compassion I have mercy gotta have mercy God have mercy on Jerusalem you gotta have mercy Mohammed Sorrell and frankly true compassion is the ability to place whatever or whomever that's standing before you in the context of the journey that they took to get to wherever you find them and who doesn't deserve compassion for the challenges that had to overcome in the winding paths that Life offers and who more so than Jerusalem and her people Israel my new people you gotta have some mercy it's been a long road but as beautiful as mercy and critical as it is it's not the only power offered by looking at Jerusalem present in light of Jerusalem past because her more recent event can offer hope as well I mean aside from what I see to be the revealed miracles of the times that we've married it just the very change and growth she's undergone with the return where people show us that the future is unbounded what is does not define what will be so the paths can move us in the present - Rafa meme and it can also give us a little bit of hope for the future but looking at Jerusalem present in light of Jerusalem the future that can move us to action because if I choose to see the sparks of redemption that are scattered through the city and whether you think that they're all over the place or whether you think they're terribly rare then when I see the warts the present which are all to present they become a call to action instead of a source of shame shame is disempowering but a little bit of righteous indignation and a sense of honor of what the city is worth can really get you moving the vision of Jerusalem above which is this holy city right this city which is worthy a better demands of me that I not hide from Jerusalem below but learn to look it in the face and see better world into being so what does the future look like well you know in the context of the Jewish story we've been talking about this primary tension between cosmopolitan and nationalist visions for the Jewish people but as I've already hinted at this is really just a reflection of a more essential struggle between pot and cloud between the particular in the universal I'm actually underlies creation in general and Jerusalem in specific Oh after all is it the capital of the Jewish state of the people Israel or is it the holy centre of the world and I have to say that I feel that tension in the nature of Jerusalem in my bones it's not just an idea sometimes if anything could keep me up at night this would be it because I have a side to me that is fiercely tribal and it cringes every time I hear people speak of Jerusalem as a city holy three-face I'm just telling you the truth what it says is mine not yours and I'm not going to justify my visceral response I don't feel the need for that if anyways I'm a happy particular with a rich inheritance of Jewish suffering who would love to be left alone please but on the other hand I have to tell you there's nothing more alive nothing more life-affirming and no greater display of the glory of God as revealed in history then when I see the crowds gathering to Jerusalem every color every language every religion every nationality passes through this holy city for whatever reason whether it's a bike race or you're seeking God when I walk the streets when I look around all these faces I can actually get a glimpse of what that city which surrounds Isaiah's vision of a house of prayer for all people might actually look like and I know in my heart when I fall into my over tribalist ways that future of Jerusalem is not a tribal place frankly not above and not below even within the tribes of Israel Jerusalem on the ground was never given out to one particular tribe when the land was divided up by Joshua it was held in trust until the people could come for it as a whole but when I say I have a deep-seated reaction to universalize in Jerusalem should know that one of the most frightening arguments I ever had with my wife was triggered by whether Jerusalem was the capital of M Israel or city that belongs really at the head of the whole world now it may have sound strange but I shared that thought with a student the other day and his answer was simple and direct can't it be both and it's not like I'd never heard that or hadn't thought it myself and some of my sunnier days but for some reason when he said it this time I could see it just a little bit more if I felt at home I know I could play host to the world and if we felt at home as a people I know we could play host to more than the world we could play host to this ain't not to God's presence as it returns to Zion and then once that happens maybe Jerusalem really could belong to both on Israel and the whole world undivided political capital of the Jewish nation state an unbounded spiritual capital of the world a place that where above and below meet where past informs the present and present is moving toward the future uniting humanity into one species of many nations and please let it be soon let it be now with a house of prayer for all peoples at its heart I just want to thank a few people I want to thank the people give their hard-earned money to make this show freely available and widely spread and even just pops one I want to invite you to join them go right now to Ralph's like calm and up in the right hand corner you can see uh be a patron button then click that through a little bit of per pod cast support I want to thank the Land of Israel Network that's the Land of Israel dot-com for creating a platform that allows me to reach so many amazing people I want to thank the partes Institute P AR DiBiase org IL for building a place that I can call home and where I can touch the hearts and minds of so many wonderful Jews and I want to thank you for listening I'm Rob my choir and this is the