Hanukkah and the Annapolis conference apparently caused some hysteria among the self-appointed guardians of Jerusalem. In recent weeks, it has been almost impossible to tune in to any of the stations of Israel Radio without hearing one of two commercials, both of which seek to strengthen the ties between the (Jewish) people living in Zion and their capital city.
In one ad, the Jewish masses are called upon to visit the Temple Mount. The days of Hanukkah, during which the Temple was purified by the Maccabees! What are you, Jerusalem: the city of God or an ordinary city? And where is your heart: at Givat Ram and the Kirya, or at Mount Moriah? the announcer, Avshalom Kor, asks rhetorically, in the voice that is so closely identified with the annual Bible quizzes and the nationalistic language spots that he broadcasts daily on Army Radio. Afterward, he informs listeners that the Temple Mount is open to Jews under police protection every day, and urges them to come and visit, after immersion in a mikveh [ritual bath], and not wearing leather shoes.
The religious audience of this preaching has no need for such instructions, but if they are already preaching religious behavior to secular listeners, it would have been fair to inform them as well that most contemporary rabbis – including the most important ones on the religious right – continue to forbid Jews to ascend the Temple Mount altogether, even after immersion in a mikveh, and not wearing leather shoes.
While this commercial arouses fears of a security risk (masses of Jews suddenly deciding to answer the call and rushing the Temple Mount), the second commercial arouses a different kind of unease. It s part of a new campaign for Jerusalem headed by former minister Natan Sharansky and Yehiel Leiter, former head of Benjamin Netanyahu s bureau: Every nation has a capital that is theirs alone. The French have Paris, the British have London, and we have a unified and liberated Jerusalem, thunders the announcer several times an hour. Above all places: Jerusalem. Above any controversy: Jerusalem. Above all the generations: Jerusalem. Now is the time to come and swear allegiance to Jerusalem. Now is the time to tie a gold ribbon to identify with Jerusalem. Because above all: Jerusalem.
It s worth examining the claim on which this new campaign is based. Above all, Jerusalem? Not at all, certainly not from a religious point of view.
Judaism praises the sanctity of life, and accordingly, the halakha instructs us that only three commandments are yehareg uval ya avor -laws for which a person must give up his life before violating them: the prohibitions on shedding of blood, idol worship, and forbidden sexual relations. Control over Jerusalem is not included in these commandments. Nor is Jerusalem above Shabbat observance, the laws of kashrut, or commandments that instruct us to care for orphans and widows. In fact, there is no connection in Jewish tradition between sovereignty and sanctity; there is certainly no commandment mandating Jewish political sovereignty in Jerusalem.
Yes, Jerusalem is a symbol. According to tradition, it was conquered by King David, who turned it into his capital. His son Solomon built the Temple there, to which Jews made a pilgrimage three times a year. Yes, for 2,000 years Jews longed for Jerusalem and mentioned it in their prayers, but it was as much a symbol as a concrete place.
Risking Jewish lives over Jerusalem is far from being above any controversy, in the words of the commercial-certainly not from a religious point of view. It is no coincidence that the leaders of the National Religious Party at the time, headed by Minister Moshe Haim Shapira, were among the prominent opponents of the Six-Day War, and of the Israel Defense Forces entering East Jerusalem, even in the midst of the fighting. The sanctity of Jerusalem in general, and of the Temple Mount in particular, does not depend on who is sovereign in the city.
And we haven t even said a word here about undermining the rights of another nation, members of another faith, who also hold Jerusalem and the Temple Mount sacred. Jerusalem above all? Not at all.
This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service, and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.