The first time I was in Jerusalem I was in tears at the thought of walking on
the same streets walked by so many holy figures. R emember that when they had control of the area, Muslims deserated Jewish shrines, and as well the Church of the Nativity where Jesus was born.
Look closely at the photo of the Dome of the Rock mosque at the start of this articlle. Note the masonry cylinder t hat forms the base off the dome..
Itis dcorated all around with 6-poiinted(Jewish)stars.
It’s honestly simple Jerusalem is a city founded by Jews and built by Jews the only reason it’s important to Christianity and Islam is because they both derives from Judaism. Historically Jerusalem was the Jewish Home that has been taken away from us it’s about time it we get it back
1
Jerusalem is the direction I pray in every day (unlike other religions who claim ownership over the city). It is the place my ancestors dreamed of in their sweetest dreams. It is the history of the Jewish people (since long before the invention of the other religions that are popular today). It is the city that was liberated by the brave Israeli soldiers in 1967. And it is the united capital of the state of Israel!!
2
Polytheism is an interesting contrast to the fanaticism and arrogance intrinsic to this monotheism you are so proud about.
there is a reason why Hindu India welcomed not one, not two, not three, but four different Jewish communities, in Cochin, in the Konkani coastal area, in Bombay, and in Calcutta. Not to mention giving shelter to Parsi refugees from monotheistic fanaticism in Iran, and acsomodating heterodox sects with roots in Hinduism like the Buddhists and Jains, numerous different Christian sects, and of course Sunni, Shia, Ismaeli and other Muslim sects.
2
It’s the place in the world where the same God, gave 3 different ways of worshiping Him, to 3 parts of the same population (Semites). He made all of us. There are as many different kinds of people in the world as there are people. Some try to group them to make some more important. To make them live & worship the way others demand they do. That happens the world over. Only in Jerusalem do 3 religions, among the same people, demand the other 2 change. Totally. It’s why Jerusalem is the center of the ‘END’. Three beliefs given by the same God, two of which are deemed ‘WRONG’ by 1. Who declares the wrong depends on the day of the week I think. All have taken the same Love from God & tried to deny it to the other 2. He gave them the ‘center’ of the world, they say. Then have done there best for well over 2 millennium to destroy it. It’s not the capital of Israel, or Palestine. It was supposed to be the capital of the world. But, all 3 groups of ‘the children of the Book’ hated that, still do. Each believe they are the ‘ONLY’, not part of the whole. So, maybe it is time for Jerusalem to disappear from the world. Let the inhabitants try to explain why. All their fault. All 3 of them. Even the ones who mostly don’t live there, but, yell the loudest that they should control it. Yup, Christian Evangelicals. No humility among them at all. Hate everyone else. Only they have THE true religion. Maybe the truth. But, religion, all religions, are created not by God, but, by men.
2
I am a secular Jew for whom his Jew(ish)ness is one of the most important components of his life. Nevertheless, Jerusalem means nothing to me except that it is the home of one of the planets best universities, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I find the religious issues associated with the city kind of annoying. I won’t mind if Jerusalem becomes the capital of the future Palestinian State as well as long as all Muslim countries give up their pathological Jew-hatred.
3
Owned and managed by Christians, Jews and Muslims.
Jerusalem is beautiful. It is the rightful spiritual and national heart of the Jewish people. It deserves better than the dishonor of being used by Trump to further his hollow agenda of incitement against everybody but his base of racists and billionaire con artists.
2
Jerusalem is the historical capital of both ancient and modern-day Israel.
2
"I’d be much happier for the prospects of mankind if Jerusalem was leveled and ground into unrecognizable dust so no shrines could be built to this insanity anywhere there!"
eradicating the past is a typical ISIS action. I guess from your viewpoint it is ok, if the action coincides with your beliefs.
1
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill sounds like butter in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem to me is an archetypal and famous City that has deep deep meaning to millions of humans. I think I first heard the name in Bible stories and at Christmas as a child. The recent actions of the President show to me the United States to be one of the most arrogant and racist countries in all modern time.
My Dad was Born in Meah Shearim and Mom in Battai Hungarian in Jerusalem- they emigrated to the US and started the first Hebrew speaking Camp Massad in 1941-moving back to Jerusalem in 1980 - their lifetime was dedicated to educating our youth in the meaning of the Hebrew language- many prominent Americans attended our camps and many emigrated to Israel - I did not hear a gun fired in the 22 years I attended the camps - in Pennsylvania we were not surrounded by groups of individuals whose aim was to end our existence as Hamas threatens Israel -
3
I attended Camp Massad in Pennsylvania in 1961 and remember your father, Shlomo, quite well. On my mother's side was the Rudavsky clan. Massad was rather a traumatic experience for me, as I was only 6. For my experience the people running the place were quite harsh.
Be that as it may, I am not at all sure what the comparison you make between Palestine and Pennsylvania is. At no point did Zionists from Poland and Russia come to Pennsylvania and, at the point of a gun, evict American Christians from their homes and historical homeland, as our Irgun did to the Palestinian residents of Jaffa/Yaffo and a good portion of 700 other villages in Palestine. I am quite sure that had we, you would have heard lots of gunshots. Its as if a Puritan colonist in Mass. would be upset that the various indigenous tribes began to fight back as their land was being taken from them.
Your and many others attitude towards Palestinians is rather a bit twisted. Its Israel that has always threatened the existence of the Palestinians. You and I both grew up w/the fiction that "there is no such thing as a Palestinian" they were all just "Arabs," as of any Libyan could just go live in Iraq or any Lebanese move, at will, to Qatar. What tosh! How many times did we repeat, "the Arabs have 17 countries to live in, why don't they just leave us alone." That arose Hamas, with Israel's assistance, (to divide), is no big surprise. As if there is no racism in Israel on the part of Jews. Aravim Achutz!
1
Jerusalem unfortunately belongs to the world because The Old City explains the confluences of different religions is a very tiny geography. I've often said that the United Nations needs to be adjacent the Hilton Hotel there and Jerusalem should be the most ethnically diverse place on the planet. Trump should walk the cobblestone until his heart unfreezes.
1
Jerusalem means for me a homeland. A meaningful and powerful place which means a lot for me personally and nationally. I grew up on my parents stories about the first time they went to the western wall in 1967 and I can feel the excitement and spirituality until now
3
" And when our group emerged, we were in the Arab quarter, with smiling Arab merchants beckoning us to examine their wares. Friendship conquers war."
it is not true. smiling merchants are not your friends but are good business men.
Business conquers war. war is bad for business.
5
Any non-secular state lends itself to an inevitable oppression of a minority religion. Whether we are speaking of a Jewish state as in Israel or an Islamic state as in Egypt. Let us not forget the Christian states throughout history beginning with the Christianized Romans. Frankly, the concept of non-secular states is Un-American.
1
I have been to Jerusalem three times in different eras; back shortly after the Six Day War, when Israel had recently retaken the old city, and once in this century. when going to the Western Wall required security screening. Between those times my thoughts about the city have changed, from Jerusalem of Gold to international headache. In college I wrote a thesis on the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and reflecting on it I have devised a solution to the Jerusalem issue: Split the city, with the Israelis keeping the Jewish and Armenian Quarters, and the Palestinians getting the Muslim and Christian Quarters. The Israelis would then control the Western Wall; the Palestinians would manage sovereignty over the Haram al-Sherif (Temple Mount), containing the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque. It is feasible. What I like about this proposal is that neither side will like it, making it the perfect solution for two intractable, stubborn enemies, who couldn't claim any favoritism. Because they are blinded by the light of unyielding, intransigent Abrahamic scripture, the two sides will never come to an enlightened resolution of the conflict, so maybe it's time for the rest of the world to resolve it for them. "Next year in Jerusalem" should mean going to a city set free from being held hostage by the religions.
1
My husband and I were married at the Western Wall, arranging it with help of rabbis in USA. I have explained to US Christians that it probably is like a Catholic getting married at the Vatican.
1
I was born in Jerusalem in 1949. Growing up I never quite understood why my passport said my nation of origin was Jerusalem. As a US citizen since the age of 12, I do now. I was born Jewish, my mother from Baghdad and my dad from Aden, due to which we had retained our British nationality rather accepting Israeli citizenship. I visited Jerusalem in 1972; the Wailing Wall, the Mosque of Omar, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher moved me to my depths. Jerusalem is truly a Holy City that belongs to all of mankind and not to one tribe or nationality of humanity.
2
I grew up in monotheism, and regardless of the flavor you follow or are subjected to, the great scholar Joseph Campbell got it right when he observed that turning myths into laws is bad news. This is the original sin of the three branches.
I am Jewish and American, never having lived in Israel. This Israeli government speaks neither for me or to me, not about my religion, the need for a pacifier in a ravaged region or about the rights of a people to live in the lands of their ancestors. This country that walls out Palestinians from their own ancestral grounds does not represent the peaceful and loving values of Judaism that I was taught as a child.
Further, Netanyahu is no more a legitimate leader of that Middle Eastern country than Trump is the President of mine. Trump goes first. By recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, without at least talking explicitly of the claims of Muslims to its Eastern territory, is a failure of not just diplomacy but also human rights. Trump's unilateral move ignored that this is a holy city of not just one but three major religions. And making his recognition without at least holding Israeli settlements to internationally recognized borders means the move was a foolhardy waste of opportunity.
I also do not acknowledge Netanyahu's claim of righteous dealings. At this point, terrorism in the name of Palestine appears to come only from extremist groups, whose members should indeed be pursued. But every time Israel responds as a nation-state, with a puffed-up indignation and out-sized violence, raining bombs indiscriminately upon all Palestinians, it loses any claim to the moral high ground it so categorically proclaims as its own.
1
Jerusalem meant safety and a new life for my father and his family, when they fled Iraq in the 1950’s. They were escaping a society that had suddenly escalated from low grade discrimination against Jews to active hatred and violence.
When I think of Jerusalem, I think of sipping tea in my uncle’s cozy apartment, playing in outdoor parks, and walking through the Old City. The Old City in the early 1980’s was a place seeped in religion but not in threatened violence- you could see every type of worshipper, munch on giant sesame seed bagels and peacefully stroll to the ancient sites of Jesus, Mohammed, and King David within a few yards of each other. My Jewish dad would chat in Arabic with Palestinian vendors, and I would listen to American tourists trying to haggle in tiny, ancient shops. It was a wonderful place of clean white stone and noisy, friendly humanity.
Jerusalem has been blessed by the big three religions and cursed by it- it is being transformed into a polarized place of intolerance and dogma. What a huge shame for all of us.
4
It means a revival of any religious or historical claims on a land dating back 2000 years. England should be ceded to the Celts, the United States to Native Americans, and China should cede its western half to native peoples. Holding onto long standing historical claims in the face of modern reality, particularly when those claims are enforced through de facto apartheid, is no path to peace.
Jerusalem means nothing to me. It should be managed by Disney as a Holy Land theme park.
19
Your post is my favorite. Its the best. Your writing is so efficient.
While the Jews view Jerusalem as Holy, God-given, and is spiritually guided etc.,
There are facts on the ground that are indisputable:
1. Israel is using force to ethnically cleanse the Jerusalem and the areas around Jerusalem, and limit access to non-Jewish people - as it has done across what is now Israel since 1948.
2. In Jerusalem, there are 2 classes of people with 2 sets of residency classifications 1) non-Jews = Arabs (Muslims and Christians) = "Resident" with limited rights, and 2) Jews = Israelis = Citizens with full rights.
3. The Citizens with full rights in Israel have for the past 70 years abrogated, denied, and limited the Civil and Human rights of the other class of citizens without any recourse or penalty.
Question: (For Israelis is) how do you resolve that problem with the Palestinians?
The military weaponry, power, world political backing and the US are all heavily backing Israeli right now.
23
I am not Israeli, but rather an American Jew. But we are all citizens of the world, and I am like many, with a deep interest in seeing Israel right its path. I believe in an absolute right of Palestinians to human and civil rights, and claims to shared ancestral lands. So to do many Israelis, and they try to work in the service of their shared interests. To your question asked of them, of how to resolve this problem: If you were to ask a greatly concerned American, I would say the hard-line conservatives must agree with those countrymen to resolve the problem by transforming themselves from sole heirs into true pacifists. It is often petty people who fight others over inheritance, especially when that inherited pool is rich. And if the hard-line Israelis don't act for peace, breathe of peace, live in peace, the entire country must accept their self-imposed consignment to an unrelenting cycle of violence. Who cares about being right if you are diplomatically attacked by Western nations, violently provoked by extemists and torn asunder from within your own borders.
1
I'm fascinated by how you take as given that Israel has done "ethnic cleansing" in Jerusalem. After 70 years, and with all their military might, there are still over 300,000 muslims living in Jerusalem. There is a Christian quarter and a Muslim quarter as well as preserved holy sites for both. Please explain how this is ethnic cleansing.
1
Your first point aptly describes what the Jordanians did to Jerusalem in the 1948 war - ethnically cleansed it of all Jews ?why do you think there is a section called the Jewish Quarter), and the occupied the old city go 19 years without doing a thing to foster Palestinian self-rule over East Jerusalem. And nobody squawked back then that the Jordanians were occupiers trampling on the sovereignty of the Palestinians - which the did. How come? And what about the Jews forced to leave the old city, and their destroyed homes and synagogues - who pays for those?
2
Jeruselem is so meaningful to me. I lived there in 1971, fell in love there, and married there. I have walked the centuries old stones during grocery runs and made friends with all manner of it's citizens.
It has been the capitol of Israel since biblical times, no matter the invading armies over centuries. And the respect that is given to holy sites of Christianity and Islam is significant of the peaceful attitude Israel has always had with other faiths. Unfortunately that can't be said for the Christian crusades and the destructions of Jerusalem in 70 A.D or later Muslim invasions.
So now I applaud President Trump's bold declaration. Other Presidents have wanted to say this from the time of Israel's statehood in 1948, but no one had the courage. To live in fear of Arab reaction has held the US. impotent in the face of the reality that Jerusalem has always been inside the northern part of the biblical and modern state of Israel.
I will be spending Christmas in Jerusalem in 2 weeks. And I will celebrate with all faiths there.
10
It has not been the Capital of Israel since biblical times... you wash over history with words to suit your emotional view point and you don't use facts! In history, The land of Israel was a small part of what is now Israel... you point to some figment of your imagination to justify your perspective.
You speak of Fear...Palestinians live in constant fear of Israel and Israelis taking away their lands, their lives and anything they wish with the help of weaponry from and funding from around the world.
Let the facts speak... how many acres of land have Palestinians expropriated from Israel vs. Palestinian Land Expropriated from Israel, How many Palestinian jets have flown and bombed over Israel vs Israeli Jets over Palestinian lands.
How many Palestinians have been killed by Israelis vs. numbers of Israelis killed by Palestinians. How many Jews were driven out of their homes Europe, vs. how many Palestinians were driven out of their homes by European Jews in 1948...
Israelis fear losing everything they have stolen form the Palestinians!
A militantly secularist French friend of mine said to me, a number of years ago, "If you give me the Temple Mount, I'll get rid of anything religious up there, and make a playground for children."
As a child, I sang songs of longing for Jerusalem while attending Zionist camp. As an adult, visiting on business, I found the place to be creepy, with its zones of ethnicity, barely-suppressed resentments (Palestinian children in the Old City pointing wooden rifles at tourists), and hyper-religious men in black seemingly everywhere. It wasn't the dream citadel of those summer camp songs.
I wish for peace and justice for everyone in that very old, very historic place, but I am glad to be living elsewhere.
9
People around the world look to Washington D.C. as the heart of democracy and take inspiration from it.
Does that mean that every nation can claim it as the capital of their country?
Can the NY Times give any evidence that Arabs or Palestinians have ever referred to Jerusalem as the center of their faith, social consciousness or political aspirations before the 20th century.
7
It was literally the direction of prayer during Muhammad's lifetime. A lot of Muslims also believe that's where he ascended to heaven like 1500 years ago. That means it's been at the center of that religion since it's begining, and well before they were driven off their property in the mid 20th century.
Jerusalem has a place in history 3000 years ago. We live in the here and now. Those who would bring today’s world to the brink of destruction based on events from 3000 years ago, especially based on the root of most evils, that being any organized religion, need to grow up.
I’d be much happier for the prospects of mankind if Jerusalem was leveled and ground into unrecognizable dust so no shrines could be built to this insanity anywhere there!!
19
I have visited Al Quds (Jerusalem) many times, despite the prohibition and harrassing check points! After you enter the old city through Damascus gate, you forget all that Hussle! You just in other world of history and spirituality, all your senses starts to integrate in your mind to feel the peacefullness in this place! Smells, no bad smell, taste, no bad food there, and sound, no noise there! Everything has a meaning, if you want your soul to travel somewhere, visit the peace city, Al Quds!
3
What is the big deal about USA placing their embassy in Jersuleum? Why does that effect the issues in Israel? Really people?
9
Its a huge deal. It basically means the US is officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the country...even though Palestine also considers it their capital. Seriously.... you don't see how this would insult them?
I was born in Tel Aviv and lived in Israel for 21 years before studying in the UK for a Doctorate and moving to the USA in 1986.
As a student in elementary school we had multiple trips to Israel’s capital Jerusalem visiting the Knesset, Yad Vashem etc.
During one of the visits our teacher pointed to the old part of Jerusalem where we saw some Jordanian soldiers on one of the walls.
From 1948 to 1967 no Jew had any access to the wailing wall nor any part of the Jewish quarter!!!!
After 1967 until this day! every religion and every person was allowed to worship in any part of Jerusalem !! This is the reality of Jerusalem !
So to hear a Palestinian journalist, Ms. Jebreal, on TV, describe the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of democratic Israel as declaration of war on all Muslims is sick!
My entire family perished in the holocaust. My parents survived by finding their way to Israel giving me a chance to grow up in a democratic state respecting all peoples.
I served in the Israeli Air Force defending Israel when the Egyptians, Jordanians and Syrians attacked Israel in 1967.
Jerusalem has always been the capital of Israel from the day I was born in 1948!
When Jews pray anywhere in the world, as they have done for a thousand years, it is always in one direction- pointing to the city of David, Jerusalem!
28
OK, your problem could be solved by making Jerusalem an international city, welcoming all, without anyone living there second class citizens. If soldiers or policemen are needed, let them be from the U.N.
When WE (whichever we) stop ruling over THEM (whichever them) life is better for all.
1
As an American Jew who finds the ignorant Trump deplorable - I am hoping for a 2 state solution and the end of the controlling far right in Isral as well as in the U.S.
13
As a self-described "liberal" American (you know, in the tradition of Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln, both Roosevelts, Truman, and JFK . . . (and maybe even Reagan, lol!) I, too, find Trump deplorable. And I disagree w/ the timing of his announcement. But so many of the comments on this story are so extreme-radical (both radical left and radical right) that I seriously worry if supposedly educated readers of the NY Times can discuss the Middle East with any reason.
As an ultra hasidic orthodox jew I do not need America to recognize Jerusalem as an important place for jews.I am just hoping and praying that the Muslim extremist around the world and in the middle east will use this as an excuse to kill innocent jews,this whole recognition is worthless if innocent Jewish blood will be spilled as a result of this.
1
I have been to Israel 3 times, each visit meaningful to me as an observant Conservative Jew. The first visit, in 1968, was a year after the Six-Day War. After nearly 19 years of Jews not being allowed to pray at the Western Wall, I and my husband were able to approach this holiest site in Judaism. We were also able to walk on the Temple Mount, take off our shoes, and respectfully enter the Dome of the Rock, to see the rock from which three faiths believe Abraham stood. At some later point the Israeli government voluntarily turned over administration of the Temple Mount to the Arabs, who stopped permitting Jews to ascend there. In 1996, the then prime minister of Israel reopened an ancient tunnel under the Western Wall that allowed visitors to trace the history and building of the wall millennia ago. Arab insurgents retaliated with gunfire and a number of people were killed. Two weeks later my husband and I made a trip to Israel to visit our son, who was studying there for a year. When planning our trip we expected the tunnel tour to be the highlight, but now we were afraid to go there. But as many people will tell you, once you are in Israel, fear drops away and you do things you might hesitate to do in the US. We took the underground tour, along with groups of Jews and non-Jews. Seeing how the wall was built was awe-inspiring. And when our group emerged, we were in the Arab quarter, with smiling Arab merchants beckoning us to examine their wares. Friendship conquers war.
14
Upon my first visit to HaKotel, I was overwhelmed. So much history, so much suffering, so much devotion to a place that contains so much beauty but tyranny and oppression by others always inflicted on the people of Moses. The pink gold of the Jerusalem stone as the sun sets. The olive branches that grow out of the tiny crevices in The Wailing Wall. The well worn cobblestones and the narrow passages within the Old City. The young Palestinian on a donkey and the look of raw hatred as I stepped aside to let him pass. And now, the knowledge that Yerushalayeem will never be a city of peace as long as one group of people seeks the complete annihilation of another.
6
I met my husband at a physics conference in Jerusalem. Our first date was at an Arab restaurant in East Jerusalem, because on Friday night those are the only places open. I would prefer that the politics stay in Tel Aviv. Jerusalem should be appreciated for its beauty and the significance of its complex physical and spiritual history.
4
On fieldtrips in 2011 and 2015, I took my four adolescent homeschooled children to Jerusalem as part of a journey to understand the Holy City, the center of the Abraham religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
As practicing Roman Catholics, we were on a quest to understand the 'Commonality of Compassion' integral to the tenets of all three world religions.
For six months before our two-week trip, we studied the history, religion and culture of Jerusalem. We read aloud all 900 pages of James Michener's tome, The Source. We wanted to see, touch, feel, breathe the air of this most Holy of City to so many. We wanted to understand the tenets of Judaism and Islam as well as those branches of Christianity about which we we were uninformed, particularly Eastern Orthodoxy.
As we walked the walls of Jerusalem, visited sites holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims (many holy to all three religions) and talked to the faithful, our pre-trip studies and brief but powerful time in Jerusalem melded into a soul-searing experience.
We left Jerusalem transformed, awed and humbled by its significance to Jews, Christians and Muslims. We felt touched to the core of our beings that this Holy City is meant by God to be shared by all believers. We felt the Holy City vibrate with the truth that it imbues the potential for the realization of a shared compassion among all believers.
As the Psalmist exhorts, May those who love you, Jerusalem, prosper. May you ALL prosper.
7
I was raised a Catholic and while I don't practice I understand what Jerusalem means in that religion as part of Christianity. The site should be able to be shared by all 3 religions who have an interest in it, Christians, Muslims and Jews. No one should dominate, but of course that is not Trump's way. Sharing or fair play isn't part of his vocabulary.
9
it was not shared by the Jordanians while East Jerusalem was under their control prior to the 1967 . Jewish cemeteries were used as latrines by the arabs.
decades have passed, but the arab mentality has not changed.
6
I was born a Muslim but I've since found my true path: atheism. So, Jerusalem to me is a place where the unenlightened fight for a piece of the most useless part of history.
35
You've heard of the "Twin Cities" Minneapolis and St. Paul? How about the "Twin Capitals" Jerusalem and Al Quds? Our so called president is a puppet of the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community not just in our country but in Israel, too. Besides, he lives for the chance to poke Muslims in the eye at any given opportunity. It's not a secret that Bannon has controlled Trump since his gold escalator ride and Bannon wants a war on Islam. This embassy controversy could be the "Gulf Of Tonkin" that Bannon and Trump are hoping for. If Iran and its paramilitary group exports don't want to be attacked by the U.S. military, they will have to abandon large parts of "their" conflict with Israel. Netenyahu won't be around forever and waiting for that day is worth waiting for, making the peace process once again possible.
12
The plight of the Palestinians is like that of the conquered Germans who were unable to use their capital for 50 years.
4
Not at all- totally wrong analogy. Read some history before you make ignorant comparisons
5
I've always felt that one's religion was a singularly spiritual condition. Why are physical entities such as man-made buildings and locations so important?
9
I agree.
I’m a Jew. Jerusalem as an idea and symbol of Judaism is very dear to me. The actual Jerusalem, a place where the Jewish religious-right hurls chairs at women who want to pray out loud at the Western Wall, is a repudiation of Jewish ideals.
Trump, as President, is repudiation of American ideals.
9
Because religion is not a singularly spiritual condition. If you study history, you can see that throughout history, religion served as a vehicle or an inspiration for literature, poetry and polemic, and is hence deeply woven into history and culture. And architecture. Much of the ancient architecture we marvel at today was built to express some religious ideal or please some ancient god or goddess. That's why we have it to marvel over now.
Most of us humans are not purely abstract thinkers. We feel more emotional attachments for places, shrines, physical manifestations of spiritual beliefs, than we do for bare naked abstract spiritual thinking detached from all space and time.
1
Patricia ..I stand corrected, by your excellent rebuttal. It seems that without our material connections in league with the spiritual, we cannot survive. Does it follow then that without these icons one's faith is not strong enough to survive?
I realize the weakness of man.
Search for meaning as opposed to Corporal pleasure/happiness was at the heart of my first comment. I need to get back to reading Joseph Campbell.
Jerusalem is the soul of the Jewish people. It is the home of David & the temple of Solomon. Our faith is wind tightly around Jerusalem. We have signified this for over 3,000 years, as Jews around the world shout next year Jerusalem at the end of our high holiday prayers.There cannot be a Israel without it.
19
But there certainly can be an ISRAEL that shares Jerusalem with their Arab brothers. I pray for that and for peace.
6
Palestinians whether they are Muslim or Christian also have claim and have lived in Jerusalem for thousands of years.
Your God, Your claim to land, and your aspirations while living in Kentucky, New York, London, Paris, or Munich, are not more important nor paramount to those of Palestinians who were born and raised and whose families have resided in Jerusalem for Millennia.
Thoughts?
7
Ok, have it continue to be the spiritual capital of Judaism, as it has been for thousands of years. Why do you need political and military domination over all of it for this to happen? It's holy to other faiths, too, and home to some atheists as well. It belongs to everyone who lives there.
11
Many Jews have always felt that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, the Jewish homeland, and now Trump has officially given it the recognition it deserves.
I have been to Israel a few times and, after the Holocaust, its existence has given a sense of comfort to the Jewish People that there is a safe haven if ever something similar were to happen again.
Hopefully there is some way to achieve a compromise that works for both sides and perhaps the holy sites of the Palestinians and Muslim people could be permanently designated a part of their homeland and governed by their people to help achieve a lasting peace.
7
I remember being at the Wailng Wall when a Catholic cleric pt on a Yarmulka and said a short prayer at the Wall. Afterwards I went to an Arabic bakery a few blocks away and had some delicious warm bread with zahtar. This bakery had a kosher certification signed by a rabbi. It was an experience that demonstrated the beautiful coexistence of the 3 faiths in the holy city of Jerusalem.
23
To me, Jerusalem is the likely spot where the battle of Armageddon will begin. Trump has just helped usher in that eventuality.
4
That would be the worst possible outcome. But you may, alas, be right.
The word Armageddon itself tells us where this battle will supposedly be held. In Tel Megiddo, which is a place in Israel that used to be a large Canaanite city. Armageddon is just Greek for Tel Megiddo. Many important battles have happened there.
About 30 years ago I visited Israel and Egypt. As a non-religious and non-tribal Jew I stood in Jerusalem thinking that this holy place of three religions signifies many things to many peoples, but for me, it is the slaughter of "the other" by human beings filled with feelings of righteousness.
If this be religion, if this be nationalism, if this be "faith" in your truth, you can have it. Non-tribal atheists and agnostics kill less.
If religion has any redeeming qualities, show it by making Jerusalem an international city for all faiths- and the faithless. Then I'd return feeling better about the human race.
20
"non-tribal atheists and agnostics kill less?" Do you remember the gulags and re-education camps of the USSR and China? How about the intentional starvation of tens of millions of Ukrainians by Stalin for opposing Moscow's diktats of collective ownership? The worst slaughters of the 20th Century were perpetuated by atheists (Communists).
1
I could have gotten more specific, but I would say that dogmatic Communism was/is also a religion, as people held on to it with the same faith, oblivious to what was happening, as regular religious zealots. Maybe I should have said that skeptics kill less.
1
There are a number of stories covered by the Times today. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be one mention of Pearl Harbor day, the day a Japanese attack in Hawaii brought the United States into World War II. Is it not important to remember it anymore? I heard the POTUS and FLOTUS spoke about it today, both making embarrassing errors. I would like to have read about that.
12
If the Times reported on EVERY embarrassing thing uttered by POTUS and FLOTUS, there would scarcely be room for anything else.
2
I am an American born in Israel and I served in its armed forces as a paratrooper. In 1967, I was called , as most Israeli reservists were, for active service in preparation for what became known as the Six Day War.
I participated in the battle that lead to the liberation of Jerusalem and I can categorically say that the majority of those who fought for that city, did not then , and do not now, support the inclusion of the East, mostly Palestinian populated, part of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
I’ve long felt that the mistake made in trying to negotiate an Israeli-Palestinian peace was leaving the Jerusalem issue to be resolved at the end of the process, not at the end of it. The status of that city should qhave been at the top of the list because without making that city the capital of both peoples, the two state solution can not be achieved, no matter what our president declares.
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You're against the two-state solution. Okay. That's your right. But another possibility is a no-state solution, if forcing this issue leads to war. Perhaps you're prefer two to zero.
No relevance to me at all, although I am well informed on the situation over there and the history behind it. We have bigger problems in the US right now.
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absolutely agree. making bibi and hagge happy is not work any risk or even inconvenience to the rest of us.
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