Cape Town Yom Yerushalayim with Rabbi Hammer

A sought-after international speaker, he captivated the audience on Sunday when he spoke of Jerusalem being the lodestar for Jews around the world.

Hammer, who was born in New York and today lives in Israel with his wife and six children, made aliya in 1990. he served in the army under the Israeli Rabbinate branch of the Israel Defence Forces.

He gives lectures at secular Israeli kibbutzim and throughout the world on the importance of Jewish identity. He is a Torah scholar, orator and teacher.

Hammer told the Camps Bay community that no city in the world had ever played as great a role in the life of a nation for so long a time as Jerusalem has done in the life of the Jewish people.

His visit was a wonderful way to reinforce the connection between the Cape community and the State of Israel as he succeeded in appealing to the group of religiously diverse Jews with a message that was relevant and thought provoking.