Jerusalem – G-d’s embassy

CHIEF RABBI WARREN GOLDSTEIN

As Trump heads to Israel for his first presidential visit to the country, it is this issue, among others, that is commanding attention.

This brings to mind what Prime Minister Menachem Begin said when he was in London before meeting Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in May 1979. Yehuda Avner recorded what happened: “Are you going to ask Mrs Thatcher for her support of the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,” fired another [journalist] in a la-di-da accent.

Frigidly the Prime Minister answered: “No sir – under no circumstances.”

“Why not?”

“Because, sir, Jerusalem was a Jewish capital long before London was a British capital. When King David moved the capital of his kingdom from Hebron, where he reigned for seven years, to Jerusalem, where he reigned for 33 years, the civilised world had never heard of London. In fact, they had never heard of Great Britain,” and he turned on his heels toward the door where Mrs Thatcher was waiting to greet him.

The heated debates around the moving of the US embassy miss the point. Should we really be so perturbed whether President Trump moves the American embassy to Jerusalem? It is so disempowering to care so much about whether the embassy is moved to Jerusalem.

To petition Trump to do so makes the legitimacy of Jerusalem as a Jewish city dependent on who happens to occupy the White House at a particular moment in time. In the name of self-respect let us step back from this pursuit.

This week we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem and its reunification with the rest of Jerusalem. It is 50 years since the Six Day War, but the city of Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for more than 3 000 years since King David established it as such. 

Jerusalem was the capital of Israel millennia before Washington, London, Moscow or Paris existed. It is more the capital of Israel than any one of the great capitals of the world are capitals of their own country.

Is there any capital of any country anywhere in the world that has a 3 000-year-old history? It was the site of the Temple built by King Solomon and then of the Temple built by the exiles returning from Babylon. It was under Jewish sovereignty for centuries and centuries and has had an unbroken Jewish presence in it for all of these thousands of years.

But Jerusalem is more than history. It and the values it represents, live with us every day of Jewish life. We refer to Jerusalem in our prayers three times a day and in the Grace after meals. We refer to it at every wedding and at every funeral.

There has never been a people more devoted to a city than the Jewish people is devoted to the city of Jerusalem and the ideas and principles it represents. To suggest that it is not the legitimate capital of the Jewish State is beyond belief. It so obviously is, that to even raise it as a question is an insult to thousands of years of Jewish history.

And so, to entreat President Trump to move his embassy, is to imply that Jerusalem could be anything other than the capital of Israel and the Jewish people. Surely, what is truly important is that Jerusalem is the hearts of Jews in Israel and around the world, and that it be to us, G-d’s embassy in this world, unifying us all around it. 

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the reunification of the city of Jerusalem, let us take a step back and appreciate the full context of Jewish history, that this is indeed not a celebration of a 50-year milestone, but a sparkling and remarkable chapter in a 3 000-year-old saga, one which is so deeply rooted in Jewish history and in Judaism, that we can stand tall and proud in the knowledge and connection to the city of Jerusalem and everything it stands for.

It is symbolic of the Jewish mission which we have carried since G-d gave it to us at Mount Sinai more than 3 300 years ago. It symbolises our values and our heritage. It symbolises the world of holiness and morality, which flows from our Torah.

And so in this week of Yom Yerushalayim, let us take pride in that and stand tall and say to the world that wherever they may choose to place their embassies has no bearing whatsoever on the place of Jerusalem in our hearts and souls as the eternal capital of the Jewish people, and G-d’s embassy on earth.