Jews have always lived in Jerusalem. Before the birth of Mohammed, there were Jews in Jerusalem and a holy temple built by King Solomon. Before the birth of Jesus, there were Jews in Jerusalem.
Everywhere else Jews have lived, no matter how long, we have been told: "this is not your place. You have no right to practice your religion here. You have no right to live here."
We lived in Spain for over a thousand years, and yet within a month, we were told to leave. We lived in Poland and Germany for hundreds of years and yet we were told, only sixty years ago: "You have no right to practice your religion here. You have no right to live here. You have no right to live.
And so we returned to our homeland, the place that every person on earth knows was the birthplace of the Jewish people. We returned to our capital, Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is not a piece of land. It is our history, our heritage, our religion, our deepest held longing and our most everlasting hope for the future of our people.
To deny our sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, is to betray the hopes and the rights of thousands of generations of Jews for whom"next year in Jerusalem" gave them the strength to survive and to hand down their heritage to the next generation.
It is to betray thousands of years of prayers and supplications to G-d to give us back our Holy City.
It is to betray the soldiers who fought and died for her, the children who were born in her, the immigrants who flocked to her from all over the world. It is to betray every Jew in the Diaspora, who turn their face towards her each day in hope and prayer.
Our generation, for reasons we cannot know, has been given the remarkable privilege of having Jerusalem once again return to its rightful owners, the Jewish people. Unlike those who ruled it before us, we never destroyed any place holy to any other religion. We never denied any pilgrim or worshipper access to their mosques and churches. We never used the gravestones from cemeteries to pave our roads, or used our bulldozers to destroy priceless antiquities.
To betray our bond to Jerusalem, is to betray our bond to G-d,Who has chosen this place as His eternal dwelling place on earth.
We will not betray our God, or our history or our city.
"Our feet stood within your gates, Jerusalem. Jerusalem that is whole, built around a holy center....Inquire after the peace of Jerusalem, those who love you view the future unafraid" (Psalm122)Naomi
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