During the Six Day War in 1967, Israeli troops captured the eastern part of the divided city of Jerusalem and repatriated the Holy City and the Temple mount to Jewish sovereignty.
Fifty years ago we liberated the city from the Jordanians… but this was a liberation we had waited for, for almost 2000 years.
Over 3,000 years ago, King David bought the land from the Jebusites which would be the site of the Holy Temple which his son Solomon would build.
A succession of conquering empires took control of the city, beginning with the Babylonians, then the Persians, followed by the Greeks and then the Romans.
The Jewish revolt against Roman spiritual oppression began “The Jewish War.” The Romans eventually won the war, which climaxed in the destruction of the second temple in the year 70 CE. That was the beginning of the current 2000-year Roman exile of the Jewish people from their land.
After emptying the city of Jews and razing it to the ground, the Romans built a colony on the ruins and named it Aelia Capitolina so that the Jewish connection to Jerusalem would be forgotten.
Recently there have been excavations done at the western edge of the Western Wall plaza that cannot be seen from ground level.
It was a great day of reconnecting and I was struck by the contrast of the Roman heroic efforts to destroy the Jewish People’s connection to their Holy City and their Land… and the miraculous return of our people to Jerusalem and the Land of Israel after almost 2000 years.
When we celebrate “Jerusalem Day” we should appreciate that it is another step in a long relentless trek toward our ultimate redemption and the rebuilding of the Temple.
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