O Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a Johnny-come-lately on the scene of Jewish history. It is never mentioned by name in the Torah, Judaism's most ancient book.
There is mention of "Salem," which we assume, with good reason, is the ancient name for Jerusalem (Genesis 14:18), but there is no hint of its future importance. Strangely, even the story of the akeida (the binding of Isaac) is told with no specific reference to Jerusalem. Only in the very late book of Chronicles is that story connected to the Temple Mount (Chronicles II 3:1). The Book of Deuteronomy repeatedly mentions "the place that the Lord shall choose," but does not identify the place.
It is only with David's conquest of Jerusalem, also known as Jebus after the Jebusites who lived there, that Jerusalem comes into our history. Quite rightly it is known as "the city of David" (Samuel II 5:6-9), since he made it the royal capital. More importantly, he also ensured its centrality by bringing the Ark to Jerusalem and installing it in Zion, eventually in a threshing floor he purchased (Samuel II 24:18). The Ark, the symbol of God's presence, had always moved from place to place. Giving it a permanent home in Jerusalem transformed a political capital into a religious capital.
The mountain on which the Ark sat became the equivalent of Mount Sinai and from then on was known as "The mountain of the Lord" (see Psalm 48). Solomon's building of the Temple, a permanent structure to replace the portable tent, reinforced the concept of Jerusalem as God's dwelling - "city of the Great King" - as the psalmist phrased it (Psalm 48:3). Thus Jerusalem became the "place the Lord shall choose," and eventually also became specifically identified with the site of the akeida as well.
The next and decisive step in the transformation of Jebus into Jerusalem came through the work of the prophets. They gave Jerusalem not only a past but also a future. The time will come, taught Micah (4:1-4), when the mountain of the Lord's house will become the site of pilgrimage for the nations, and from which would come forth "the word of the Lord." As a result of this, Micah taught, "they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks" and never again know war.
This exalted vision, echoed by Isaiah (2:2-4), remains the hope of the human race.
Jerusalem, then, is the symbol of that wondrous time when peace, shalom, a word that is embedded in the name Yerushalayim, will prevail. Unfortunately, as we all know, the vision of Jerusalem, either as a city of peace or as a place unifying all humankind in a universal knowledge of God and an end to war, has not been realized. The prophets who enunciated the dream were, at the same time, aware of the reality.
Micah denounced the rulers "who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight" (3:9). Isaiah called the gatherings at the Temple "assemblies with iniquity" and said that Jerusalem "has become a harlot" filled with murderers and thieves. Jeremiah, in the days preceding the destruction of the First Temple (586 BCE), searched the city in vain for a just man (5:1-2) and called the Temple itself "a den of thieves" (7:11). During the days of the Second Temple, Jerusalem was a center of violent clashes between rival factions within Judaism, extremists who brought about its destruction.
The writer is the head of the Rabbinical Court of the Masorti Movement and the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel.