Today I arose early and took a few minutes to look at the pearly dawn through my bedroom window. Later, I walked to the grocery store and bought fresh bread for breakfast before I began my workday. All trivial, mundane things? Yes, but there is a difference, for I was doing them in Jerusalem.
No matter what ordinary events shape my day, the fact that they are happening here, in our eternal city, somehow endows them with an extra dimension. Jerusalem has been the eternal city of the Jewish people since the days of King David and his son Solomon, who built the here. Generation after generation of Jews continue to recite “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand lose its cunning,” and devout Jews the world over turn toward this city three times a day in prayer as the focus of their longing.
Five thousand years ago, a group of settlers chose to make their homes on the steep ridge called the Ophel, south of today’s Old City. Two thousand years later, David captured it from the Jebusites, and by bringing the Holy Ark here, he established forever its sanctity for us. Jerusalem’s history spans 4,000 years.
In 2000 BCE, Abraham offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice on – ready to carry out the ultimate renunciation until an angel stayed his hand. A thousand years later, David captured the city, and in 961-922 BCE Solomon constructed the First Temple. In 537 BCE, the Jews returned from Babylon – where they had been exiled by Nebuchadnezzar – and in 517 BCE, the Seco.