OH JERUSALEM

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                         

2nd Temple in Jerusalem on Mt. Moriah, destroyed in 586 BCE,
where Abraham in 2nd millennium BCE prepared to offer Isaac in sacrifice, site of the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite bought by David b: 1010 BCE  on which to build an altar.  First Temple of Solomon built here. ( 961-920 BCE), the Jews' holiest site, now covered with The Mosque of Omar    

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and has been since its birth in 1948.  Only Israelis seem to recognize this fact as the rest of the world has not.  Giving recognition to Jerusalem seems to be a political step siding with the Jews in living in the land and this they are afraid to do, even though the fact was addressed in the UN and accepted by all the nations there.  Jerusalem's boundaries keep changing and today have expanded from the Old City to all of Jerusalem, so comparing population is not an exact science as it is comparing different sizes of land.                                                               

                                              Eternity means Jerusalem-Talmud, Berakhot, 58

                                THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE-Palestine -1517 to 1917

In 1525-1526 there were 1,194 Jews, 3,704 Muslims and 714 Christians in Jerusalem.
By 1553-1554 there were 1,958 Jews, 112,154 Muslims and 12,154 Christians there.
 This was during the Ottoman Empire that held the land for 400 years until World War I. .

Jerusalem is a city where 300,000 people lived in 1972.  By 2003 there were 693,217 people living there of which 464,527 were Jews and 228,690 were Arabs and Christians.  The Old City of Jerusalem itself had 3,965 Jews and 31,405 Arabs.    In 2011 there were 497,000 Jews, 281,000 Arabs and 14,000 Christians with a total of 801,000 people living in Jerusalem.

   There is no beauty like the beauty of Jerusalem, Avot Derabbi Nathan, Talmudic Commentary
                                                                                  

Solomon deciding on the real mother of the child

Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish nation of Israel between 1000 BCE to 586 BCE, a total of 586 years continually as their capital.  Again it was their capital between 516 BCE to 70 CE, a total of 586 years!  This means Jerusalem had been the capital of Israel for 1,172 years!   Now, since 1948 it has added on another 67 years with a new total of 1,239 years as a capital of the Jews.  
                                                                           

Assyrians lost to Babylonians in 597, and 586 BCE

What had been going on  during those 70 years between 586 BCE and 516 BCE?  The Babylonians, led first by Nebuchadnezzar (king of Babylonia 605-562 BCE)  had attacked and had carried off 8,000 of the local aristocracy  of Judah to Babylon, putting the Jews under Persian rule.  He had captured Jerusalem in 597 BCE.    Then  Cyrus II attacked  in 538 BCE, who overran the Babylonian Empire including Judah!    It was in 538 BCE that Cyrus granted permission to the Jews of Judah in Babylon to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.  The Jews thought of Cyrus as a Divine agent for his understanding and kindness.  Cyrus II died in 529 BCE.   This was the 3nd attack Jews had experienced.  The first was when the Assyrians, led by Shalmaneser V  had attacked in 722 BCE, also taking Samaria;   and  Sargon in 721 BCE taking  27,290 Israelites as captives to Assyria and Media.  So Jerusalem had been emptied of Jews in those 70 years and all were captives!  Sargon had replaced the captives they took with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.  

                     Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth, Bible, Zechariah, 8, 3

The Kingdom of Judah came about when King Solomon died in 933 BCE.  It was the southern part of Israel that broke away from the rest due to differences with  government rule. When they divided, Jerusalem went to Judah and Samaria then  became the replacement capital of Israel.  As it was, Judah was more religious than Israel and needed the religious atmosphere of Jerusalem more than they needed to deal with other countries, which Israel was doing.

                        Jerusalem which is bound firmly together, Bible, Psalms, 122, 3

So the year 586 BCE was very bad as they had succumbed to the Babylonians and large numbers of the inhabitants were being deported.  They attempted to perpetuate a subject state under Gedaliah, a member of the former royal house of David, but he was assassinated in 582 BCE.  The descendants of the exiles in Babyhlonia continued to hold onto their national and religious ideas so that they could renew their Jewish life after 539 BCE in their former kingdom of Jerusalem when they returned.  The religion was rich upon return with great parts of the Bible composed and essential traditions of Judasim were developed and preserved.

Menorah at Knesset

                                                                           

King David

Jerusalem has known many foreign rulers, but only for the Jews has it been the capital of the nation living in this Land.  The Jews of today are the inhabitants with the longest unbroken historical association with it, dating from nearly 3,000 years ago when King David (1010 BCE-970 BCE)  made it his capital.  Only to the Jews has Jerusalem always been the focus of national and religious aspirations.  It is the seat of the President of the State, the Knesset, the Government, the Supreme Court, the Chief Rabbinate, the  Hebrew University and the Israel Museum.
                                                                     

The 2nd holiest shrine of the Jews in Jerusalem is the Western Wall, dating from the 2nd Temple days.  It is actually part of the wall enclosing King Herod's Temple and is still standing in what is considered the Old City of Jerusalem.  The 5 lower courses are each over 3 feet high and date from the time of Herod.  The wall continues over 60 feet underground.  It is very close to the Holy of Holies of the 1st Temple site which was at the western end of the Temple.  This part of the wall was regarded as sacred.  The area in front of the wall is now Muslim property.  Fights broke out in 1929 and 1931 between Jews and Muslims over it.  From 1948 to 1967, Jews were not allowed to go to the Western Wall, earlier called the Wailing Wall where people would cry.  The actual holiest site is where the Mosque of Omar now stands, for under it was the 2nd Temple.  We are left with The Wall.
                                                                           

      
For Christians, the link with Jerusalem begins with Jesus of Nazareth.  The holiest place is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  Originally built by the mother of Emperor Constantine in 330 A.D., the Church of the Holy Sepulcher commemorates the hill of crucifixion and the tomb of Christ's burial.  This area was "rediscovered" and cleared when Constantine's mother, Helena, visited Jerusalem in A.D. 326. By A.D. 335 a Christian Church was built over the area. Although destroyed by the Persians in A.D. 614 — it was rebuilt. In A.D. 1009 it was again destroyed by Hakim. The crusaders rebuilt the church and the basic structure that one enters today, basically follows the plan of the Crusader church.
                                                                               

For Moslems, Jerusalem is 3rd in holiness after Mecca and Medina.  The Mosque of Al Aqsa on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is one of the holiest shrines of Islam.  El Aksa means the farthest from Mecca.  It was built in the Temple area of Jerusalem by the caliph abd el-Malik in the 8th century CE (738 CE)  to mark the site of the legendary flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Jerusalem.  The name "Jerusalem" was not mentioned in the Koran;  only-the farthest mosque.  Mohammed died in 632 CE, so it was not yet built.  It is also called the Mosque of Omar  and The Dome of the Rock built to replace the temporary structure set up by Caliph Omar 100 years earlier.   It is situated on the traditional site of Mt. Moriah. Omar was the 2nd caliph who ruled from 634 to 644.  During his reign, he conquered Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia.  He ordered the Jews to be expelled from northern Arabia.  It is Omar who set up the rules of Jews being 2nd class citizens called Dhimmis in Muslim countries.  Jews are not allowed to get near here and definitely are not allowed to pray in the vicinity.
                                                                             

Temple Mount

The holy places are each administered by the religious bodies to which they belong.  the Muslim area is under Jordanian control.

For 19 years between 1948 and 1967, Jerusalem was divided in two-between Israel and Jordan.   Barbed wire and concrete walls separated the 2 parts of the city and the Jordanians forbade movement of people from one part of the city to the other part.  After the Six -Day War of June 1967, Jerusalem was REUNIFIED.
                                                                       

Jerusalem has been a thriving city of coexistence between Jews and Arabs, between members of the 3 great faiths, between the religious and secular ways of life most of the time.  Jerusalem has had the highest rate of natural increase in Israel;  22.7 per thousand in 1972.  Employment has not been a problem, but the city is still burdened by social and economic problems and BDS is not helping.  In 1972 12% of the families had 7 or more children.  39% of the population are of school age.  There was a serious housing shortage since 1972.  To improve conditions, a large building program was carried out in all parts of the city, Arab and Jewish.  this created problems of how to preserve the traditional character of the city while developing it at an accelerated pace.  The municipality was planning the future of the city so that a correct balance between ancient and modern would be maintained.   Nir Barkat, mayor, won his 2nd term.
                                                                         

                                                                                            picture by matanya
Something new to me since I lived in Israel is the Light Rail in Jerusalem at the Jerusalem Chords Bridge.  The Light Rail was ready by December 1, 2011.  "Although Israeli government officials extolled the Light Rail as a symbol of "coexistence", Palestinians have largely rejected it as an expression of Israeli occupation that serves to further solidify settlements in the area.

In July 2014, Arab rioters caused substantial damage to three stations in Arab neighborhoods as well as other system infrastructure, and left graffiti with "Death to the Jews" and other slogans. Rioting and incessant "rock attacks" inflicted on trains in the Beit Hanina and Shuafat areas have made the train route subject to closures restricting passengers to stations south of Givat HaMivtar.  Damage to trains caused two-thirds of CityPass' fleet to be taken offline in an ongoing basis through October, 2014."  

                                                                         
 These first captives of 721 BCE  made up our 10 Tribes that were lost to us and  we expect them  to return and many are returning today.  Prophecy is happening.

Resource:  Facts About Israel, page 62-64 published by the Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem, 1972-3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_Jerusalem
The New Standard Jewish encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Light_Rail
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Light_Rail#/media/File:Jerusalem_Light_Rail02.JPG
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=things+to+see+in+Jerusalem
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/jerutoc.html