Nadene Goldfoot
Jerusalem is mentioned 669 times in the Hebrew Bible; That's how important it is to the Jewish people. It's not just a capital, it's a holy capital, the center of its religion. It sits in the center of the Judean Mountains of Judah.
The city is often referred to as "Zion," the name of King David's fortress. Mostly it was referred to as "The City of David." David ruled from 1010 BCE to 970 BCE. He was the youngest son of Jesse of the tribe of Judah, born in Bethlehem. At age 25 he became the armor-bearer to Saul, Israel's first king. David became the friend of Saul's son, Jonathan. After everyone had seen what a great soldier he was after showing his military genius in war with the Philistines, he became the husband of Saul's daughter, Michal.
Saul became jealous of David and the attention he was getting, and the jealousy was so bad that David was forced to seek refuge with Achish, king of Gath. He returned and settled in Hebron (Kiriath-Araba) an ancient city of Judah, declaring himself king of Judah after Saul and his 3 sons had been killed in battle. Hebron is 18 miles south of Jerusalem and has now become a Palestinian city center. The Hittites had lived here, and when Joshua was leader, it had become a Levitical city and a city of refuge. David reigned in Hebron for 7 1/2 years before transferring his capital to Jerusalem.
The Jewish community that started there continued through the Byzantine Period and under Arab rule. In 1890 there were 1,500 Jews living in Hebron. The city had a yeshivot and religious schools. The great Lithuanian yeshivah of Slobodka was transferred there in 1925. In 1929, Arabs massacred many Jews of the 700 remaining in Hebron and survivors fled. 30 Jewish families returned in 1931, but there were many Arab riots in 1936 and Jews were either killed or had fled.
In his 8th year of his reign, David captured the Jebusite stronghold of Jerusalem which he proclaimed his capital. It was in the 12th century BCE that Jebus-Jerusalem maintained its independence with Philistine help, until its capture by David. Then it became the capital of a united Israel. Davie dealt leniently with the Jebusites, but established himself in the city, adding the fortress of Zion and also a "House of Heroes" for his guard. He then constructed a tomb inside the city for himself and his dynasty. By bringing in the Ark of the Covenant there, David made Jerusalem the religious center of Israel. By his conquests, he made it the capital of an empire reaching from the Red Sea to the Euphrates. Jebusites may have married within the Israelites or died out eventually.
He had moved the Ark there. That was important for all 12 tribes, his cousins. David accomplished many things; breaking the Philistine military power, annexing the entire coastal belt, defeated the Edomites which gave Israel an outlet to the Red Sea, crushed Ammon and Moab, defeated Syria and annexed large tracts of territory which included Damascus and went as far as the Euphrates River. He signed treaties with Tyre and Sidon and Israel's frontiers became the most vast that they've ever been.
Internally he made energetic preparations for building a central temple and organized the national administration. His succession was secured by his son, Solomon. The Bible depicts David's virtues and vices. We learned of his passions with Bathsheba, but he also had a heart of gold, like the walls of Jerusalem. He became a religious symbol and the Jewish messianic hope was attached to his descendants. Jewish tradition has magnified him to the point of saying that "King David still lives." He does in many of Israel's hearts. He was an icon, an example of the ideal Jewish man. It is said that he is the author of the whole book of Psalms, many of which were certainly said to have been written from a very early date.
Jerusalem has been the Jewish people's spiritual capital at all times. It was its political capital during the periods when Jews had a state which lasted for 400 years after King David had died, which went into the time of the 2nd Temple, and then since then in 1948 of modern days. No other country or religion over the last 3,000 years has ever claimed Jerusalem as a capital or as its most important city. Perhaps that's why Winston Churchill argued as early as 1955: "YOU OUGHT TO LET THE JEWS HAVE JERUSALEM; ITS WAS THEY WHO MADE IT FAMOUS. Yes, famous, a name in the Bible found 669 times! It is the Jews' #1 city.
Here is a silver shekel with "Holy Jerusalem" written on it from 68 CE.
Shekels is the unit used today in Israel.
Jerusalem had an ancient history. Its ancient name was UfrJushamem of the Egyptian 12th dynasty (19th-18th century BCE) in the Akkadian language and was called Urusalim in the Tel el Amarna letters of the 15th century BCE. (from verb yarah" to cast" the foundation stone, or "founded" and the name of the Semitic god, Shalem.) In early Bible books, Jerusalem is also called Jebus, after the people who lived there before David. it's also been called: City of Righteousness, The Faithful City, The City of G-d, The Holy City, City of Truth, Ariel, etc. Hebrew pronounces it as Yerushalayim. The Roman colony founded by Hadrian on the ruins of Jewish Jerusalem was called Aelia Capitolina, which was used into the Arab Period, with the common Arab name being El-Kuds (the Holy, or Beit el-Makdes (The House of Holiness. The Hebrew is also Bet ha-Mikdash (Temple).
Jews have been the largest religious group in Jerusalem since at least 1844 when the first census was conducted. At the time, Jews outnumbered Muslims by 40% (7,120 to an estimated 5,000) and were almost twice as large as the Christian community of 3,390. Jews have always been the largest group residing there, and the majority since 1864. As of 2000, Jerusalem had 439,600 Jews, almost 197,000 Muslims, and 14,200 Christians.
One of Israel's Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the country's undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset (Israel's parliament), the residences of the Prime Minister (Beit Aghion) and President (Beit HaNassi), and the Supreme Court.
While the international community rejected the annexation as illegal and treats East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory occupied by Israel, Israel has a stronger claim to sovereignty over West Jerusalem, according to other governments.
It is the Jews' holy city. When Jews pray, they face Jerusalem. The city is mentioned in all 3 of the Jewish daily prayer services. The Western Wall is the holiest site in Jewish life where Jews are allowed to pray, since the Jordanian Muslim Religious group control the Temple Mount area ever since Moshe Dayan allowed them this privilege after 1967's War.
Jews commemorate and remember the Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, and the 2nd Temple's destruction by the Romans in 70 CE with our mourning day of Tishah-b'Ab (9th of Av) with fasting.
Throughout history, many Jews have arranged to have earth from Jerusalem poured into their graves when they die, wherever they were buried. It has been this important to them. The smashing of a glass in a wedding ceremony is to remember everyone of a line from Psalms, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand fail." (Psalms 137-5).
As I was as student in an Ulpan in 1980-81, I learned Hebrew with a song; Dah-veed, Melekh Yisrael, Khy, khy, Vik I ay nu, .....
Another song we sung was Jerusalem of Gold;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NexnOpW7nw8
"Jerusalem of Gold" (Hebrew: ירושלים של זהב, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav) is the most famous of Naomi Shemer’s songs. It was so beloved that it was considered as a possible alternative to the national anthem, Hatikvah.
Naomi Shemer wrote "Jerusalem of Gold" for the Israeli Song Festival (it was not in competition but had been commissioned by the Mayor, Teddy Kollek), held on 15 May 1967, the night after Israel's nineteenth Independence Day. She chose the then-unknown Shuli Nathan to sing the song (who later became famous due to performing this beloved song).
David, king of Israel.....David Melech Yisrael
Resource:
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Why The Jews? by Dennis Prager & Joseph Telushkin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_in_Judaism#:~:text=Although%20Jerusalem%20(Hebrew%3A%20%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D%E2%80%8E,explicitly%20mentioned%20in%20the%20Pentateuch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Melech_Yisrael#:~:text=David%20Melech%20Yisrael%20(Hebrew%3A%20%D7%93%D7%95%D7%93,which%20are%20repeated%20many%20times.
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