Splitting Jerusalem: A Team Effort

With Ehud Olmert and company committed to offering the split of Jerusalem, all sorts of political campaigns are likely to spring forth. Rallies, demonstrations, letter-writing and petitions will consume our wheel-spinning energy.

I, too, fear that we will soon find access to the Kotel and מקומות הקדושים (holy places) greatly restricted.
I, too, feel betrayed by politicians whose promises are clearly worthless.
I, too, am afraid of what international governance will mean; these international bodies can’t tie their own shoelaces, how will they govern a neighborhood as hot as that?

But I can’t get up the energy for political campaigns: they don’t work. Olmert isn’t listening, and his buddies aren’t listening. There are groups out there with greater weight than ours.

At the same time, I come back to what is, for me, the real question: Who Split Jerusalem?

Yeshayah (end of chapter 1) told us the secret to Jerusalem: ציון במשפט תפדה ושביה בצדקה – Zion will be redeemed with justice, and its returnees with righteousness. (Feel free to quibble about the precise translation and its nuances if you like.)

So I’d like to see a תכנית משפט וצדקה, a Justice and Righteousness Campaign. Not fasts and extra tehillim (although those are nice too), but Derech Eretz, proper human interaction. Looking at some Jameel and Treppenwitz messages from the past few days, and the Derech Eretz Campaign, I am especially energized for this.

- No cutting in line or in traffic, or taking advantage of easy targets
- Selflessness in all matters, an approach of “How can I help you?” even when “you” is not a customer
- Taking care of the גר, יתום ואלמנה – all of society’s vulnerable people.

I feel absurdly self-righteous making these suggestions, both because I do not excel in these areas and because they are so patently, simplistically obvious – but I have yet to see any such Campaign advertised, so I’m doing it here.

I hate to be negative, but: If we can’t do this, if we can’t adhere to Yeshayah’s demand, then we are the ones who are splitting the city, and it’s not fair to ask Olmert to be frummer than we are. If we are willing to split it in order to get an advantage for ourselves, then how can we expect Olmert not to split it in order to get an advantage for himself?

If we believe in Jerusalem-
If we believe in the Beis haMikdash-
If we believe in למען ציון לא אחשה, that we will not be silent for the sake of Zion-
Then we must also believe in Yeshayah’s prescription for the health of Jerusalem.

May we merit to see Yeshayah’s day of יקרא לך עיר הצדק, קריה נאמנה, the day when Jerusalem is again recognized as one, undivided, City of Righteousness.