On June 7,1967/Iyar 28, 5727, one day into The Six Day War, Israeli troops crashed through the defenses set up by Arab troops and recaptured those parts of the Holy City of Jerusalem which had previously been in Arab possession. Yom Yerushalayim commemorates this significant day.
Moshe Amirav, a paratrooper, describes his first minutes at the Wall, “We ran there, a group of panting soldiers, lost on the plaza of the Temple Mount, searching for a giant stone wall. We did not stop to look at the Mosque of Omar, even though this was the first time we had seen it close up. Forward! Forward! Hurriedly, we pushed our way through the Magreb Gate and suddenly we stopped, thunderstruck. There it was before our eyes! Gray and massive, silent and restrained. The Western Wall! Slowly, slowly I began to approach the Wall in fear and trembling like a pious cantor going to the lectern to lead the prayers. I approached it as the messenger of my father and my grandfather, of my great-grandfather and of all the generations in all the exiles who had never seen it—and so they had sent me to represent them. Somebody recited the festive blessing: ‘Blessed are You, O Lord our G-d, King of the Universe who has kept us alive, and maintained us and brought us to this time.’ But I could not answer Amen.”
“I put my hand on the stones and the tears that started to flow were not my tears. They were the tears of all Israel, tears of hope and prayer, tears of Jewish dances, tears which scorched and burned the heavy gray stone.”
Abraham Duvdevani, another soldier, describes his first encounter with the Wall, “We marched fast, to keep up with the beating of our hearts. We were almost running. We met a soldier from one of the forward units and asked him the way and hurried on. We went through a gate and down some steps. I looked to the right and stopped dead. There was the Wall in all its grandeur and glory! I had never seen it before, but it was an old friend, impossible to mistake. Then I thought that I should not be there because the Wall belongs in the world of dreams and legends and I am real. Reality and legend, dream and deed, all unite here. I went down and approached the Wall and stretched out my hand towards the huge, hewn stones. But my hand was afraid to touch and returned to me. I closed my eyes, took a small, hesitant step forward, and brought my lips to the Wall. The touch of my lips opened the gates of my emotions and the tears burst forth. A Jewish soldier in the State of Israel is kissing history with his lips. Past, present and future all in one kiss.”
This day is extremely special to us as a nation who yearned to have our holiest city back in the hands of the Jewish people. So, we celebrate this day with happiness and a feeling of wholeness knowing that we may visit the Kotel as we please. It is such a special blessing to know the city is ours. This year Yom Yerushalayim is celebrated on May 22.
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Sarah Gothelf is a senior at Magen David Yeshivah.
