“City of justice and harmony, peace and understanding:” A Response to Elad Building in Silwan

:תהלים פרק קכז:א: לֹא־יִבְנֶה בַיִת שָׁוְא עָמְלוּ בוֹנָיו בּוֹ אִם־יְהֹוָה לֹא־יִשְׁמָר־עִיר שָׁוְא שָׁקַד שׁוֹמֵר

Psalm 127:1: Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain on it; unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman keeps vigil in vain.

:תהלים פרק כד:ג-ד: מִי־יַעֲלֶה בְהַר יְהֹוָה וּמִי־יָקוּם בִּמְקוֹם קָדְשׁוֹ: נְקִי כַפַּיִם וּבַר לֵבָב אֲשֶׁר לֹא־נָשָׂא לַשָּׁוְא נַפְשִׁי וְלֹא נִשְׁבַּע לְמִרְמָה

Psalm 24:3-4: Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not taken a false oath by My life or sworn deceitfully.

מיכה ד:ב-ג: וְהָלְכוּ גּוֹיִם רַבִּים וְאָמְרוּ לְכוּ וְנַעֲלֶה אֶל־הַר־יְהֹוָה וְאֶל־בֵּית אֱלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב וְיוֹרֵנוּ מִדְּרָכָיו וְנֵלְכָה בְּאֹרְחֹתָיו כִּי מִצִּיּוֹן תֵּצֵא תוֹרָה וּדְבַר־יְהֹוָה מִירוּשָׁלָם: וְשָׁפַט בֵּין עַמִּים רַבִּים וְהוֹכִיחַ לְגוֹיִם עֲצֻמִים עַד־רָחוֹק וְכִתְּתוּ חַרְבֹתֵיהֶם לְאִתִּים וַחֲנִיתֹתֵיהֶם לְמַזְמֵרוֹת לֹא־יִשְׂאוּ גּוֹי אֶל־גּוֹי חֶרֶב וְלֹא־יִלְמְדוּן עוֹד מִלְחָמָה:

Micah 4:2-3: And the many nations shall go and shall say: “Come, Let us go up to the Mount of the Lord, To the House of the God of Jacob; That He may instruct us in His ways, And that we may walk in His paths.” For instruction shall come forth from Zion, The word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Thus He will judge among the many peoples, And arbitrate for the multitude of nations, However distant; And they shall beat their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not take up Sword against nation; They shall never again know war.

:זכריה פרק ח:ג: כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה שַׁבְתִּי אֶל־צִיּוֹן וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹךְ יְרוּשָׁלָם וְנִקְרְאָה יְרוּשָׁלַם עִיר־הָאֱמֶת וְהַר־יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת הַר הַקֹּדֶשׁ

Zecharia 8:3: Thus said the Lord: I have returned to Zion, and I will dwell in Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mount of the Lord of Hosts the Holy Mount.

It is appalling that the planning commission under pressure from the Justice Minister has approved a plan to build a massive complex outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and infringing on the village of Silwan. This decision essentially gives ownership of the archaeological findings of the City of David to a political group (Elad) whose agenda is antithetical to the very essence of the site it seeks to document. It is not our place to criticize the propriety of ruining archaeological findings in order to create a tourist destination ostensibly telling the story of those findings. This has ably been done by archaeologists themselves in the original legal challenge to the plan which was accepted at the first round of hearings, prior to the intervention of the political level.

Our outrage is at the fact that Jerusalem, the City of Peace, is being used to wage war on the Palestinian people. Rather than furthering the prophetic visions of a renewed city of Jerusalem as a magnet for all peoples of all religions, Elad and the right wing government of Israel are using this Disneyfied project to paint a picture of Jerusalem wherein the only actors on the stage of history are the Jews. If Jerusalem is going to be the city of Truth (as Zachariah says) it must embrace the long and complicated story of its past. If Jerusalem is to be the place from which peace and reconciliation flow, as Micah says, where nations will eventually beat their swords into plowshares, the first step must be to welcome everybody into the city. If Jerusalem will long stand as a beacon of light, as a testament to the coexistence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims; this goal will not be accomplished by those who don’t have clean hands.

The mishnah (Midot 3:4) teaches us that metal was not allowed to be used to carve the stones for the altar in the Temple, for metal was created to shorten the life of a person (as weapons) while the altar’s purpose is to lengthen the life of a person. It is the ultimate irony that the stone remains of that Temple are being valued higher than the lives of the Palestinian people who live next to the site of the Temple.

The remains of the ancient city of Jerusalem, the Temple, and the prior and subsequent archaeological layers, should not be a political football, but the foundation of a city of justice and harmony, peace and understanding. “Zion will be redeemed with justice.” (Isaiah 1) The minister of Justice should know this.

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