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Rabbi Doron Perez

Torat
HaMizrachi Jerusalem:

A Tale of Two Cities

erusalem is not one city but two. multiplicity, difference. The reality of two
This is the key to unlocking the creates complexity.
J mystery of the Jewish people’s
holiest city. The secret of Jerusalem’s The great challenge of the number two is
duality reveals the essence of Judaism itself. whether the potential for difference will
create division or unity.
Theologically, Jerusalem is at the same
time both heavenly and earthly – a physical Will the complexity of contrast at the heart
and a spiritual reality, Divine and mundane, of life create contradiction or complete-
transient and timeless. ness? Thesis and antithesis can remain
irreconcilable opposites or they can fuse in
Geopolitically, there is east Jerusalem and beautiful synthesis.
west Jerusalem, an upper city and a lower
one, a city divided territorially between Because Jerusalem is the epicenter of spir-
two tribes: Judah (Leah’s child) and Benja- itual life it presents us with this challenge
min (Rachel’s child). Additionally, the city more sharply than anywhere else. Will the A soldier and an ultra-Orthodox Jew near the
Western Wall
is located at the nexus of the western world heavenly and earthly cities be locked in
and the Oriental East. eternal conflict or will they become one Will it remain that way?
eternal city of peace and harmony?
Philosophically, Jerusalem combines the It depends on us.
national and the universal, the ethnic and This is the challenge our Sages see in a cryptic
the ethical, the Jewish and the democratic verse in Psalms 122: הָּל ה ָר ְ בּ ֻח ֶשׁ רי ִעְ כּ םִיַל ָשׁוּרְי ” To ensure the city remains geopolitically
and is a city of both truth and peace. “ ו ָדּ ְ חַי – Jerusalem is like a city that was joined united, it must first be united from within.
together itself. They say this alludes to two The external political reality is a mirror
Jerusalem has two primary names in Bib- cities, a heavenly one above and an earthly image of the internal spiritual one. The fis-
lical literature – Tzion and Yerushalayim, one below (Ta’anit 5). And they maintain sures which form contrast and conflict ought
Zion and Jerusalem. The name Yerusha- that the city has the power to transform us all to be forged together as complementary
layim itself consists of two words – Yireh into friends – םי ִר ֵב ֲח –engendering friendship, forces creating a complete and united whole.
and Shalem. understanding and acceptance among all Jews
(Jerusalem Talmud, Chagiga 3). May we merit the ultimate expression of
What is the essence of this duality? spiritual wholeness – the rebuilding of the
After the miraculous Six-Day War, and Temple – soon and speedily in our days.
Rabbi Yehuda Loewe, the Maharal of through an extraordinary turn of events, the
Prague, explains that two is unique Old City of Jerusalem, the Kotel and the 1 Tiferet Yisrael 34
1
because it is the first number that converts Temple Mount returned to Jewish sovereign
the unitary into a multiple; a single into a control for the first time in almost two mil- Rabbi Doron Perez is Head of
plural. One is uniform; two is the birth of lennia. A divided city was finally reunited. the Mizrachi World Movement

Mizrachi World Movement
Chairman Mr. Harvey Blitz
Head Rabbi Doron Perez Editor-in-Chief Daniel Verbov hamizrachi@mizrachi.org
54 King George Street, Jerusalem Creative Director Jonny Lipczer
www.mizrachi.org Production Manager Meyer Sterman production@mizrachi.org
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