Page 5 - HaMizrachi Chanukah 5783 USA

Tel Aviv is its commercial one. Tel Aviv Jerusalem area, a more idolatrous and plan for the business and commercial mod-
votes left, Jerusalem votes right. Tel Aviv pagan culture in the north. The nation’s ernization of Jerusalem. These are very
is the city that “never rests”, while Jeru- split brought devastating consequences, encouraging trends.
salem grows quiet as Shabbat approaches. which we suffer from to this day. Interestingly, of the hundreds of highways
Jerusalem is the city our people are pre- Only a few hundred years later, the Assyr- and intercity roadways in Israel which
pared to die for, Tel Aviv the city where we ian King Sancherev descended with his have been given numbers to more easily
live and let live. Jerusalem is profoundly identify them, the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv
Jewish, while Tel Aviv is Israeli. Tel Aviv armies from the north, conquering and Highway has appropriately been named
exiling the ten tribes of the northern
is a city of high-risers and beachfronts, Road 1. This is most symbolic as I fervently
Jerusalem of hallowed history and biblical kingdom. Indeed, we are all called Jews believe that bridging the cultural divide
today because by and large we are all
memory. In Jerusalem, over 100 people a of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv is the most
year experience ‘Jerusalem Syndrome’, a descendants of the tribe of Judah, the crucial issue on Israel’s national agenda.
psychiatric condition of those who expe- southern kingdom, which survived the As history has proven, nothing is more
rience a messianic high, while in Tel Aviv Assyrian onslaught. Ten of the twelve important to ensure the State of Israel’s
bars and nightclubs, the ‘highs’ may be of tribes have been lost to Jewish history as success in the 21 century.
st
a different nature. Tel Aviv is an earthly a consequence of the people’s split along
city, Jerusalem a heavenly one. religious and cultural fault lines. Jews and Israelis, heaven and earth, body
Two hundred years after the rebuilding and soul, secular and spiritual, left and
History repeating itself? of the Second Temple, we suffered yet right, ancient and modern must come
How can these two cities live together, as another schism in the Land of Judea together if the State of Israel is to be a
sustainable and united country capable
one nation? For decades, the cities have between the Hellenistic Jews and the of facing the challenges ahead. Both are
coexisted by minimizing their interaction, Hasmoneans, leading to the struggle of central to Judaism, and both are essen-
a workable solution in the short-term but Chanukah. Later, the Pharisees and Saddu- tial ingredients of a harmonious Jewish
dangerous for the long-term viability of cees devolved into infighting which greatly identity.
the nation. Jewish history is a cautionary weakened the Judean State and ultimately
tale, demonstrating the disastrous con- brought about its destruction. May we soon see the day when Jerusalem
sequences of creating two separate and and Tel Aviv stand together “as one person
distinct societies within the borders of the Two cities, one society with one heart”.
Land of Israel. Barely 80 years after Kings Thankfully, the cultural gap between Jeru-
David and Shlomo founded the first united salem and Tel Aviv has slowly and steadily
Kingdom of Israel, the nation was torn grown smaller over the last decade. Tel
asunder into two separate states. During Aviv is becoming more religious, while
the time of Rechavam, the son of Shlomo Jerusalem has become more commercial
and grandson of David, the nation split and modern. Jewish life in Tel Aviv is
into the southern religious Kingdom of reborn, with thousands of religious young
Judah, with Jerusalem as its capital, and adults moving to the city, reinvigorating
the northern idolatrous Kingdom of Israel, old communities and establishing new
with Shomron – Samaria – as its capital ones. The new arrivals have established Rabbi Doron Perez
(Melachim I, Chapter 12). yeshivot, learning centers and hundreds of is the Executive Chairman
of World Mizrachi.
Two different kings; Rechavam in the new kosher restaurants. At the same time,
south, Yeravam in the north. Two capitals Jerusalem is now linked to Tel Aviv by a Join me at the
and two cultures. A more Torah-commit- direct, 28-minute train line, while Mayors World Orthodox Israel Congress Est. 1902
orthodoxisraelcongress.org
ted kingdom in the south and extended Olmert and Barkat developed a long-term 120 YEARS OF RELIGIOUS ZIONISM

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