INFORMATION - The Association of Jewish Refugees

Page 8 AJR INFORMATION July, 1969
/. MaitUs
JERUSALEM IN WORDS AND PICTURES
How old is Jerusalem and what historical
records do we possess about the city ? Wherein
lies its significance for the history of mankind
and for the history of the Jewish people in
particular ?
These and similar questions are answered
clearly and directly in a work by Teddy Kollek,
mayor of Jerusalem, and Moshe Pearlman.
Their book "Jerasalem, Sacred City of Mankind
"* is rich in photographs and other illustrative
material and, from a technical
standpoint alone, makes an excellent
impression.
Jerusalem is of exceptional significance not
only historically but also spiritually for us
Jews and for the whole world; it is the Holy
City of three universal religions. Thus the
authors have pursued a two-fold aim in their
arrangement of explanatory material: they
describe both the history of the city itself as
well as its influence on the spiritual history of
mankind.
The historical description reaches back into
the dim past, it might be said into mystical
times of Canaanite pre-history, and extends
through the period of the monarchy, the destraction
and rebuilding of Jerusalem, Christian
and Islamic times, to the troubled present. We
find the city already described as Uru.shamen
in Egyptian inscriptions of the 19th century
B.C.E. (and in Akadian as Urusalim). According
to Jewish tradition Abraham intended to
sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah (where
the Temple later stood). The Bible (Gen. 14,
18) tells us that when Abraham returned from
his successful pursuit of the kings under the
leadership of Amraphel (possibly Hammurabi?),
he was entertained with bread and
wine by Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of
the "most high God" (El Elyon). Modem
historians attempt to explain the name of the
city " Yerashalaim " by suggesting that it was
originally founded by the god of Salem (a
local Canaanite divinity who is also mentioned
in Ugarit texts). If this were so, Jerasalem
would already have been an important cultcentre
in ancient Canaanite times. Jerusalem
also appears in the famous Tel-El-Amama
letters (15th-14th century B.C.E.) as one of the
cities paying tribute to Egypt.
In the Book of Joshua we hear of the Jebusites
as inhabitants of the city, which was also
called Jebus. It was David (llth century
B.C.E.) who overcame the Jebusite enclave
and as " David's City " (Ir David) made it the
capital of the united kingdom. Under the rale
of Solomon Jerusalem waxed in importance as
the capital of a powerful and prosperous
country. Solomon also built the Temple which
soon became the religious centre of the Jewish
people and adorned Jerasalem with numerous
palaces and other fine buildings; he also
considerably extended its boundaries. Even
after the division of the country under Rehoboam
(930 B.C.E.) Jerusalem retained its prestige
and importance. Did not Isaiah and his
contemporary Micah proclaim the future of
the city with clear prophetic vision " that the
law shall go forth of Zion and the word of the
Lord from Jerusalem " ?
The deep attachment of the people to this
unique holy city was not lost as a result of
the destraction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians
(587 B.C.E.). On the contrary, despite
crael blows of fate and bitter suffering, it
continued to retain its etemal brilliance and
?^,- ,"••*. '.,• history of Forty Centuries. Weidenfeld
4 Nicolson, London. 63». "oiuwimia
attraction in the centuries following its rebuilding
(515 B.C.E.) until the burning of the
Temple by the Romans (C.E. 70), even to the
present day. Although desolate and deserted,
Jerusalem and its Temple became the etemal
symbol of hope and expectation of coming
Messianic grandeur and glory. After its destruction
the earthly Temple was even transformed
into a celestial Temple. It was taught
that the Temple below was pre-existent, a
pattern for that in the heavens above.
The fateful career of Jerusalem, the glorious
city of the past, has ipso facto become the history
of Judaism. But in addition to its
nationalist Jewish role and spiritual importance,
over the course of centuries Jerasalem
has become a holy city for the two great
universal religions, Christianity and Islam. At
various times both religions have impressed
their particular stamp upon the city; numerous
traditions and distinguished churches,
shrines and mosques provide a living witness
of its exceptional influence. For instance,
according to Christian tradition, the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre now stands on the hill
which is said to have been called Golgotha in
the time of Jesus. Furthermore, there are
still numerous shrines, churches and convents
in and around Jerusalem which have been
erected over the course of time—and the
Stations of the Cross, objects of mystical awe
and holy veneration.
The later Islamic conquerors of the city
built the glorious Mosque of Omar on the
Temple Moimt, which became known as the
Dome of the Rock. On this spot where the Holy
of Holies once stood and where Abraham
erected an altar for the sacrifice of Isaac,
according to Islamic tradition Mohammed made
his mystical ascent into heaven. On the southera
side of the Temple Mount stands the
gleaming Mosque of El-Akso, which in all
probability was built in the 8th century and
later restored by Saladin (12th century) and
decorated with magnificent mosaics.
Despite pain and suffering, the Jews have
never abandoned their ancient and glorious
Jerasalem. It would appear that Jews have
inhabited the city at all times. Their numbers
increased particularly during the 19th century
and in the last quarter of that century there
were already 11,000 Jews living in Jerusalem
and in the newly-erected suburbs outside the
city walls.
The history that Teddy Kollek and Moshe
Pearlman have presented in their revealing
account is fascinating in all its aspects and
twists of fate. It bears witness to the unbroken
linkage, love and veneration of the Jewish
people for the city of their great past. It is
a golden chain of Jewish tradition and Jewish
experience, which has maintained its continuity
throughout the ages, from the dim past
of the patriarch Abraham, the period of the
monarchy, the Hasmoneans and Herod, ' Aelia
Capitolina' of Hadrian (C.E. 135), the
Crasaders of the Middle Ages and later Ottomans,
up to the present day. Today the
revitalised people has united the ancient historical
Jerusalem with the newly created State
of Israel. The ends of the circle of history
seem to have joined up.
KoUek-Pearlman's work with its stimulating
narrative and beautiful well-chosen photographs
and pictures gives a clear and
unmistakable account of Jerusalem's former
magnificence and present extraordinary
beauty. It is in trath the spirit of this unique
and holy city of mankind that they have
attempted to describe in words and pictures.
JEWS AND NEGROES " IN THE SAME
BOAT "
London Address by Rabbi Joachim Prinz
" For a while We were under police protection
and had loaded guns in the living-room.
Two Black Panther boys were threatening my
family, trying to blackmail me to give them
money for their cause, warning me they'd
burn down my synagogue. In the end they did
throw an incendiary bomb, but only a couple
of rows of pews were damaged. But on the
following Saturday twenty-five prominent citizens
from the local negro community tumed
up for my service at the synagogue as a
demonstration against violence, apologising
for the action of their extremist brethren."
Who could have foretold Dr. Joachim Prinz
forty years ago, in Berlin's Fasanenstrasse,
this sort of thing that happened to him recently
in Newark, New Jersey? Yet there is
some consistency in the career of that man
who has always been sticking his neck out—
as a young rabbi in Germany, trying to reconcile
the Jewish faith and tradition with 20thcentury
life, instilling modern ideas into
Judaism, a spirited, liberal, optimistic leader
of Jewish youth ; and as an older, even more
courageous Civil Rights fighter in present-day
America. Invited by the Institute of Jewish
Affairs and the World Jewish Congress, he
spoke in London on a subject very near to his
heart : Negro-Jewish Relations—an American
Dilemma. Dr. Prinz was a close friend of the
murdered Dr. Martin Luther King, and with
him he took part in the 1963 Civil Rights
March on Washington at the head of over
310,000 demonstrators, nine-tenths of them
Negroes.
America's black problem is one of the most
complicated of our time, he explained:
a deep malaise sharpened by the Vietnam
war, that " war of the poor black man " who
is drafted to fight against a coloured enemy
while the rich white boys are exempted as
students. To many Leftist Negro intellectuals
the Vietnam NLF appear as freedom fighters,
and so do the Al Fatah Arabs, while on a
lower level the Jewish shopkeepers in the
Negro ghettoes foster black antisemitism by
profiteering. On the other hand, American
Jews are just as prejudiced against their black
fellow-citizens as are other white Americans ;
only a third of the population as a whole can
be said to be traly unbiased. Rabbi Prinz
quoted some opinion survey figures on the
question of how many Negroes and whites
think that Jews are dishonest in trade and so
on, but one has the feeling that he has fallen
victim to the general American belief in
statistical figures on emotions that cannot
really be expressed in mathematical terms.
But where we can follow his trend of
thought is his belief that all discrimination
is immoral; that trae integration is the answer
to the Black Revolution that threatens to
destroy American civilisation; that the
Negroes must be educated to understand the
Jews and the Jews to understand the Negroes:
for we, too, were strangers in a strange land ;
we, too, were slaves; we, too, were cooped
up in ghettoes; we, too, were persecuted;
we, too, have to fight prejudice. We are all
in the same boat.
EGON LARSEN.
BECHSTEIN STEINWAY BLUTHNER
Finest selection reconditioned PIANOS
Always interested in purchasing
well-preserved instruments
JAQUES SAMUEL PIANOS LTD.
2 Park West Place, Marble Arch, W.2
Tel.: PAD. 8818/9