Speech at event to mark Jerusalem Day

Today, I want to express as a Christian, some thoughts on Jerusalem not from the perspective of emotions and personal judgment only but rather in the light of the words of a great man, a visionary and a prophet who lived in this land more than 2500 years ago. He loved his people and his God and he had a vision of Jerusalem, saying where he saw the source of protection and peace that we all seek in our lives. This prophet was Isaiah, a great prophet for Jews and Christians. I will now read a song that is attributed to him, chapter 26 in the Book of Isaiah, and I will comment on some of the things he said:

On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; he sets up victory like walls and bulwarks. 2 Open the gates, so that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. 3 Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace-- in peace because they trust in you. 4 Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock. 5 For he has brought low the inhabitants of the height; the lofty city he lays low. He lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. 6 The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy. 7 The way of the righteous is level; O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous. 8 In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and your renown are the soul's desire. 9 My soul yearns for you in the night, my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

“We have a strong city,” says Isaiah. One might raise the question: what type of strength and power do we want today? One type of strength is when I close myself off with a group of people that I know well and defend myself from others, perceived as dangerous and who do not belong to the same group. This might be called “counter force”. Another kind of power is when I choose not to see the others as dangerous and threatening but rather do everything in order to unite my strength with their strength in order to build relationships of trust despite all the differences that divide us and in the face of all the reasons, from the past and from the present, that whisper in my ear: “Do not trust them!”. This might be called “togetherness force”. And if one were to ask which is the greater force, I would suppose that the greatest force is not to vanquish an enemy but rather to make an enemy a partner and if possible even a friend.

Isaiah says: “Open the gates, so that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in”. Jerusalem is Holy City for Jews and for Muslims and for Christians. Many people pray in this city and prayer is a great thing, reminding us that we have a soul and that there is a Creator of the world. However, it is not enough to pray in order to be righteous: the true righteous ones are those who know how to preserve faithfully the love of the other on the basis of the pity and compassion that the Creator of the world sowed in their hearts and in the hearts of each and every one of us. In the Book of Exodus it is written about the daughter of Pharaoh that she saw the basket in which Jochebed had hid the infant Moses, “When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him, "This must be one of the Hebrews' children," she said” (Exodus 2:6). This means that because of the pity and compassion of the daughter of Pharaoh, Moses was saved and came to save a whole people. If Isaiah had been speaking today, perhaps he would say “Open the gates so that the righteous nation, which knows how to show mercy to the other and is not motivated only by fear and isolation, might enter”.

Isaiah also says: “In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and your renown are the soul's desire.” Without hope there is no meaning to life, not in Jerusalem and not in any other place. At the same time, without righteousness and justice, everything that is called hope is in fact in vain. Therefore, may love of righteousness and justice be engraved today even more deeply in our conscience so that there will be a real reason to hope for a better future for us all.