Yom Yerushalayim at the Kotel

Last Friday morning, Yom Yerushalayim, I prayed with the Bat Ayin Yeshiva at sunrise at the Kotel for Yom Yerushalayim. Yom Yerushalayim celebrates the return of Jewish Sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, especially over the holy sites of the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. As I stood there singing and looking at the huge rectangular white stones of the Kotel, the question arose in my mind, "what is Yom Yerushalayim and why are we singing Hallel?" Am I celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem? It is not so unified these days. Am I celebrating sovereignty over the holy sites? The Kotel is great but what about the Temple Mount? I found myself unable to connect with the physical city of Jerusalem as the source of this ecstatic praise of G-d. So, what is this Jerusalem Day all about?

At some point during Hallel I realized that our praise is not so much for the physical city of Jerusalem as it is about Hashem's closeness to us and His saving power. I thought about May, 1967 and the desperation the Jewish population of Israel that month. I thought about Israel's stunning military victory. I thought about those images of Israeli soldiers breaking down and crying as they reached the Kotel for the first time. Hashem's presence was stunningly clear in all these events. I realized that Hashem's presence in June, 1967 was just one example of G-d's 3500 year- old commitment to the Jewish people. G-d, you were with us then and you are with us now.

Mutual funds are careful to warn customers that past results are no indication of future performance. Not so with Jewish history. The patterns of Jewish spiritual history - exile, T'shuvah, redemption are indeed indications of the future. The G-d that made a covenant with Abraham is the same G-d that brought the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery, kept the Jews alive as a people during 2000 years of exile, brought Jews back to the land of Israel and returned the Kotel to Jewish sovereignty. If it happened so many times before, it will happen again. G-d cares about us, loves us and wants us to succeed. With that thought I began to realize why we were singing Hallel. We can trust in G-d.

I tried to project into the future. What would it be like to really trust in G-d regarding the future - especially the near future here in the Land of Israel? At first glance things seem pretty dark. What would it be like to look at our current situation with the eyes of one who really trusts in G-d? Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe writes in Alei Shur that there is a significant difference in the quality of thought of one who feels close to the Creator and one who feels distant from the Creator. The same exact event can be understood in different ways depending on the state of closeness with the Creator. Rabbi Wolbe brings as an example the story of the Meraglim, the spiers, in the Book of Numbers. The twelve spies all saw the exact same things in their tour of Canaan in preparation for the Israelite's entry to the Promised Land. Why did Joshua and Caleb insist that the Israelites could indeed conquer the land, while the other ten spies reported on the physical prowess of the inhabitants of the land and the hopelessness of any attempt to fight? Rabbi Wolbe explains that Joshua and Caleb were at a level of closeness with G-d not shared by the other ten spies. This closeness with G-d actually changed their ability to think and to perceive reality.

I think this is our challenge today. Can we analyze current events from a place of closeness to our Creator? Can we draw inspiration from G-d's past goodness to the Jewish people to trust that this goodness will continue until the world is perfected? The Hazon Ish, in Faith and Trust, defines trust as faith that soaks up fear and gives a person the courage to believe in the possibility of salvation. These times call on us to see with eyes of trust. Trust that the G-d, who was with the Jewish people in June, 1967, is with us now and will be with us always, lighting the way towards the final redemption. That is reason to sing!