But he does not explain how he himself understood the verse. This is probably just coincidence. But over the centuries the Aramaic meaning has worked its way into Hebrew. See similarly D. Gordis, Menachem Begin, p. Mitchell First can be reached at [email protected] He would like to thank Rabbi Ezra Frazer for his assistance with this article.
For more articles by Mitchell First, and information on his books, please visit his website at rootsandrituals. Monthly Sections. Asking for the Impossible. Still, Israel is most frequently criticized for its occupation of the West Bank. Regardless, left-wing Western groups have a rough consensus that Israel must end this occupation. But the reality is not simple enough to satisfy the yearnings of liberals coming of political age in Berkeley or Providence.
In the real world, Israelis and Palestinians exist in a state of mutual disdain and mistrust, preempting any kind of good faith negotiation. Hamas soon after won a majority of seats in the Palestinian elections and seized control of Gaza. The group, considered terrorists by most of the West, provides substantial social services to Palestinians and earns significant public support as a result.
Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the PA, which governs the West Bank, has dwindling public support and no clear successor. Many Palestinians are happy to decry Hamas terrorism and express some vague interest in a brokered peace that has never before seemed so far away.
But these views are not representative of the population at large. It was for this reason refreshing to hear a middle-aged French PhD-holding Palestinian educator from the West Bank speak more aggressively and honestly. He was unwilling to compromise or condemn Hamas and other terrorism.
This realpolitik , of Palestinian frustration and Israeli self-preservation, suffocates not only peace, but the lives of the Palestinians who comprise 40 percent of the population under Israeli rule. On the other, we met people who had only ever dreamed of seeing the sea. The Rabbi made aliyah , ascending from New York to Israel, over three decades ago. But unlike many other settlers, he empathizes with and hopes to live alongside the Palestinians. The Rabbi recalls most of his life in the West Bank being like a film in which the Palestinians were only gray background.
It was for this reason that he in the early s helped found a joint Palestinian-Israeli community center in the West Bank. Now with his Palestinian partners he organizes encounters in the West Bank between the two communities, ideally laying the seeds for some future peace. This changed when he and his mother, alongside Palestinians who had lost family members to Israeli violence, met a group of Jewish mothers who had lost their own children to Palestinian terrorism.
We met with an array of other Israeli and Palestinians from other like-minded groups who offered similar stories. They were proud to have helped foster Israeli-Palestinian humanizing but preferred to not talk about politics or about the conflict they believe to be essentially unsolvable.
When, for example, he meets Syrian doctors at international meetings, everything is cordial and collegial on the level of being doctors.
But this is a kind of illusion, because ultimately politics intrudes. At some point the Israeli and the Syrian have to return to the political realities of their own countries and whatever exchanges were made become transitory. This is true for Arabic and Hebrew poets, for Jewish and Arab doctors and teachers.
The exchanges on professional levels help but on political levels — in terms of real political effects — the results are illusory. No level of interpersonal Israeli-Palestinian connection will override the fact that we seem to already be living in the Jewish one-state reality.
Most of the activists we met seemed to recognize this. They, unlike some idealists in the West, do not believe themselves to be setting the groundwork for some eventual two-state solution. We devour terefah cheeseburgers and fail to put our lives on hold for Shabbat, the Sabbath. But we still identify as Jewish. We know that Judaism is a birthright, granting us welcome into an array of local communities across the globe while also marking us for similarly wide-reaching bigotry.
But diaspora Jews are optimists: we believe in multiculturalism; we believe our national and Jewish identities to be in harmony, despite history, despite Spinoza and Herzl. I met a man whose Jewish family lived in Germany for years before the Nazis came to power. He escaped to Wales by Kindertransport as a young child. He eventually emigrated to Israel at Israel has not given up the West Bank, instead continuing to build settlements there — all while retaining its democratic character throughout the West.
Jews are survivalists. For there were set thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may they prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say: 'Peace be within thee. Jerusalem in her peak during the peace reign of Solomon was the place of Godly inspiration, a center where fair and righteous judgment flowed like a healing balm to the people, and also to the nations.
It was the seat of governance that ruled the people with wisdom and integrity — a legacy left by King David. The wellbeing of Jerusalem secured the wellbeing of the People of Israel. That's why David stresses the fact that we have to pray for the "Shalom" of Jerusalem. Shalom doesn't mean Peace. The literal translation from Hebrew is to request, even to petition for the wellbeing of Jerusalem. The word Shalom is generally associated with peace, a word that has been worn thin in the jargon dictionary of politics.
Shalom doesn't mean peace. Shalom means wholeness, balance and wellbeing on the deepest level of the soul. Imagine if a person can arrive at such a level. Imagine if a nation can arrive at such a level.
Imagine if the most beloved place can again rise to such a level. Then yes, peace will prevail by default. Political outcries for democracy, diplomacy and human rights will vanish, because these ever sought-after traits will be built into the very fiber of society. And that's why we can never forget her, why we are impelled to remember. The more we remember, the more she responds. Remembrance is an antidote to despondency and amnesia.
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