* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
1. Today is "Yom Yerushalayim", 58 years since the liberation of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War. In 1967, the 19-year-old Jewish state faced an existential crisis — the threat of utter annihilation by its enemies. Would it continue to exist or would it be destroyed? Ultimately, the answer was — we would endure, b"h.
2. The Jewish state not only survived, but grew to three times its size. Tiny Israel recaptured the Golan Heights, the Sinai, Judea and Samaria, and, of course, Jerusalem. We returned to the areas where our matriarchs and patriarchs lived and where our prophets communicated their divine messages.
3. As Israel stood on the brink of war, a popular phrase circulated in the country: “The last one to leave Ben Gurion (airport) should shut off the lights.” But in the end, no one shut off the lights; on the contrary, the light stayed on. An older couple from New York once told me that before the outbreak of the Six-Day War, they advised their relatives to leave Israel and seek refuge with them,but that after the war, most of their children made aliyah. The tide of history had turned - for the better.
4. All these extraordinary achievements were the result of a war that lasted only six days! The Arabs refer to this war as the “June War” (instead of the Six-Day War) in order to conceal the shame of their devastating defeat. Six Arab armies, including those of Iraq and Saudi Arabia, were routed within less than a week.
5. At the time, the joy in the Jewish world was unprecedented. Unfortunately, today’s newspapers may take a different perspective, but these are the words that appeared in the newspaper "Ha’aretz" after the liberation of Jerusalem: “There are no words to adequately express the feelings of exhilaration in our hearts today. Even the concept of our holy Temple seems to be more tangible than ever before".
May we merit to continue our path forward. Happy Yom Yerushalayim!
