Every Shabbat morning, just before we open the Holy Ark and take out the Torah scrolls, we sing: “Source of compassion, favor Zion with Your goodness; build the walls of Jerusalem.”  Throughout Jewish history, the walls of Jerusalem have represented the barometer of Jewish wellbeing. It’s the fence around the beating heart of our people. When the walls are down or breeched, the shield is down and the end nears. It was the case twice before, with the destruction of the two Holy Jewish Temples. It took only three weeks from the breach of the walls on the 17th of Tammuz and the destruction on the 9th of Av. Praying to God to build the walls of Jerusalem is to pray for the fortitude of the Jewish people.

Since the destruction of the Temples and the exile of the Jewish people in the first century, many nations have occupied this area and built their holy sites nearby. The Muslims, however, built the shrine of the Dome of the Rock in the 7th century directly on the spot where the two Jewish Temples had stood. Temple Mount has changed hands a few times since. The Christian Crusaders took it over in the 11th century but lost it to Muslim hands a century later. It was then conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century until the British Mandate post WWI awarded it to the Jordanians, who controlled the area until the Six Day War in 1967. Throughout this time, Jews viewed the return to Jerusalem or Zion as an act of climbing the wall, attributing the walls of Jerusalem as the context for rebuilding the Jewish homeland.

Fast-forward to May 6, 2021. Something triggered riots and demonstrations by thousands of Israeli-Arabs. One apparent reason was an Israeli Supreme Court decision to evict a few Arab Muslim families from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Another reason seemed to be the storming of the Temple Mount the next day by Israeli police to quiet down the riots. The Jerusalem police also decided to close access to the Damascus Gate at the end of Ramadan to prevent further riots, especially before the Jerusalem Day Parade on May 10.

On Jerusalem Day, Hamas used the opportunity to show its solidarity with the Palestinians in Israel and to entice those in Judea and Samaria by firing thousands of rockets toward the south of Israel and even Jerusalem itself. Some experts say a powder keg exploded when Hamas intervened because an election in the Palestinian Authority, scheduled for May 22, was cancelled by Mahmud Abbas, a move designed to keep Hamas from gaining political power in the West Bank.

But can one event release this intense hatred? Many countries in the world have disputed borders, but somehow Israel is always in focus. How far back do we have to go to decide who owns the land? The Biblical reference goes only so far, especially for those who don’t take it as authoritative. Furthermore, even after God promised Abraham the land, Abraham still had to acquire it. The real way to acquire the land is through charity and justice. The essence of the Torah is to take care of the vulnerable, to stand up to bullies.

David Harris, CEO of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), in his Op Ed in The Times of Israel on May 22, cites 15 Israel-related “whoppers” — antisemitic tropes by world leaders and media personalities: Jews are wealthy and influential and control the media; their strong lobbies are the reason Israel is getting help from the US. They blame Israel for war crimes, intentionally killing children, and even suggest Israel should be dismantled. They align closely with Hamas with its charter to have a land clean of Jews.

Why do some people still contemplate whether Israel has the right to exist. Israel has existed for 4,000 years, since the family of Jacob. The 4,000 rockets Hamas sent our way are a symbolic reminder.

One day the world will understand that history has brought us back to our land, and that we have been building and advancing step by step against all adversities to create a stable, democratic country, safe for all religions. My true hope is that this time, after the missiles stop flying over our heads, we will recognize that Am Israel Chai and is still the guardian of the walls.

Blessings for peace,

—Rabbi Gadi Capela