Yom Yerushalaim
After the Jews regained their independence in 1948, the city of Jerusalem
was divided between Israel and Jordan, with much of the city, including
the holy sites, out of reach to Israelis. All this changed in June
1967. For a long time, Israel’s Arab neighbors had been
threatening to destroy the country and it looked as if they might succeed.
However, on June 5th, a war broke out, and in six days the Israeli
army put an end to the Arab threat, entered the old city of Jerusalem and
reunited it with the rest of the city. The reunification is
celebrated on 28th Iyar – “Yom Yerushalayim”, which means
“Jerusalem Day”. The Arab-Israeli conflict is not yet over, but
the quest for peace is underway. One meaning of the name
“Jerusalem” is “City of Peace”, and we hope and pray that one day
all the inhabitants of Jerusalem will live together in peace.
City of Peace: According to the prophet Isaiah, Jerusalem is the
city where all the people of the world will come to worship God together.
Until the day that all the nations of the world will live together in
peace, Jerusalem will not be able to fulfill its very important role.
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