A Complete Miracle

It was early Sunday morning, June 2^nd, the 28^th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, the day that Jerusalem was reunited.  From 1948 until the second day of the Six Day War in 1967 no Jew had been allowed anywhere near the Western Wall, the last remaining structure of the Holy Temple, our holiest site.

Now, fifty-two years later, I could arrive there in less than an hour if there were no traffic jams. This particular Sunday morning there were none and as I scurried through the Arab market, down the stairs, and onto the Kotel Plaza I was overcome with thankfulness for the miracle which I cannot take for granted.

With my gratitude, however, there was another emotion, not as positive. I knew that the miracle of the Six Day War was not a complete miracle. We were still barred from the Temple Mount. We were still without our Holy Temple. We were still waiting for all the Jews to come home and true redemption.

I pushed my negatives thoughts away and joined scores of others in prayers of thanksgiving. We sang, we danced, and our voices rose together creating a strong chorus to the heavens. Dimly, though, in the background I heard bells, church bells. After all, it was Sunday morning, church day for the Christians living in the Old City.

The early Christians originally thought they were replacing the Jewish people as Hashem’s Chosen. They thought we would disappear from the face of the earth. Many tried to prove them correct but over and over again they were proved wrong.

So, as I stood in front of the Kotel Sunday morning hearing those bells I felt comforted remembering that HaShem gave us His Torah on Shavuot eons ago. Despite all the adversaries and persecutions He has never forsaken His people. We will have Christians, we will have Muslims, we will have Lutherans, and Mormons, and many other religions who think they can replace us but they won’t succeed.

The Jewish people are here to stay and the day will come soon when HaShem will complete His miracle. Then we will be able to go up to the Temple Mount which will be inside the Holy Temple and all the Jews will come home. Most fantastic of all, we will have true redemption.

 

The Kotel plaza Sunday morning