JERUSALEM

Sometimes Jerusalem is called the “city of gold.”  There are special big stones in Jerusalem.  People build with them. When the sun shines on these stones, the city looks golden.

 Ann, Ruth. Pics4Learning.

Jerusalem is the capital city of Israel just like Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States.  That means that all of the government is there.  The Prime Minister and the President live there.  The Knesset is there.  Jerusalem is also the most important place in the world to many Jewish people.  It is a holy city where the Temples used to be.  It is where King David and King Solomon lived.  Try to find Jerusalem on a map of Israel.

 In the oldest part of Jerusalem, there is a wall left from around The Temple.  We call it the Kotel.  For hundreds of years, people have put prayers on little slips of paper and put them in the cracks between the stones of the Kotel. Now you can even fax prayers to the Kotel.   The Kotel is such an important place, that there is even a camera there where you can look at the Kotel at any time.  

You can see the Kotel LIVE by clicking here.

Other religions also have holy sites in Jerusalem.  In 1948, when Israel became a state, Jerusalem was supposed to be available to all of the religions.  Unfortunately, that never happened. Jordan, a country next to Israel captured part of Jerusalem and did not let Jews go to the Kotel or to old parts of the city.  The soldiers from Jordan destroyed hundreds of Jewish yeshivot in the Old City.

 In 1967, many other countries attacked Israel and tried to destroy the country.  Israel fought back and a miracle happened.  Not only did Israel win the war in only six days, but they also got back the old part of the city with the Kotel.  Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who was the Chief Rabbi of the army, blew a shofar there. 

www.israel-mfa.gov.il                                Jerusalem Post photo

Even now we celebrate Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) on the 28th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar, the day when the Jewish People got back all of Jerusalem.

 Depending on your computer, you can hear the radio broadcast of this event by clicking HERE and going near the bottom of the page to the "Liberation" tape.

A moment 3,000 years in the making!http://www.ou.org/chagim/yomyerushalayim/default.htm

Of course, now that Israel has the entire city of Jerusalem, people from all religions can visit their holy places.

Jerusalem is also a city with many beautiful museums.

the Israel Museum

 People in Jerusalem mostly live in apartments because houses are very expensive.  They have movies, shopping malls and everything else that cities today have.  Jewish People are now able to live all over Jerusalem, in both the new and old parts of the Holy City.

We have just told you a little bit about Jerusalem.  To visit more places, you can click here.

http://jeru.huji.ac.il/

   

                                                                                              

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