The Church and Jewish Jerusalem

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The Church and Jewish Jerusalem
(Jerusalem Day - Continued)

Jerusalem Day in Israel is not simply a minor local holiday for the citizens of this particular city. On the contrary, the ultimate meaning behind Jerusalem Day of a Jewish Jerusalem linking the past with the present, is problematical to at least one particular religion.

There are Christian groups who are disturbed by what they view as a Jewish challenge to the basic Christian theme that only Christians can possess a renewed Jerusalem. Church and Vatican tradition often look upon a Jewish Jerusalem as problematical, and condemn any inclination to identify ancient Biblical Jerusalem with a modern Jewish Israel.

In the eyes of the Vatican, only Christians can be rightful heirs to the true Covenant and to the Holy City of Jerusalem. To this day, Roman Catholics continue to hold this position. When Pope Pius X met with Theodore Herzl in 1904, the Pope declared that the return of the Jews to Jerusalem was a demonstration of Jewish messianic expectations that the church considered to be discredited and outmoded.

There is a certain degree of apprehension in Israel today, that some radical Christian cult will provoke an incident on the Temple Mount during the beginning of the new millennium that could lead to Arab unrest, riots and even warfare. As reported in the press, one such cult was already arrested recently and expelled from Israel before they could carry out their plans.

The Vatican, of course, refuses to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In the prevailing atmosphere of 1947, the UN partition plan took into consideration the then-accepted Christian view that the Jews were incapable or unfit to rule Jerusalem. In the 1947 Partition Plan, all of Jerusalem was declared to be an international city not part of Israel. Although the Arab countries immediately and unanimously rejected this partition plan, U.S. State Department policy has very faithfully adhered to this plan. Stated quite simply, the plan states that Jerusalem must not belong to the Jews but must be defined as a special international area to be jointly ruled by the world's (Christian) countries.

Jerusalem Day is not just another Israeli holiday. It is a very plain (and hopefully) easily understood declaration that Jerusalem is not negotiable -- in the same way that the continued existence of Israel is not negotiable. There can be no Israel without Jerusalem, and this is the reason that both Jerusalem and Israel's existence are non-negotiable items.

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