Yerushalayim: A Gift, a Miracle, a Calling

Fifty-seven years ago, three words were broadcast that changed the destiny of the Jewish people:

 Har HaBayit BeYadeinu (“The Temple Mount is in our hands”).

Those words, uttered during the dramatic liberation of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War, did more than describe a military achievement. They announced a spiritual and national turning point, one that reverberates to this day in the heart of every Jew around the world. Rabbi Paul Bloom tells us all about this momentous event.

  The Date That Was Always Destined

This week, we celebrate Yom Yerushalayim, 28 Iyar—a day whose significance was known to Chazal and noted in the writings of Rishonim centuries before 1967. In fact, the Tur (Orach Chaim 580) mentions this day as the yahrzeit of Shmuel HaNavi, the prophet who laid the spiritual foundations for Jerusalem's destiny. In Megillat Ta’anit it is marked as a significant day long before modern history added a new chapter.

 Nothing is coincidental in Jewish history. That the reunification of Jerusalem happened on the yahrzeit of the very prophet who instructed David HaMelech about the future location of the Beit HaMikdash is no mere historical curiosity—it is the unfolding of divine orchestration. Shmuel taught David where the House of God was to be built, and it was David who conquered Yerushalayim and set the stage for his son Shlomo to build the Mikdash. 

 A Dream Reawakened 

For two thousand years, Jerusalem was a dream. A hope. A prayer. Generations of Jews faced its direction, cried over its ruins, and longed for its rebuilding. Even King David, as he wrote in Tehillim, stood outside its gates dreaming of a day he would see it whole and vibrant.

 Then came 1967

 In what can only be described as a miraculous turn of events, Israeli forces—led by commanders who never imagined they’d set foot in the Old City—found themselves standing at the Kotel, the Western Wall, having retaken the heart of Yerushalayim. The spiritual and emotional power of that moment cannot be overstated. In the words of the Gemara in Niddah:

  "Ein ba’al hanes makir b’niso" – *One in the midst of a miracle often doesn’t recognize it.*

 Many didn’t realize it then, and still don’t today. But the truth is, we were—and are—witnesses to a miracle of national rebirth. Yerushalayim was not just a city reclaimed—it was the Jewish soul reawakened.

  A New Jewish Identity

 Before 1967, many Jews in the Diaspora experienced their Jewish identity as something to hide or survive. But after the Six-Day War, something shifted. Jewish pride surged. Even Jews who had been distant from Torah and mitzvot felt a stirring. The return to Yerushalayim became a symbol of resilience, of purpose, of connection.

 Natan Sharansky recalls that for Soviet Jews, their Jewishness had always meant persecution. Suddenly, after Yerushalayim was reunited, it meant pride. Hope. Belonging.

 This national pride ignited the Ba’al Teshuva movement, brought waves of Aliyah, and inspired even secular Jews to reconnect with their heritage. Jews in Rio, in Melbourne, in Johannesburg and Paris began to walk with a different posture—because Yerushalayim was ours again. It gave us all a center of gravity.

  A City of Connection

 Yerushalayim is not just a capital city. It is the ultimate makom hachibur—a place of connection. Between heaven and earth. Between Jew and Jew. Between past and future. It is the place where Avraham Avinu bound Yitzchak, where he named the location "Hashem Yir’eh"—the first half of the word Yerushalayim. Later, Malki-Tzedek, called it "Shalem." The Midrash teaches that Yerushalayim is the union of those two names: Yir’eh and Shalem. Fear and wholeness. Vision and peace.

 In this city, the Torah of Hashem and the faith of Avraham combine. It is here that the nations will one day say:

 "Ki mitziyon teitzei Torah, u’dvar Hashem miYerushalayim"

“From Zion shall come forth Torah, and the word of God from Jerusalem.”* (Yeshayahu 2:3)

 Yerushalayim is the city where all of Israel would gather three times a year, where tribes with different customs and perspectives united in a common purpose. This is the power of Yerushalayim shel matah—to give us a taste of Yerushalayim shel ma’alah.

  A War That Shouldn’t Have Happened

 And yet, this miracle only unfolded because of another inexplicable decision: King Hussein of Jordan, who could have remained neutral, instead chose to enter a war already lost. Deceived by Nasser’s propaganda, he attacked—and thus opened the path for the IDF to liberate East Jerusalem, Yehudah, and Chevron.

 Had he chosen differently, Yerushalayim might still be divided. The Kotel might still be behind barbed wire. The Har HaBayit might still be inaccessible.

 But Hashem had other plans.

  A Day to Remember

 This Monday, on 28 Iyar, we mark Yom Yerushalayim. It is not just a day of military triumph. It is a day of divine intervention, of national rebirth, of spiritual awakening.

 We remember the miraculous victories, the planes that flew untouched through skies thick with Soviet-made missiles. We remember the fear of impending annihilation, just 22 years after the Holocaust—and the utter, divine reversal of expectations.

 And we remember the yahrzeit of Shmuel HaNavi, who envisioned it all and gave David HaMelech the tools to begin this eternal journey.

 And just   as we  saw  great miracles during the Six  Day War and the  reclaiming of all of  Jerusalem, we see great miracles in our current battle with evil. We  hope and  pray that our current battle  will lead to something  even greater  than what happened in 1967.

 Yerushalayim Is Our Future

 Let us never take Yerushalayim for granted. Let us not be blind to the "nissim" unfolding in our time. Let us recognize the spiritual power of this city, the dream of generations realized in our own days.

 Yerushalayim is not just history—it is destiny.

And it is calling to us still.