A Rally for What?

 Address by Rabbi Haskel Lookstein

At the Solidarity Rally for Jerusalem in the Main Synagogue of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun

Monday, January 8, 2001 – 11:30 A.M.

Introduction When one comes to a rally, one must know clearly what one is rallying for. There are those who consider this rally to be of a political nature, and therefore it crosses the line of what is proper for the American Jewish community. Leaving aside the question of what is proper today – and I refer you to Abe Foxman’s excellent article in this past weekend’s edition of the Jewish Week – this rally is not political any more than a rally of solidarity with the State of Israel would be political. It supports no party or candidate, and it opposes no party or candidate.

Why, then, are we here at this rally?

Why we are here. It seems to me there are three reasons.

I. We are here because Natan Sharansky is there. At this very moment, for Absorption Minister Sharansky is marching with hundreds of thousands of Israelis around the walls of Jerusalem to demonstrate the centrality of the Old City of Jerusalem to the history and contemporary life of the Jewish people.  Because he is there now we are here now. We identify with the man and his message.

Natan Sharansky is one of the few credible heroes of our day among the Jewish people and among the peoples of the world. He first established himself as a hero when he stood up against the entire KGB and the Gulag in the former Soviet Union, when he refused to succumb to their pressure and harsh treatment through nine years of imprisonment, much of it spent in solitary punishment cells. He showed us what it was to live for principle and ideals.

But it is only since he came to Israel that he has demonstrated what, for me, is the most impressive manifestation of heroism. As a minister in the former government, he resigned from the Cabinet when he felt that the government was making concessions which were inimical to the interests of the State of Israel and of the people of Israel. It is one thing to be heroic and powerless; it is quite another to be in the seat of power and to relinquish that power in order to live by principles and ideals. That may be the highest form of heroism.

“Who is a hero? He overcomes his own self.”

We are here, first and foremost, because he is there. We know quite well that if we were there marching around the walls of Jerusalem and he were in America, he would be in this synagogue today.

Second, we are here because the prospect of giving away pieces of Jerusalem is too frightening to consider from a practical point of view. We are here because one Gilo is enough. I drove through Gilo six weeks ago. We rode on the street which faces Beit Jala from which, every night, bullets are fired into the homes that front on that street. The government is installing bulletproof windows in the homes on that street. The very thought of it frightens us to the core. Which country in the world would allow neighborhoods of its capital to be fired upon with impunity, night after night, and instead of preventing the attacks, would install bulletproof windows? One Gilo is enough. We do not need French Hill to become a Gilo, or Ma’ale Adumim to become a Gilo, or P’sgat Ze’ev to become a Gilo. We are here because the safety of our Jewish brothers, sisters and children is at stake.

Finally, we are here because we believe that Jerusalem and Har Ha-Bayit are not negotiable any more than Tel Aviv is. The fact that Palestinian Arabs disagree with us on this doesn’t make Jerusalem and Har Ha-Bayit negotiable. There is reason to believe that the Arabs disagree with us on Tel Aviv as well. Would we, therefore, negotiate for Tel Aviv? As important as Tel Aviv is, Jerusalem and Har Ha-Bayit are more important. They are the foundation upon which the Jewish people was built. They are the foundation upon which the entire dream of Zionism rests. If we do not have Zion and Jerusalem we have nothing. Let the Arabs deal with their own history and their own mythology. Jerusalem has been the center of the Jewish people since the time of Abraham and if there is, in fact, an address of God on this earth that address is Number One Har Ha-Bayit.

Why are we here? We are here because Sharansky and 250,000 Israelis are there. We are here because one Gilo is too much; we cannot tolerate anymore. We are here because Jerusalem and Har Ha-Bayit represent the soul of the Jewish people.

“Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains and God surrounds the people of Israel, now and forever.”

May all of the Jewish people stand firmly in solidarity with Jerusalem, and may God, in turn, stand firmly in support of the Jewish people and the Jewish State, now and forever.