Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) has arrived and I can’t help but remember that the movie, “Stories of Rebbe Nachman,” had its beginnings on this miraculous day, two years ago. Every year, I march along with the thousands of flag-waving lovers of Jerusalem through the streets of the Old City to the Kotel Plaza. After the festive celebration of thanks to Hashem for having brought us back to our Holy City after a long harsh exile and wars, I headed back home, walking up the long stairway of the Arab casbah, which leads to the Jaffe Gate, As always, I was overwhelmed with the beauty of Jerusalem, with its magic, holiness, and charm. As our Sages tell us, 10 measures of beauty were given to the world, and Jerusalem received nine of them. It occurred to me that I had never seen a movie which captured the true beauty of Jerusalem, especially of the Old City. True, I haven’t seen many films in the last thirty years. Still, I haven’t heard of any big films having been shot here. The Intifada scared away all film companies who might have used Jerusalem as their background. No one wants an Arab riot closing down the shooting of high-budget production, so if the script has a scene in Jerusalem, it
Anyway, then and there, I decided that I had to make a movie that was located in Jerusalem in order to show the world the unsurpassed beauty and holiness of the city. More than that, I decided that Jerusalem would be the heroine of the film and its love interest, instead of some sexy Hollywood actress. So that night when I reached home, I started to write an old-fashion, Humphry Bogart-style, detective story that unravels in the alleyways and ancient hillsides of the city. But when I didn’t succeed in raising the money for the budget which the movie deserves, I decided to produce another screenplay I wrote during that same after-Jerusalem- Day muse, “Stories of Rebbe Nachman,” which I was able to make with the money I had. Hopefully, my dream will come true, and, with G-d’s help, I’ll succeed in raising the money for Jerusalem story as well.
After all, we are to set Jerusalem above all of our other joys. As the Psalmist says: “How can we sing the L-rd’s song in a foreign land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy” (Tehillim, 137:4-6).
So important is this message to the survival of the Jewish People that our Sages decreed that this Psalm should be recited after every meal we eat during the week.
“By the rivers of Babylon (and Brooklyn, and Paris, and Los Angeles, and Palm Beach), there we settled down, yea, we wept when we remember Zion” (Tehillim, 137:1).
We are always to remember that Jerusalem is our true home – not Babylon, America, or Canada.
Our Sages also decreed that this Psalm should be recited at every Jewish wedding, in order to teach that even at this supreme moment of happiness when bride and groom are joined in holy matrimony, there is yet a greater joy – the joy we must feel for Jerusalem
If we place other pleasures over the joy we should feel for Jerusalem, then something is wrong with our Judaism. If relaxing on Sunday mornings in our comfortable Diaspora homes, with the “New York Times” and a fresh bagel is more pleasurable to us than our joy over Jerusalem, then our Jewish compasses are misdirected. If the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls and the World Series and the New York Stock Exchange and the Academy Awards and the latest Woody Allen movie are more thrilling to us than Jerusalem, then our understanding of being Jewish is warped. If refurnishing our mansion in Johannesburg and our villa on the Cote d’Azur is more important to us than rebuilding Jerusalem, then something is wrong with our understanding of Torah. If vacations to Bermuda and Venice and Disneyland are our first choice ahead of Jerusalem, then we have some serious introspection to do.
Our daily prayers for the rebuilding of Jerusalem teach us that Judaism is more than practicing private mitzvot, and searching for tiny OUs in the supermarket, and donating to the Federations in Miami, Los Angeles, and New York. Jerusalem teaches us that the Torah is the establishment of a mighty Jewish nation in the Land of Israel. It teaches us that the Torah is not just a list of dos and don’ts, but rather a Divine national constitution and that real Torah Judaism includes a national homeland and national capitol and national kingship and a national Jewish army, and the day-to-day involvement in rebuilding the Nation of Israel in Israel – and not in some foreign, gentile land.
Happy Jerusalem Day!