COMMENTARY: O, Jerusalem: A tangle of religion and politics

c. 1996 Religion News Service (Rabbi Rudin is the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.) (UNDATED) The recent violence in Jerusalem is a devastating reminder of how a volatile mix of religion and politics dominates the city. Diplomats must factor this inextricable relationship into any successful peace process. Even atheists and agnostics […]

c. 1996 Religion News Service

(Rabbi Rudin is the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.)

(UNDATED) The recent violence in Jerusalem is a devastating reminder of how a volatile mix of religion and politics dominates the city. Diplomats must factor this inextricable relationship into any successful peace process.


Even atheists and agnostics are moved when they first visit the Old City of Jerusalem. One such person told me:”I’m not sure the things that are supposed to have happened in Jerusalem really occurred, but if they did, this was the place!” Visitors to Jerusalem are frequently surprised by the small area that contains so much sacred space. Within a single square mile is the Western Wall, the remnant of the Jewish Holy Temple; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Via Dolorosa, where the crucifixion and death of Jesus took place around the year 30; and the Dome of the Rock, the site where it is believed that in 632 Mohammed was miraculously transported from Mecca to make a nocturnal ascent to heaven on his winged horse.

To Jews, the Temple Mount is the most sacred spot on Earth. It is where Abraham offered his son Isaac to God as a sacrifice. It is where the two Holy Temples were built and eventually destroyed first by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., and then by the Romans about 70 A.D.

The Christian attachment to the city exists because of events in the life and death of Jesus within Jerusalem. It is where Jesus actually walked, taught, was crucified by the Romans.

In 638, Omar, the Muslim caliph, captured Jerusalem; a half-century later, the Dome of the Rock was built directly on top of the Jewish Temple site. Shortly thereafter, the al-Aqsa Mosque also was built on the Temple Mount. The consequences of those fateful decisions made 1,300 years ago by Jerusalem’s Muslim rulers are being played out today, often with bloody results.

It does not matter whether any or all of the events held sacred by Jews, Christians, or Muslims really occurred or why and how they happened. Nor does it seem to matter what new findings scholars may glean about Jerusalem’s long history.

What matters is that Jerusalem is a unique and explosive intersection of religion, history, and nationalism. What truly matters is that Jerusalem represents the hopes, anxieties, faith, and memories of nearly 2 billion people. Strong beliefs are permanently carved into Jerusalem stone. It is an extraordinarily heavy burden to place upon one city and its inhabitants.

When the Israeli government opened an ancient tunnel of 130 yards near the Western Wall, many Muslims saw it as an attempt to undermine the foundations of the nearby mosques. It is no such thing. The tunnel was built before the time of Jesus, and does not pass beneath the Temple Mount or near the foundations of the mosques. Indeed, what drew the criticism was the Israeli’s decision to remove a wall only a few inches in width.

No matter. Stir a fear long held by Muslims that their holy places were somehow in danger, mix it with Palestinian grievances against Israeli policies, add undisciplined Palestinian police _ who were either unable or unwilling to control their own people from attacking Jews _ and add the inevitable strong military response from Israel. The grim result, as the world knows, was violence, rioting, and a tragic loss of Arab and Jewish lives.


Especially troubling is the apparent lack of agreement between Muslims and Jews regarding the history of the Temple Mount and its environs. Professor Dan Bahat, the Israeli archaeologist in charge of the tunnel excavation, said,”The official guidebook of al-Aqsa Mosque says there never was a (Jewish) Temple on the site. That’s the source of the problem.” Sheikh Hassan Tahboub, head of the Jerusalem Supreme Muslim Council, responds:”I don’t know if there was ever a Temple here. It is not important.” Tahboub’s comment conveniently dismisses the biblical account of King Solomon’s building efforts, along with the rebuilding of the Second Temple, and it sadly points up the immediate need for intensive conversations between Muslims and Jews not only in Israel, but throughout the world. Without mutual respect and understanding, the recent tragic events will be repeated again and again.

And lest Christians feel self-righteous watching Muslims and Jews assault one another, they need to remember that many fundamentalist Christians fervently yearn for the construction of the third Jewish Temple on the Jerusalem Mount as preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus in the millennium year 2000.

That gives us only four more years. O, Jerusalem!

MJP END RUDIN

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