Albeit in a limited format because of Corona restrictions, the traditional walk around the walls of the city was held in Jerusalem as usual. Ministers, members of Knesset and public figures sent their greetings.
Women in Green’s Tisha b’Av walk was held last night (Wednesday, July 29) under Corona restrictions, with only fifty people permitted to participate. The movement emphasizes that the fifty participants of the walk represent the thousands of participants who have always come from all parts of the Land, every Tisha b’Av eve for the past 25 years.
The walk, which began with a reading of the Scroll of Lamentations, is the continuation of an ancient Jewish tradition that was discontinued during the period of the British Mandate and was renewed in the nineties by Women in Green, since then steadily increasing the ranks of participants to thousands of people from all parts of the Land.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/284389
At the beginning of the walk, pre-recorded remarks by the Mayor of Jerusalem Moshe Leon were screened, in which he noted that the walk expresses the longings of generations for the building of the Temple. “The walk also expresses the deepening of the Jewish People’s roots in Jerusalem”, he said, blessing the participants of the walk and its organizers with the hope for the building of the Temple next year and that masses of people will come “to be blessed by its glory and holiness”.
Atty. Nili Naouri , Head of Israel is Forever, also spoke, linking the weeping of the Jewish People over of the sins of the spies to the essential connection between the People of Israel to the Land of Israel today: “As punishment for the sin of the spies, the People of Israel remained in the desert for 40 years until all of that generation passed away. Have we learned our lesson? No! For 53 years we have been checking whether parts of the Land of Israel that were liberated in the Six Day War are worth it. Should we trade them for a sham peace, shouldn’t we give them to a people that doesn’t even exist and part of whose population are terrorists? We have once again forgotten that G-d gave us this Land, we have again forgotten that Judea and Samaria and the Temple Mount are the source of our right to the entire Land. We must listen to Caleb ben Yefuneh: “Let us go up and possess it for we are well able to overcome it”. We must listen to Joshua bin Nun, Israel’s first Chief of Staff and behave like sovereigns. We must stop weeping on the 9th of Av, we must act”.
Another speaker was Lehi fighter Ezra Yachin, who tied the story of the destruction to the story of the destruction of Gush Katif and the Yamit area in our own days. He spoke emotionally of his feelings and his hopes for rescinding the decree to destroy the communities. He criticized the attitude of degradation, as he defined it, which is satisfied with the Gush Dan area and its surroundings and does not strive and aspire to ascend the mount.
As in every year, historian Aryeh Klein led the walk, with stories from the unique history of Jerusalem at various points along the route of the walk, the first of which was Gan Ha’Atzma’ut, in the center of Jerusalem. There, near the park, is a large pool that supplied water to the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. Klein described the pilgrims’ huge tent park, which, during the years of the siege and the fighting that the Romans imposed upon Jerusalem, no longer existed.
All along the stations of the walk, we broadcast greetings sent by various public figures who were unable to participate in the walk. In his remarks, former member of Knesset Yehuda Glick related to those who do not forget Jerusalem and do not turn their back on it. While the People of Israel says Eicha “Alas! She sits in solitude” (the first words from the Scroll of Lamentations), the Holy One, blessed be He says “Ayeicha” – ‘Where are you’, said Glick, adding that the redemption of Jerusalem depends on the People of Israel, who must strive for the day when the Kingdom of G-d reigns over the entire world. Enough crying, we want to build, he declared.
At IDF Square, Aryeh Klein told the participants of the walk the story of how Agrippa built the wall, telling also of archaeological findings that were exposed with the building of the new campus of the Bezalel Art School. The excavations at the site revealed the basis for a huge wall opposite 85 Roman boulders launched by a catapult that tell the story of the great battle that took place at this point during the year of the destruction, when the Roman army penetrated the line of the wall and conquered the upper part of Jerusalem.
Klein told of the custom of placing ashes from Jerusalem on the heads of bridegrooms, and at this point in the walk, all the participants of the walk were given small boxes with dust brought from the Temple Mount and filtered in Tzurim Valley. The distribution of dust from the Holy Mount was received very emotionally by the participants of the walk.
Among those who sent pre-recorded greetings was Minister Ze’ev Elkin, who expressed the wish for the day when the walk would pass inside the Old City on its way to the Temple Mount, where the Temple would already be standing. “Our loyalty to Jerusalem continues this year of Corona as well, despite all of the difficulties. We will assure its development and our sovereignty in all parts the Old City”.
In his pre-recorded remarks, former minister Member of Knesset Bezalel Smotrich emphasized that Jerusalem is a public-national matter and its building relates to the renewal of the national framework and is not specific only to Jerusalem. “The new Nationalism, that we are rebuilding here on its ruins, must take upon itself with greater resolution, the building of Jerusalem, materially and spiritually”, said Smotrich.
Smotrich also said, during the course of his remarks, that all year, we are grateful for the good that we have received but “there is one specific day when we are reminded of the lack of our sanctuary, and this entire walk around the walls reflects the longings to build Jerusalem in the innermost, most holy and noble meaning. These longings are the engine that must drive our motivation throughout the year. We connect to the sadness and mourning over the destruction and draw much strength from it to build the Land and Jerusalem as the heart of our nationalist revolt”.
Near the Damascus Gate, historian Aryeh Klein described the “plowing of the city”, one of the events that we mourn on Tisha b’Av. This event was actually a Roman ceremony that commemorated the coin of the city that was established in place of Jerusalem. It was a ceremony in which a symbolic furrow was plowed around the city, as an expression of nullifying the city as it had existed until that time.
At the Damascus Gate, Klein explained, there is an inscription of the city’s name after the Roman “plowing”: “Aelia Capitolina”, the name chosen by Emperor Hadrian, who also changed the name of Israel entirely, from Judea to Palestina. Now, the Arabs call Damascus Gate ‘Baab al-Amud’ for the column upon which statues of the Roman emperors were placed as an expression of the symbolic destruction of Jerusalem.
Later on in the walk, Klein told of the events of the Six Day War and battles of the Paratroopers and Artillery Brigade, who fought near Damascus Gate and beyond, in the direction of Herod’s Gate and then toward Rockefeller Museum. Step by step, Klein described the progress of the warriors in the city’s war of liberation.
He also told of the uniqueness of the Rockefeller Museum, which was established by the British to tell the story of the history of the People of Israel, but in contrast to previous and later eras described in the museum, there is no mention of the days of the First Temple, the Second Temple and the period of the Mishna. “The British did all they could to erase the Jewish story of Jerusalem”, says Klein.
In his remarks, Itamar Yom Tov, the representative of the Sovereignty Youth Movement, mentioned that 15 years ago, the youths walked with orange flags in the struggle against the uprooting and expulsion, while now, the youth are walking with a different slogan, calling for sovereignty: “Instead of expulsion, let’s apply sovereignty”, he said, noting the joy of being part of the general process leading to the goal of Israel’s sovereignty over its Land.
Yonatan Yosef, a member of the Council of the City of Jerusalem, also participated in the walk and told of the planning meeting that took place that day in the Council of Jerusalem and about many places in Jerusalem that must still be built, such as Atarot, Giv’at Hamatos and other places. “Every place where Jews do not live, others come and seize the land”, he cautioned, promising to act to truly build Jerusalem, and hence, the entire Land.
The walk concluded on the path that leads to the Lions Gate, where a concluding assembly for the event was held. Yehudit Katsover, and Nadia Matar spoke about the importance of the walk as an expression of Israel’s sovereignty in all parts of Jerusalem, a rectification for the loss of sovereignty, which was materially expressed in the destruction of the Temples and the expulsion from the diaspora.
In their remarks, the two women also noted the weeping over the sin of the spies, that occurred on Tisha b’Av and expressed the People of Israel’s difficulty of understanding the essence of the Land of Israel, which connects the world of action to the world of spirit, a Land where creation, building, agriculture and even politics are sacred, which brings the People of Israel closer to its sovereign destiny in the Land of Israel.
Deputy Mayor of the City of Jerusalem, Aryeh King, mentioned the number 1950, which is the number of years that have passed since the destruction, years when the stones of Jerusalem have been waiting for the People of Israel to long for them and desire them more. “Each of us must think of what he has done in the past year so that we will merit to see the Temple built in our days. There is no chance for it to happen if we do not show our longing and love for each stone, shrub and tree in the ground of the Holy Land”. In this, King found a direct link to the first weeping on Tisha b’Av over the sin of the spies.
King mentioned last year’s assembly, when he presented to the participants of the walk and others, the stone signs set up by the government of Turkey on the side of the road as the owners. The signs have since been taken down and King calls for continuing to behave as the owners, the sovereigns in Jerusalem. King went on to criticize harshly the conduct of the Prime Minister who, in his words, refuses to allow construction in Jerusalem and who, according to him, is responsible for the situation where only 61 percent of the residents of Jerusalem are Jews. “Sovereignty ends at the Temple Mount, but it begins in the Golan, in the Negev, in the Arava, in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip will be built and prepared”.
Rebbetzin Rivka Shimon, a leading activist for Jewish presence at the Temple Mount, also spoke at the concluding assembly, describing the change in consciousness occurring on the subject of the Temple Mount, backed by the Israel Police and as a result of the hard and persistent work of activists. “If we want to heal the world and the People of Israel, we can begin with the incense, with an act that will show the entire world that “G-d is the King and He rules the entire world”.
Minister Miri Regev also made remarks on video, stating her excitement in seeing the development of Jerusalem and how it flourishes as the realization of the vision of the prophets. “Jerusalem radiates its holiness to the entire world. The government of Israel will do all it can to strengthen the international position of our united and eternal capital”, said the minister.
Head of Gush Etzion Council, Shlomo Ne’eman, also sent greetings, emphasizing the call for sovereignty and the Temple as an expression of the necessary rectification for the destruction mourned by the People of Israel.
As in every year, the walk concluded with the singing of Hatikva and Ani Ma’amin, and the participants of the walk made their way to prayers and lamentations at the Western Wall Plaza.