| | Whose Jerusalem ?Whose Land ? |
Covenant of Jerusalem - Key to 25th Anniversary
by Kaye Corbett
Jerusalem - The historic Covenant of Jerusalem was presented to the Israeli government on Wednesday, May 19, 1993.
It marked the conclusion of a year of celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Holy City's reunification, which reaffirmed the indelible bond between the Jewish people and its eternal spiritual and cultural capital.
On May 31, 1992 a proclamation, under the signatures of Deputy Minister Avraham Verdiger, Mayor Teddy Kollek and Jewish Agency Chairman Simcha Dinitz, was sent to Jewish communities around the world, inviting them to share in this moment of history with Jerusalem.
Ministry Director-General Yeshayahu Barzel said the year-long celebration had three goals. First, to strengthen the feeling that the entire Jewish people stand united with Israel on the indivisibility of Jerusalem; second, to impart to all Jews - especially those in the former Soviet Union who have been cut off from world Jewry for four generations - a feeling of unity; and third, to remind the non-Jewish world that the entire Jewish people are unified on the emotional and religious significance Jerusalem has for Jews everywhere.
Although there has been considerable opposition from those who want Jerusalem to be an "international city," the covenant of Jerusalem was inspired by the covenant renewal ceremony convened by Ezra and Nehemiah for the Israelites who returned to their homeland from Babylon.
According to David A. Gross's article in Israel Magazine, the Covenant has seven paragraphs, as Jerusalem has seven gates from Ezra's day. Even today, there are seven open gates to the Old City: Jaffa Gate, New Gate, Damascus Gate, Herod's Gate, Lion's Gate, Dung Gate and Zion Gate.
There's a legend which says Jerusalem will have seven gates in the days to come and shine "from one end of the world to the other."
Prepared by Justice Menahem Elon, Deputy President of the Supreme Court Vice, and with input from a wide range of writers, historians and archaeologists, the Covenant, in the form of a scroll written on parchment, was signed by President Chaim Herzog on May 31, 1992.
Besides Herzog, the original scroll was also signed by a lengthy list of dignitaries and national leaders.
Two parchment scrolls of the Covenant were sent to authorities in Israel from Metulla in the north to Eilat in the south and there were signing ceremonies throughout the world, similar to the main signing ceremony in Jerusalem.
"Christain Action for Israel" has obtained multi-coloured copies of THE JERUSALEM COVENANT as signed by the Prime Minister, President & Chief Rabbis of Israel.
Obtain your own copy: $ 10.00 USD (approximate size 8-1/2" x 22"); very suitable for framing.
The Jerusalem CovenantAs of this day, Jerusalem Day, the twenty-eight day of the month of Iyar in the year five thousand seven hundred fifty-two; one thousand nine hundred and twenty-two years after the destruction of the Second Temple; forty-four years since the founding of the State of Israel; twenty-five years since the Six Day War during which the Israel Defense Forces, in defense of our very existence, broke through the walls of the city and restored the Temple Mount and the unity of Jerusalem; twelve years since the Knesset of Israel reestablished the 'Jerusalem, unified and whole, is the Capital of Israel'; the State of Israel is the State of the 'Jewish People' and the Capital of Israel is the Capital of the People of Israel. We have gathered together in Zion, national leaders and heads, of our communities everywhere, to enter into a covenant with Jersualem, as was done by the leaders of our nation and all the people of Israel upon Israel's return to its Land from the "Babylonian exile; and the people and their leaders will dwell in Jerusalem, the Holy City.  |
See the accompanying article A Covenant That Offers A Prayer