Happy Jerusalem Day

This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Were our mouth as full of song as the sea, and our tongue as full of joyous song as its multitude of waves, and our lips as full of praise as the breadth of the heavens, and our eyes as brilliant as the sun and the moon, and our hands as outspread as the eagles of the sky and our feet as swift as hinds -- we still could not thank You sufficiently, HaShem our God and God of our forefathers, and to bless Your Name for even one of the thousand thousand, thousands of thousands and myriad myriads of favors, miracles and wonders that you performed for our ancestors and for us.

It's been over forty years since the liberation of Jerusalem, and many people take Jerusalem for granted.

I just finished reading the book Elnakam by Ezra Yakhin. I just love this book. This is a book that just breathes Jerusalem. Here is what Yisrael Eldad had to say about the book:

This book is a revelation of the inner feelings of a youth in the underground. It has the additional grace of being imbued with the very atmosphere of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is not only the scene of the action, with the stress placed on the battle for the city, but we get an insight into the lives of the Jerusalem suburbs where patriotism and faith go hand in hand. This is a stylized reconstruction of actions and experiences and also a fighter’s lament for the liberty of Israel, rising from the very roots of the people and their faith, roots going back for generations. The dominant characteristic of this testimony is it authenticity. Without the help of such no historian, let alone a poet, may hope to understand that generation and its struggle, sense the flesh-and-blood reality of waging a war in the underground. This war is seen here through the eye of the writer, symbolically enough an eye that was wounded and turned to bleeding flesh during the battle for the (Jerusalem’s) Old City. It is fitting that this war, this city and even the reality of today and our struggle should this be regarded: with love and pain, with love in spite of pain. From being just another testimonial to the past, this book is transmuted by the power of love into a link in the continuous chain of the struggle for liberty and complete salvation.

If you can, get a copy. Happy Jerusalem Day.