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August 17, 2001/Av 28, 5761, Vol. 53, No.45
The lofty vision of Jerusalem
Torah Study
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Re'eh/Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17
"But look only to the site that the Lord your God will choose amidst all your tribes as His habitation, to establish His name there. There you are to go, and there you are to bring your ... sacrifices..." (Deuteronomy 12:5,6).
Apparently the Torah is speaking of Jerusalem, because it appears in the context of Israel's entry into the Promised Land. But why is Jerusalem not mentioned?
Maimonides deals with this question in the "Guide for the Perplexed." He establishes the principle that divine service in the Temple was mainly directed against idolatry; because Mount Moriah was the highest mountain in the region, it was chosen by God for the Temple in order to attest to the superiority of God over all other idols.
If so, why does Moses hide the precise identity of the city of God?
Maimonides offers three reasons. First of all, publication of the city would incite other nations to make war against Israel in order to acquire Jerusalem for themselves. Secondly, other nations might attempt to destroy the city - if only in order that the Israelites not acquire it. And finally, Moses feared lest the tribes would fight over it, each desirous of having Jerusalem within its own borders.
These first two reasons are very much in evidence today, with the PLO having claimed Jerusalem for itself - even though it is never mentioned in the Koran - and destroying archeological remnants from the Temple Mount in order to discredit our historic claim.
I believe that in addition to Maimonides prophetic insights, there is a further significance behind Moses' reluctance to reveal the name of the city. In the ancient world, every nation-state had its own god - whom the citizens believed lived within the boundaries of that nation-state.
Yes, Jerusalem was to be the city housing the holy Temple of God, but God would not exclusively dwell within the Temple or the city.
One of the most difficult messages Moses had to convey to his people was that God is not corporeal.
Maimonides did set down in his Mishneh Torah that the sanctity of Jerusalem is the sanctity of the divine presence, and just as it is eternal and can never be destroyed, so the sanctity of Jerusalem is eternal and can never be made obsolete.
But Maimonides never means to say that God physically dwells in Jerusalem. His point is that the divine presence can never be physically destroyed because it is not a physical entity.
And finally, the place Jerusalem is not specifically mentioned because this recognition of God as the guardian of justice, compassion and truth is necessary not only for the tribes of Israel, but rather for the entire world.
The prophet Isaiah speaks of our vision of the end of the days: "For instruction shall come forth from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. ... Nation shall not take up sword against nation; they shall never again know war." (Isaiah 2:3-4)
Tragically we are now locked in a struggle for Jerusalem against a people who insist on their exclusive ownership - and are ready to pervert history and resort to terrorism against innocent civilians in order to achieve their evil designs.
How qualitatively different is our vision: May the God who cannot be confined to any physical place reveal teaching of peace and security from Jerusalem to every human being throughout the world.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is the spiritual leader of Efrat, Israel.
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