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Yom Yerushalayim: Jerusalem Is a City That Holds Us All

The Western Wall and Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

In 1790, when Washington, D.C., was designed to be the capital of the United States, it was envisioned not just as a seat of government, but as a place to gather a people. That aspiration — to create a space that could bring diverse citizens into shared purpose — is one Jerusalem has carried for thousands of years.

Israel is too often described in binaries: religious or secular, national or universal, particular or shared. But the ancient and eternal truth of Jerusalem resists that kind of thinking, and offers a sacred language of wholeness and holiness. The Holy City is, and has always been, both a center of Jewish identity and a city that speaks and hopes for the entire human community. It holds the sacred stories of the Jewish people, and yet its stones have also absorbed the prayers of Christians and Muslims for centuries. Its power and spiritual strength lies in this paradox — not in choosing one side, but in gratitude to be witnessing all faiths living side by side.

This is what we remember on Yom Yerushalayim. Beyond the historical moment of the city’s reunification, we are reminded of the deeper meaning of what it means to return to Jerusalem. Throughout Jewish history, even when only a small remnant returned from exile, Jews around the world kept their hearts and eyes turned toward this city. Jerusalem never belonged only to those who lived within its walls. It belonged to the entire people — a city where a Jew in Babylon, Paris, or Buenos Aires could feel connection and responsibility.

For us, Jerusalem is a city of belonging and longing. It is a spiritual home, a place where every Jew should find a foothold — not just in memory, but in presence. The city is incomplete if parts of our people feel excluded. We do both ourselves and Jerusalem a disservice when we treat it as territory to be claimed, rather than a spiritual inheritance to be shared by all. Our tradition has always insisted that each person has a place in Jerusalem — whether you live there or send your blessings from afar. It is this deep, enduring bond that makes Jerusalem our eternal capital.

And yet, Jerusalem is not ours. Jewish theology teaches that Jerusalem is the city of God — holy not only because we made it so, but because it bears the imprint of something beyond us, of the Eternal that we all belong to. That is why it has always drawn the attention and reverence of people of many faiths. To acknowledge this is not to weaken our claim; rather, it is to affirm the very essence of what makes the city sacred.

In the Jerusalemite communities and enterprises we each lead, we strive to reflect this vision and this language of Jerusalem. To build a Jerusalem that does not close in on itself, but opens its gates to others. A Jerusalem that welcomes the seeker, the dreamer, the stranger with humbleness and service. Where Jews of all denominations pray side by side, where Torah is studied in partnership with people of other faiths, where acts of charity, justice, and compassion are a central commitment of faith and fraternity. We believe that the truest strength of Jerusalem is not found in its walls — but in its windows.

That’s why we are proud to be part of Voice of the People, a collective effort to bring together Jews of diverse backgrounds and beliefs in a shared responsibility for our future. From the heart of Jerusalem, and under the auspices of the President of Israel, this initiative reminds us that unity does not mean uniformity. It means showing up for one another with humility and purpose. It means understanding that no one voice can carry the fullness of the Jewish story, duty, and destiny alone.

The Temple’s floor in Jerusalem was built from stones that were not identical — each was shaped differently, and yet each had its essential place. Its windows faced outward, not inward. Its design held space even for those who did not know where they belonged. That is our blueprint. That is the Jerusalem we are called to build.

Yom Yerushalayim is not only a celebration of what was reclaimed. It is a charge to create what still must be. A city where every person — Jewish or other — can see themselves reflected in its light. An Abrahamic center that teaches us how to hold dignity within difference, how to care across boundaries, and how to live with open hearts and extended hands.

May this Jerusalem — the Jerusalem of prayer, of justice, of shared hope and healing — continue to rise. May we be worthy of being its builders, together. Amen.

Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum is the founder and head of the Israeli Rabbinic Seminary at the Hartman Institute and Ha Midrasha at Oranim, The Ritual Center, and the Zion Community in Jerusalem. Honey fellow, recipient of the Hebrew University Flegg Prize and co-recipient of the Stulman prize. In 2010 she was named by The Forward as one of the five most influential female religious leaders in Israel.
Rabbi Yotam Halperin serves as VP of Education at the Tower of David Jerusalem Museum. Previously, he was a senior advisor to the Minister of Communications and a researcher at the Ministry of Education. He teaches Torah in various Jewish study institutions, performs wedding ceremonies, and volunteers with the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization.

The post Yom Yerushalayim: Jerusalem Is a City That Holds Us All first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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France Moves to Honor Alfred Dreyfus With Posthumous Promotion Over a Century After Wrongful Conviction

Alfred Dreyfus. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

France’s National Defense and Armed Forces Committee has unanimously voted to posthumously promote Alfred Dreyfus to the rank of brigadier general, in a symbolic act of justice more than a century after the Jewish army captain was wrongly convicted of espionage.

On Wednesday, the French Embassy in Israel announced the committee’s approval of Dreyfus’s posthumous promotion — a proposal put forward by former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.

“The French Nation is just and does not forget,” the embassy said in a statement. “This rights an injustice, honors a warrior, and clarifies that antisemitism, from history to today, will never have a place in the Republic.”

With the approval of lawmakers on the committee, the bill is set to be adopted by the full National Assembly in its plenary session on June 2.

When introducing the legislation earlier this month, Attal said the law would “constitute an act of reparation, a recognition of [Dreyfus’s] merits, and a tribute to his republican commitment,” in an effort to rectify the wrongful conviction, which unfolded amid widespread antisemitism across the country at the time.

“Five years of exile and humiliation irreparably harmed his military career,” Attal said. “It is undeniable that, had it not been for this injustice, Alfred Dreyfus would have naturally ascended to the highest ranks.”

According to the French diplomat, the proposed legislation would also signal that the fight against antisemitism remains urgent, as France has seen a rise in antisemitic hate crimes following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.

Antisemitism in France continued to surge to alarming levels across the country last year, with 1,570 incidents recorded, according to a report by the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) – the main representative body of French Jews.

In late May and early June, antisemitic acts rose by more than 140 percent, far surpassing the weekly average of slightly more than 30 incidents.

France is home to the world’s largest Jewish population after Israel and the United States, as well as the largest Muslim community in the European Union.

In 1894, Dreyfus, a 36-year-old army captain from the Alsace region in northeastern France, was accused of leaking secret information to a German military official and was put on trial amid a fierce antisemitic media campaign.

Despite a lack of evidence, Dreyfus was convicted of treason based on a handwriting comparison with a document found in a German official’s wastepaper basket in Paris, sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island in French Guiana, and stripped of his military rank.

Years later, French Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart, then head of military intelligence, secretly reopened the case and uncovered that the handwriting on the incriminating document belonged to another officer. But when he brought this evidence to the army’s general staff, Picquart was dismissed from his post and imprisoned for a year.

In 1899, Dreyfus was brought back to France for a second trial, where he was again found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison, before ultimately receiving a pardon — though the charges against him were not formally overturned.

It was seven years later, in 1906, when Dreyfus was officially exonerated after the French High Court of Appeal overturned the original verdict and reinstated him with the rank of major.

He lived until 1935, dying at the age of 76.

The post France Moves to Honor Alfred Dreyfus With Posthumous Promotion Over a Century After Wrongful Conviction first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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US Envoy Pushes for Israel-Syria ‘Non-Aggression Agreement,’ Says Peace Achievable

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani stands next to US envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack as he raises the American flag at US ambassador’s residency in Damascus, Syria, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Firas Makdesi

US Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack called for a non-aggression pact between long-time foes Syria and Israel during a high-profile visit to Damascus on Thursday, marking a significant diplomatic change in the Middle East.

Barack, who also serves as the US ambassador to Turkey, said he believes a peace agreement between Israel and Syria could be possible, praising the nascent Islamist government in Damascus for indicating openness to normalization with the Jewish state.

“Syria and Israel is a solvable problem. But it starts with a dialogue,” Barrack told journalists in Damascus. “I’d say we need to start with just a non-aggression agreement, talk about boundaries and borders.”

Following his meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the presidential palace, Barrack suggested the agreement as a first step toward repairing relations between Jerusalem and Damascus, according to AFP. Barrack also hoisted the American flag over the US ambassador’s residence for the first time since the embassy closed in 2012, highlighting the swift growth of US relations with Syria.

Israeli and Syrian officials have been in direct contact and held a series of meetings in recent weeks aimed at calming tensions and avoiding conflict along their border, according to reporting by Reuters.

Sharaa became Syria’s president after leading the rebel campaign that ousted long-time Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad, whose Iran-backed rule had strained ties with the Arab world during the nearly 14-year Syrian war, with an offensive spearheaded by Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, a former al Qaeda affiliate. Though previously designated as a terrorist organization by the US, HTS has since rebranded itself as a national force concerned with Syria’s wellbeing.

Following Assad’s fall, Israel conducted military strikes against much of Syria’s weapons arsenals and deployed ground troops to the buffer zone along their border to prevent its northern neighbor from becoming a launching pad for terrorist attacks against Israeli communities.

The Israeli government has also pledged to defend the Druze community, an Arab minority sect whose religion is originally derived from Islam, in Syria with military force if they come under threat.

Despite suspicions of Syria’s new Islamist-led government, US foreign policy toward Damascus has shifted dramatically with the change in regime.

Barrack’s visit came after about two weeks after US President Donald Trump met with Sharaa in Saudi Arabia, urged him to normalize relations with Israel, and announced in a surprising turn that the US would lift all sanctions on the Syrian government.

According to Barrack, the Trump administration will remove Syria from the US State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation that has heavily restricted foreign aid and investment in the country, saying the issue was “gone with the Assad regime being finished.”

Barrack told Reuters that Washington wants to give Syria’s new leadership “a fair opportunity to govern without the burden of external pressure,” suggesting a major recalibration of US policy in the Middle East.

“America’s intent and the president’s vision is that we have to give this young government a chance by not interfering, not demanding, by not giving conditions, by not imposing our culture on your culture,” Barrack said on Thursday.

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Israeli Baby Delivered After Pregnant Mother’s Murder in Terror Attack Dies Following Two Weeks in Intensive Care

On the left: Tzeela Gez, who was shot dead while in a car with her husband in the West Bank, as they were driving to hospital to give birth in May 2025. On the right: Hananel Gez holding his son, Ravid Chaim, who died two weeks after the terrorist attack. Photo: Screenshot

The infant son of Tzeela Gez, an Israeli mother of three who was fatally shot in a terrorist attack in the West Bank while on her way to give birth, died Thursday morning after two weeks in intensive care.

On May 15, Gez and her husband, Hananel, were on their way to the hospital to deliver their baby when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire on Israeli vehicles, critically wounding the pregnant mother and injuring her husband.

After the attack, the 30-year-old woman was quickly transported to Petah Tikva’s Rabin Medical Center in critical condition. Despite doctors’ efforts to save her, she was pronounced dead the next morning.

According to the hospital, Gez’s husband, who was driving the car, sustained minor injuries after his condition was initially reported as serious.

Doctors managed to deliver the baby, Ravid Chaim — a name Tzeela had chosen before the attack — via emergency C-section, but he had already suffered severe oxygen deprivation.

Despite intensive medical care, his condition remained critical, and he never regained full consciousness. After fighting for his life for more than two weeks, Ravid was pronounced dead Thursday morning at Schneider Children’s Medical Center.

Last week, Hananel described his son’s condition as being “between life and death” in an interview with Israel Hayom.

Shortly after the attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced an intensive search for the terrorist who fired on multiple vehicles, with Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir vowing to bring the perpetrators to justice.

About a week after Tzeela was murdered, the IDF confirmed that it had eliminated the killer, Nael Samara, during a counter-terrorism operation near the Jewish community of Bruchin in the northern West Bank.

In a post on X, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar shared the tragic news of Ravid’s death, while criticizing the international community for ignoring the terror attacks against Israeli settlers.

“Jews living in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] are the most attacked population in the world by terrorism. Despite this, too many in the international community prefer to speak about ‘settler violence,’ instead of the terror against settlers,” the top Israeli diplomat said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed “great sorrow and pain” upon hearing the tragic news.

“There are no words that can comfort the murder of a newborn baby along with his mother,” the Israeli leader said in a post on X. “The heroism of the pioneers of settlement in Judea and Samaria, and their dedication is what will defeat all our enemies. Earth does not cover their blood.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he spoke with Hananel, whom he praised as “a true Israeli hero,” to offer his support and solidarity.

“The entire people of Israel embrace him in his difficult time and pray that he finds comfort and solace together with his children and the entire family. May their memory be blessed,” Herzog said in a post on X.

The post Israeli Baby Delivered After Pregnant Mother’s Murder in Terror Attack Dies Following Two Weeks in Intensive Care first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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