Statement on the US Announcement Regarding Jerusalem

We at The Jewish Theological Seminary are heartened that Jerusalem, the focal point of Jewish hopes and prayers for over two millennia, and the capital of the reborn State of Israel since its founding nearly 70 years ago, has been recognized as such by Israel’s closest ally. We welcome our president’s commitment to helping to forge a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. We who love Israel and Jerusalem, and pray daily for peace among the world’s faiths and peoples, continue to hope that Israelis and Palestinians will find a way to share the Holy City. But we must do more than hope. The rabbis of antiquity envisioned two Jerusalems—the Jerusalem that resided in the heavens and its earthly counterpart. They asserted that the fates of both of these Jerusalems are intertwined, and that God declared, “I will not reside in the heavenly Jerusalem until I am able to reside in the earthly Jerusalem.” It is the responsibility of humankind to bring peace to our earthly Jerusalem so as to allow God’s presence to find a home. Only then will God enter the Jerusalem on high. Let us get to work and make this a reality.