Avot d'Rebbi Natan
Ten portions of suffering are in the world - nine in Jerusalem, and one in the rest of the world.
Ten portions of physical strength are in the world - nine in Judea and one in the rest of the world.
Ten portions of wisdom are in the world - nine in Jerusalem and one in the rest of the world.
Ten portions of hypocrisy are in the world - nine in Jerusalem, and one in the rest of the world.
Ten portions of Torah are in the world - nine in Jerusalem, and one in the rest of the world.
From Ecology of Jerusalem, by Yehuda Amichai
The air over Jerusalem is saturated with prayers
and dreams
like the air over industrial cities.
It’s hard to breathe.
(ח) דבר אחר: כל הנחלים הולכים אל הים כל ישראל אינם מתכנסין אלא לירושלים, ועולים בפעמי רגלים בכל שנה ושנה. והים איננו מלא וירושלים אינה מתמלאת לעולם. דתנינן: עומדין צפופים ומשתחוים רווחים. ר' שמואל בר חובה בשם ר' אחא אמר: ארבע אמות ריוח בין כל אחד ואחד, ואמה מכל צד, כדי שלא יהא שומע תפלתו של חבירו ויטעה.
"All the streams flow to the sea" (Ecclesiastes 1) -- All of Israel gathers together only in Jerusalem, and they go up at the times of each festival each and every year.
"Yet the sea is never full" (Ecclesiastes 1) -- Yet Jerusalem is never filled. As it was taught "They stand crowded, [yet] they bow spaciously". Rav Shmuel Bar Chova said in the name of Rav Acha who said, "Four cubits space between each and every one of them, and one cubit on each side, so that no one would hear the prayer of his friend and come to err".
Kohelet Rabbah
The sages relate: "The Almighty created the world in the same manner as a child if formed in its mother's womb. Just as a child begins to grow from its navel and then develops into its full form, so the world began from its central point and then developed in all directions."
The "navel" of the world is Jerusalem, and its core is the great altar in the Holy Temple
c 1580
Psalter Map, c 1250
This map is attached to a Latin manuscript of the Book of Psalms. Europe is on the lower left, Africa on the lower right, and Asia above. At the right of Jerusalem, Mount Zion; below, Bethlehem.
Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Beit Habehirah, 2:2
It is a tradition known to all that the place where David and Solomon built the altar, on the site of Aravnah's threshing floor, is the same place where Abraham built an altar to bind Isaac for sacrafice, the place where Noah built an altar when he came out of the ark, the place where Cain and Abel brought their offerings to God, and where Adam sacrificed after his creation. And Adam was created from the earth of that very spot.
Giclée print of original oil on canvas painting. Jerusalem floats above a scene of devastation below. Fallen and crumbled empires, their statues and architecture but rubble in a landscape of rocks and thorns. A small group of people are seen picking flowers, a sign of hope as is the omnipresent Jerusalem in a history of foibles.
וא"ל רב נחמן לר' יצחק מאי דכתיב (הושע יא, ט) בקרבך קדוש ולא אבוא בעיר משום דבקרבך קדוש לא אבוא בעיר א"ל הכי א"ר יוחנן אמר הקב"ה לא אבוא בירושלים של מעלה עד שאבוא לירושלים של מטה ומי איכא ירושלים למעלה אין דכתיב (תהלים קכב, ג) ירושלם הבנויה כעיר שחוברה לה יחדיו.
And Rav Naḥman said to Rabbi Yitzḥak: What is the meaning of that which is written: “It is sacred in your midst, and I will not enter the city” (Hosea 11:9)? This verse is puzzling: Because it is sacred in your midst, will God not enter the city? Rabbi Yitzḥak said to Rav Naḥman that Rabbi Yoḥanan said the verse should be understood as follows: The Holy Blessed One, said: I shall not enter Jerusalem above, in heaven, until I enter Jerusalem on earth down below at the time of the redemption, when it will be sacred in your midst. The Gemara asks: And is there such a place as Jerusalem above? The Gemara answers: Yes, as it is written: “Jerusalem built up, a city unified together” (Psalms 122:3). The term unified indicates that there are two cities of Jerusalem, a heavenly one and an earthly one, which are bound together.
Why Is Jerusalem Always in Twos? by Yehudah Amichai
Why is Jerusalem always in twos, one of Above
And the other Below
And I want to live in a Jerusalem of the middle
Without turning my head above and without
Wounding my legs below.
And why is Jerusalem in the language of pairs, like hands
And legs,
I only want to be in one Jerusalem
Because I am only one, there are no more.
(1) By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion. (2) Upon the willows in the midst thereof We hanged up our harps. (3) For there they that led us captive asked of us words of song, And our tormentors asked of us mirth: ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion.' (4) How shall we sing the LORD’S song In a foreign land? (5) If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget her cunning. (6) Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, If I remember thee not; If I set not Jerusalem Above my chiefest joy.
(ד) כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ ה' צְבָא֔וֹת עֹ֤ד יֵֽשְׁבוּ֙ זְקֵנִ֣ים וּזְקֵנ֔וֹת בִּרְחֹב֖וֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָ֑ם וְאִ֧ישׁ מִשְׁעַנְתּ֛וֹ בְּיָד֖וֹ מֵרֹ֥ב יָמִֽים׃ (ה) וּרְחֹב֤וֹת הָעִיר֙ יִמָּ֣לְא֔וּ יְלָדִ֖ים וִֽילָד֑וֹת מְשַׂחֲקִ֖ים בִּרְחֹֽבֹתֶֽיהָ׃
(4) This is what God says: There will be a time when old men and old women sit in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand at an old age. (5) And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing.
Jerusalem of Gold, by Leon Zirnitsky
He who has not seen Jerusalem in its days of glory, has never seen a beautiful city in his life. He who has not seen the Temple in its full construction has never seen a glorious building in his life.
ולא בעיר של זהב: מאי בעיר של זהב רבה בר בר חנה אמר רבי יוחנן ירושלים דדהבא כדעבד ליה רבי עקיבא לדביתהו
We learned in the mishna: And neither may a woman go out on Shabbat to the public domain with a city of gold. The Gemara asks: What is the meaning of: With a city of gold? Rabba bar bar Ḥana said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Jerusalem of Gold, a gold tiara engraved with a depiction of the city of Jerusalem, like the one that Rabbi Akiva made for his wife.
Jerusalem of Gold, by Alex Levin
From Jerusalem, 1967, by Yehuda Amichai
21
Jerusalem is a port city on the shore of eternity.
The Temple Mount is a huge ship, a magnificent
luxury liner. From the portholes of her Western Wall
cheerful saints look out, travelers. Hasidim on the pier
wave goodbye, shout hooray, hooray, bon voyage! She is
always arriving, always sailing away. And the fences and the piers
and the policeman and the flags and the high masts of churches
and mosques and the smokestacks of synagogues and the boats
of psalms of praise and the mountain-waves. The shofar blows: another one
has just left. Yom Kippur sailors in white uniforms
climb among ladders and ropes of well-tested prayers.
And the commerce and the gates and the golden domes:
Jerusalem is the Venice of God.
Reb Naftali Zvi of Ropshitz, a Hasidic master, taught: “By our service to God, we build Jerusalem daily. One of us adds a row, another only a brick. When Jerusalem is completed, redemption will come.