“For the sake of all that lives and is"
Ps. 122:6-8
“In Jerusalem on the eve of the New Year
honey jars instead of parking tickets
on the windshield, near the wiper
greeted our return to the old Toyota and the new Hybrid
left right outside Dung Gate.
Everyone’s destiny intertwined.
Metamorphosis on our lips.
We can heal with words.
In our hearts, heaven can happen.
Sometimes a little dot lets the sky in.”
This poem by Felice Miryam Kahn Zisken comments on today’s poetic psalm, famous for its verses that celebrate Jerusalem as the center of Jewish life and the aspiration of universal utopia. It also puts us in the mood for the new Jewish year - just ten days away.
Will this city, home to so many, sacred to the three major Abrahamic religions, historical hub of so much hurt and hope - ever be healed?
Ever transcend its traumas and be a place of peace?
The recipe for healing is within this poem, a remedy and plea, the actual words of suggested prayers.
And it’s more than just prayer -- these famous and beloved verses include the direction for how to push ourselves beyond our boundaries towards the activation of actual and larger love of all, for all:
שַׁ֭אֲלוּ שְׁל֣וֹם יְרוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם יִ֝שְׁלָ֗יוּ אֹהֲבָֽיִךְ׃ יְהִי־שָׁל֥וֹם בְּחֵילֵ֑ךְ שַׁ֝לְוָ֗ה בְּאַרְמְנוֹתָֽיִךְ׃ לְ֭מַעַן אַחַ֣י וְרֵעָ֑י אֲדַבְּרָה־נָּ֖א שָׁל֣וֹם בָּֽךְ׃
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem;
“May those who love you be serene.
May there be peace within your ramparts,
serenity within your citadels.”
For the sake of my kin and friends,
I pray for your peace.”
Ps. 122:6-8
“My kin and friends” - there is a connecting Hebrew letter between the two terms that are also sometimes translated as “my brothers and companions.”
How to build bridges of peace in Jerusalem and everywhere else? By focusing on this ‘AND’: Making sure I pray and protect, support my family - and all other families too.
This not so radical idea of empathy beyond borders is already alluded to in the Talmud’s reading of this psalm.
This psalm begins by sharing the excitement of pilgrims who reach the holy city, which is then named:
יְרוּשָׁלַ֥͏ִם הַבְּנוּיָ֑ה כְּ֝עִ֗יר שֶׁחֻבְּרָה־לָּ֥הּ יַחְדָּֽו׃
Jerusalem built up, a city knit together.
Ps. 122:3
These words must have already been aspirational to the writers of this psalm some 2000+ years ago, as well as to the Talmudic interpreters who read it centuries later. The Jerusalem Talmud notes that this is the city that has the potential of connecting people to each other. The Babylonian Talmud adds a wistful note on behalf of God, who said: “I will not settle in the Celestial Jerusalem Above, before I am able to reside in the Jerusalem Below.” In other words -- until there is horizontal peace-building and human connection down below in Jerusalem - there will be no peace above. We will only know peace when we know how to create it within our own worlds, and among each other -- both our families and the families beyond our familiar origin.
Is it possible? The poets ask us to keep imagining this reality and to pray with our words, actions, hopes and deeds.
Norman Fischer translates the verse that calls for our expanded empathy:
“For the sake of all that lives and is
Let me speak these heart words:
Peace, Peace, Peace for Jerusalem… I pledge myself to seek the good.”
In whatever language, with whatever words, with our deeds and dreams - it’s on us to keep expanding our empathy, to build bridges between east and west and all directions - so that this holy city, and all holy cities, will be homes for hope and peace.
Praying is a start.
Image: ‘Painting Pain, Dreaming Peace’ Jerusalem, 2010, ‘Children of Jerusalem: From My Jerusalem to Our Jerusalem, The Institute for the Study of Communities and Religions in Israel.
https://csm.huc.edu/category/special-collections/childrenpaining/
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