New Orleans was — is — the occasion. Suddenly, it becomes clear that a city can be not only a place but also an idea. The idea of post-Katrina New Orleans, in the aftermath of the Saints’ victory, in the aftermath of a remarkable mayoral election, is beguiling, even redemptive. Yet for the time being, at least, it’s the idea that has to do the heavy lifting; the place is still in shameful disrepair.
Very few Americans cities enjoy the twin status. For several decades, New York appeared to tumble out of control, and it seemed the place might actually defeat the idea. But by now, whatever its problems, New York is working, idea and place intact.
Others? Maybe Washington, but if Washington’s an idea, then most Americans seem to think it’s a bad one. Las Vegas seems out of kilter, too much idea, a fantasy more than a place. Sandburg’s Chicago (Upton Sinclair’s and Al Capone’s, too) was both for a time, and Detroit as well. The one has waned, the other collapsed. There are iconic neighborhoods (Beverly Hills, for example) and there are other cities that have had their moments (Montgomery and Selma) and some, such as San Francisco and perhaps Salt Lake City that make the list intermittently.
Abroad, there was once Vienna, there will always be Paris. There’s Guernica, which earned its miserable fame on one dreadful spring day in 1937, and then, of course, at least Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki. By virtue of the movie, Casablanca; by virtue of the Vatican and the art, Rome; by virtue of all it bequeathed to us, Athens, although its hold grows more tentative.
And then there is the place/idea that for so long was regarded as the center of the universe: Jerusalem. For a dozen centuries and more, the place called Jerusalem was razed and sacked, ruined: The Book of Lamentations, likely written in the 6th century BCE, begins with the dirge, “Oh how doth the city sit solitary, she that was full of people,” and over the course of the two-and-a-half millennia that followed, there was no lack of occasion for reading the text as if it were meant to describe the day’s events. Jerusalem has been conquered and conquered again, and was often ravaged in the process. These repeated conquests took their toll: In 1260, the population of Jerusalem, even then the most famous place/idea in the world, was fewer than 2,000. By the beginning of the 19th century, the population had climbed to about 10,000, most living in squalor. Jerusalem the place was, in sad fact, a slum.
But in the Jewish tradition, there are actually two Jerusalems, not one. There’s yerushalayim shel mala, the heavenly Jerusalem, Jerusalem-the-idea: There, when it rains, flowers bloom; when mouths open, choirs of angels sing. It is that Jerusalem we invoke when we recite Psalm 137, “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning; if I do not remember you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.” And then there’s yerushalayim shel mata, the earthly Jerusalem: There, when it rains, streets turn muddy; when mouths open, it is as often for curses as it is for blessings. There people love and laugh and push in line, there some cheat on their taxes and others — and perhaps even the cheats as well — perform acts of great kindness.
For a long while, the challenge of Jerusalem was how to bring its two visions into closer touch with each other. The effort was helped by a quirk in the law instituted by the British during the period of their mandate for Palestine (1920-48): All new construction in Jerusalem had to be fashioned of Jerusalem stone, the familiar stone of the hillsides. As a result, Jerusalem the place looked as if it had grown organically out of the hills rather than having been built by sweating laborers.
These days, however, the two Jerusalems grow more distant from each other. The earthly Jerusalem is a place where the Israeli government insists on building more and more housing meant for Jews, often in areas of the city traditionally home to Palestinians. It is a place where demonstrators, sometimes the fervently Orthodox, other times angry social democrats, find themselves confronting the police. There, impossibly divergent definitions of just what the idea of Jerusalem is, compete against each other. There, a government of perplexing mediocrity tries to deal with threats real and concocted. There the question of whether Jerusalem is the “eternal and undivided capital of Israel” is utterly quotidian. It points not to a utopian eternity but to whether it is wise (or just) for Israel to exercise dominion over an array of East Jerusalem (i.e., Palestinian) neighborhoods, thereby denying the Palestinians their own slice of Jerusalem.
The place begins to wear away at the idea. But Jerusalem, all the heavenly air let out of it? Too sad to contemplate. Perhaps, when the New Orleans Saints have done with their partying, they will visit Jerusalem (marching in?), reminding its inhabitants that redemption begins as an act of will.
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Mr Fein - I understand that in journalism, oftentimes, the headline of an article has been chosen by the editorial staff. Perhaps, this article, as well, has a headline that you didn't phrase. Yet, I feel that it is an improper choice, since it is not a reflection of your worldview. "Our Jerusalem" would suggest some sense of belonging to a city that is the most important city of Jewish history and in the collective Jewish consciousness. "Next year in Jerusalem" ends the Yom Kippur prayer and the Pesach seder. Every Jewish wedding has the breaking of the glass to remind us of the destruction of Jerusalem (and our obligation to restore her). So, "our" Jerusalem should make me pleased: The memory of this wonderful city is a successful tool in the creating of a common, uniting Jewish identity. However, you have written: "It would be strange, indeed, if we sat in Los Angeles or Chicago or Teaneck and pined for Jerusalem... It is America’s mountains and America’s rivers and America’s cities that frame our sense of place, and America’s politics, for all the turmoil they involve, that command our attention" (see http://www.forward.com/articles/13987/ ).
Heavenly Jerusalem, yerushalayim shel ma'la, is indeed an expression of lofty idealism. Earthly Jerusalem, yerushalayim shel matta, is a real place - the stage on which modern Jewish history is unfolding in front of our eyes. Idealism and the realities of an unsolved (and violent) conflict will always be in total contradiction. What typifies real idealism, however, is personal commitment to its realization. You have made it clear that the center of your world is not Jerusalem, and the responsibility for its fate rests on the shoulders of others.
Raed Kami - It's always good to hear your straight-to-the-point opinions. When debating about the conflict, one so often hears the naive opinion that it's a conflict about statehood or about refugees or about occupation of land since 1967. Perhaps, the source of naivete is in the hope that "if it's about occupation", then the conflict could be resolved. Obviously, the burden of resolving the conflict would then rest only on Israel - and we hear such an observation almost on a weekly basis from Mr Fein. You always like to "rock the boat" with a rare bluntness that is meant to clarify the reality of conflict without cloaking it in propaganda: It is a conflict about the existence of the Yishuv. The very existence of the Yishuv, the Hebrew-speaking community in the ancient Land of Israel that has claimed its right to self-determination, is illegitimate in your eyes and must go away.
You should note, however, now that we agree on the real essence of conflict, that there are two theoretical solutions to a conflict about legitimacy. One solution is your solution - "all the Jews must go to Las Vegas". The other solution is the acceptance of our legitimacy. We'll go for the latter.
R. Kami - The Islamic tradition of Al Quds only has legitimacy and religious importance if based on the earlier Jewish tradition of the Temple Mount, and the even earlier tradition of the Akada and Abraham in the Hebrew Bible, which then gets rewritten in the Koran as Ishmael and Abraham.
You forgot the Jerusalem that is nothing more than a vacation spot for wealthy American and French Jews and playground for their Yeshiva youth. They bid up housing in the city and leave whole swaths empty for much of the year - a Jewish ghost town, except for the center where gangs of drunken Yeshiva Bocher hang out and party. In the meantime, Jewish year round residents are forced ever more outwards to distant settlements and suburbs, sacrificing time with their children (Jewish family time) in an effort to put a roof over their heads. Not to worry, industry is leaving, the hotels are under utilized (when Birthright isn't in town) and small businesses are folding due to lack of residents. Without jobs, the rest of the non subsidized residents will leave.
Jerusalem really will be nothing more than Jewish Disneyland -complete with tours of the "ethnic" Mea Shearim and "multi-ethnic, look how nice we are to let these token Arabs stay here" Old City.
What a utopia.
I agree with Lisa B that Jews have no sense of holyness, thats why they cannot keep Al Quds. The zionists by keeping Al Quds a ghost town will make our takeover easier in the near fture. American and French jews can stay in Vegas or Wall street. That is holy to them
Raed Kami - Are you now saying that if the Jews would have a "sense of holiness", then they would be entitled to keep Jerusalem (al-Quds)? So, I understand that your new position is that there are conditions in which you would agree to a Jewish presence in the country. How nice of you.
Lisa B. has more than exaggerated in her criticism of the social reality of Jerusalem. There are many Jews just like her whose criticism is always very biting, very sharp and very sarcastic. Obviously, she has been around town, because she seems to be familiar with some of the issues. However, since she's been around, she also knows that Jerusalem is a really lovely town, and it is full of the hustle-bustle of any major city with university life, shopping centers, tourists, extensive building projects and development - and lots of children. You, on the other hand, are quite unfamiliar with the reality of life in Jerusalem, and hence you can actually believe her caricature of Jewish Jerusalem. For Lisa, the caricature was meant to express some social critique, but for you the caricature just strengthened your illusions about Jews and Israel.
Yehuda - I was a long term, working tax-paying resident driven out by just these issues, and took my Jerusalem born Jewish family with me.
It WAS a nice town. It HAD religious/secular balance. It HAD tight knit neighborhoods. It had real diversity.
Jerusalem is a pale shadow of the city that thrived 20 years ago. There were warnings then, they weren't heeded.
Lisa describes exquisitely why Al Quds is not holy to Jews. I invite Lisa B and Yehuda to contribute to world peace by moving to Vegas, Minsk, or other cities that Jews have a more valid claim than to Al Quds
Cities change, Jerusalem would not be the city it is today if not for religion and exterministic politics that brought the Jews to establish a country, NYC went through turmoil, it didn't begin in the 70's but earlier when Robert Moses transformed NYC into a modern city that relied on the financial sector by building major highways and massive public housing complexes that destroyed the lives, jobs and businesses of many hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.
Jerusalem in the 1990s was truly heaven on earth. I echo lisa B's sentiments.
Umm, editor?
It is a open sore the beating heart of three fraud religions.