The Fall and Rise of Israel, Part 8 - Masada to Jerusalem, A New Song, and a Priestly Declaration

1948 saw the official restoration of the Jews to the land. But something was missing.

The day after Israel was declared a nation, enemy forces from five Arab nations attacked the newborn state, each in an effort to grab land. The Jews were driven from the biblical heartland and from the Old City of Jerusalem.

Even today, the large kidney-shaped area of the biblical heartland is called the “West Bank” because it fell under control of Jordan to the east... and they called it the "west bank" of Jordan.  Syria grabbed the Golan Heights. Egypt grabbed Gaza. For these attacking nations, it was a free-for-all. The Jews were left with a long skinny area from north to south of the land that excluded the old city of Jerusalem.

For 19 years, this is how the tiny nation of Israel existed. But something amazing happened to change all that.

In the 1960s, excavation began of the ancient desert fortress of Masada, located next to the Dead Sea. Masada was the place of the Jews’ last stand in the year 73 AD. The man who led the return to Masada was named Yigael Yadin. He was a military commander who had been a general in Israel’s war of Independence in 1948.

Yadin’s original last name was Sukenik. His father was the one who uncovered the Dead Sea Scrolls.

As Yadin led the expedition to open that ancient grave of Masada, an ancient synagogue was found. Parchments of scripture were discovered, the most notable being from Ezekiel 37:1, which read The hand of the LORD… set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. And He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone…and flesh came upon them… And breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel… Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

Masada - an ancient and amazing desert fortress next to the Dead Sea,
built by King Herod more than two thousand years ago

God had embedded His promise into the sands of that ancient grave. And just as the loss of Jerusalem led to the loss of Masada in the first century, the return to Masada would lead to… the return to Jerusalem.

For nearly 2000 years, the Jews had yearned for a return to Jerusalem. This song of yearning is found in Psalm 137, written during the exile in Babylon... If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill…

Psalm 137 was the song of the first exile.

Tiny rabbit trail... A few years ago, I attended a Jewish wedding in Jerusalem, on a hillside overlooking the city. This psalm was included in the wedding ceremony. Later, I asked our host about it. He said that a wedding is considered one of the highest joys, yet Psalm 137 commands that Jerusalem be their chief joy. Therefore, it is declared at a wedding to be an even higher joy than the wedding. 

A joyful Jewish wedding celebration overlooking Jerusalem

In May of 1967, a modern song of Jerusalem was written by a young Israeli named Naomi Shemer, and it was sung for the first time in public at the annual Israeli Music Festival. The song was called Yerushalayim Shel Zahav, or Jerusalem of Gold. The song gave a modern voice to the ancient Jewish yearning for Jerusalem.

When it was sung at the music festival, the audience was transfixed. The song spread like wildfire throughout the nation because it struck a chord in the heart of Jews, both religious and secular.  Here are the lyrics of that first performance, translated into English:

Verse 1

The mountain air is clear as wine
And the scent of pines
Is carried on the breeze of twilight
With the sound of bells.

And in the slumber of tree and stone
Captured in her dream
The city that sits solitary
And in its midst is a wall.

Chorus:
Jerusalem of gold
And of copper, and of light
Behold I am a violin for all your songs.

Verse 2
How the cisterns have dried
The market-place is empty
And no one frequents the Temple Mount
In the Old City.

And in the caves in the mountain
Winds are howling
And no one descends to the Dead Sea
By way of Jericho.

Verse 3
But as I come to sing to you today,
And to adorn crowns to you
I am the smallest of the youngest of your children 
And of the last poet.

For your name scorches the lips
Like the kiss of a seraph
If I forget thee, Jerusalem,
Which is all gold... 

Just for fun, here is a link to a recording of that very first performance, if you are interested.

On the very day that the song was first performed, enemy troops were moving across the desert toward Israel’s borders. 

The reason they were preparing to attack Israel was because of a false report from the Soviet Union to Egypt - the report that Israel was intending to launch an invasion against them. Anticipating war, the UN peacekeeping troops withdrew from the Sinai peninsula on May 16.  By June, over 200,000 troops were gathered along Israel’s borders. Israel was outnumbered. Threats of annihilation were real.  Egyptian leader Nasser declared, "Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel."

On June 3, a secret meeting of Israel’s leaders took place to determine what to do. The decision was made to launch a surprise attack. One of the men in that meeting was Yigael Yadin, the man who uncovered Masada.

Interestingly, this meeting took place as the Sabbath came to a close.  Included in that week's Torah portion are the first four chapters of the book of Numbers, in which Israel was numbering and assembling men eligible to go to war, as well as numbering the Levites who were ordained as priests and tabernacle servants.

On June 5, the Israeli air force made surprising attacks on neighboring Arab countries and destroyed their air forces.  They fought Syria in the north and Egypt in the south.  But it was Jordan that occupied Jerusalem.  The Israeli government pleaded with Jordan to stay out of the war.  Israel was fighting for its life, not for Jerusalem.

Israeli troops were not even focused on the old city.  The fighting centered on a mountain overlooking Jerusalem - Mount Scopus, Israel's sole possession east of the old city.  Located on that mountain were an Israeli hospital, an Israeli university... and Israeli army personnel.  

Mount Scopus had been the headquarters of Roman General Titus in 70 AD.  Just as Jerusalem's destruction was staged from Mount Scopus, so too would be Jerusalem's liberation.

On June 7, 1967, Israeli soldiers swept down from Mount Scopus on the north into the old city and to the Temple Mount.  The commander of the 55th Brigade, Motta Gur, radioed words that would be heard all over the nation:  "The Temple Mount is in our hands."

Iconic photo of soldiers at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount.
Photo by David Rubinger, who died in 2017 at age 92

The soldiers who liberated Jerusalem found themselves on the Temple Mount and spontaneously began singing Naomi Shemer's song that had swept the land just three weeks prior.  When Naomi heard of Jerusalem's liberation, she added a verse.  The song of longing became a song of rejoicing.  Here is the English translation:

We have returned to the cisterns
To the market and to the market-place
A ram's horn calls out on the Temple Mount
In the Old City.

And in the caves in the mountain
Thousands of suns shine -
We will once again descend to the Dead Sea
By way of Jericho!

Going back to the Torah portion for that week, from the book of Numbers, there were two chapters numbering the men for war, and two chapters speaking of the duties of the priests.  

It was the duty of the priests to mark, herald, and proclaim the Jubilean year to the rest of the nation.

And something amazing was taking place as the Temple Mount was being liberated.  One of the first Israelis to enter the Old City was Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the chief chaplain of the Israeli army.  As he stood on the ancient site, his mind turned to his father-in-law, another rabbi, who was known for his deep yearning for Jerusalem's restoration.  Goren sent his assistant through enemy fire to bring his father-in-law, Rabbi David HaCohen, back to the Holy City.  

Rabbi Goren sounds the shofar at the Temple Mount

Rabbi HaCohen was so overcome with emotion that he left his house without putting shoes on.  The driver stopped to pick up another rabbi, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda HaCohen Kook, who also was passionate about Jerusalem's restoration.  Three weeks earlier, Rabbi Kook had shocked his hearers when he cried out in pained longing for the restoration of the nation's holy places that were currently separated from them.

Both of these Rabbis were descendents of Aaron - in other words, priests.  Just as the first people marching into the promised land under Joshua were priests, so too were the priests present at the moment of return to Jerusalem.

Interestingly, the soldier who drove the Jeep that brought the two priests to the Holy City was also of a priestly line - his name was Menachem HaCohen, which means the comfort of the priest.  (Cohen means priest).

What a day that was! June 7, 1967 (or 28 Iyyar if you are looking at the Hebrew calendar).  The next post is now available here.

Note:  There are many more details that are associated with the return of Jerusalem in 1967.  I highly recommend the book The Oracle by Jonathan Cahn, in which you can read all of them.