As a child, I was one of the "Children of the Walls" - children who came from the first 15 families who moved to the Jewish Quarter, in the beautiful period that began after the Six Day War, with the liberation of the city of Jerusalem and the unification of all parts of Israel.
It is impossible to explain, but our lives are in fantasy.
We were part of a group of children who felt like an elite unit, living in the district in the years after the liberation of the Western Wall.
The quarter, with its ruins and antiquities, was our playground.
We lived for years at an archeology site.
It may not be perceived today, but we live in a reality where archeological finds turn out to be a matter of routine.
As children, we played devotion to 2,000-year-old pottery.
For many months the floor of the house shook, and more than once we experienced cracks in the floor, but for Dad and Mom it did not move at all.
On the contrary - they accepted it with great love.
We were privileged to be the first to touch the painted walls from the Second Temple period, and to stand on the same ancient mosaics that were discovered in the works.
Tours of cluster, ministers or generals in our alleys were a matter of routine.
We were a group of borderless young people, who grew up close to hostile Arab families who had a hard time coming to terms with the "new settlers," who instantly became neighbors across the street.
In general, we can say that we were in a state of constant euphoria.
We entered excavation sites that the parents did not dare enter.
The late Nuriel Getz, the son of the legendary Rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Meir Yehuda Getz, whose brother the paratrooper fell on the liberation of Jerusalem, would do us tests of courage. The paratroopers were in his blood. Even hopping over a wide alley to the distant house, without going down to the city streets.
More horny has passed since those days.
The "children of the walls" are already grandparents to grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but the nickname "the little archaeologist", which was attached to me as a child by Murray, my family and friends due to my strong attraction to dangerous antiquities sites - remains to this day.
The group keeps in touch, and we even have a joint WhatsApp group called "Children of the Walls."
When I am asked about my feelings due to the fact that today there are thousands of young people with no connection to Jerusalem, the place that symbolizes more than anything the eternal connection of the people of Israel to their land, I can only answer with pain:
Jerusalem does not belong to one population or another.
Jerusalem belongs to the entire Jewish people, in Israel and in the Diaspora, and we must take care to pass this message on to future generations, otherwise Jerusalem will be divided into tribes - and we will lose unity forever.
Michael Vasstail is the chairman of the Yad Tamar organization, which provides assistance to cancer patients and their families.
Brought to publication: Hanan Greenwood
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