Opinion | Praise, Jerusalem | Israel Hayom

Once a year I find myself writing a love column.

Tor loved the city and the place, the story and the people, the stones and the mountains, history and Zionism, the past, the present and the future.

This time of year is today, on the eve of the liberation of Jerusalem. The day the united city celebrates 56 years of unification.

During the week, the heritage sites and museums in Jerusalem will open their doors to masses of visitors, and today there will be traffic jams of love in Jerusalem.

Dozens of teenagers will fill the streets of the city with song and dance, waving and hugging Israeli flags, arriving at the Western Wall with love and crowding, innocence and faith.

They come to rejoice in Jerusalem.

Yes I know. The usual ones will miss a face and tongue. They will tell us that the boys and girls dancing today in Jerusalem are doing it in order to stick a finger in the Arabs' eye.

They will say that the flags they fly are a symbol of fascist national pride. They will cry that this is not their Jerusalem Day, but only that of the religious, as if someone forced them to celebrate Jerusalem.

Even the hostile media will deal with the gray sides of Jerusalem, a ritual that has been a regular ritual for decades.

They talk about the incomplete union, the demographic threats, the poverty of the city, traffic jams and transportation difficulties, the lack of cleanliness on the streets, La Familia and what not.

Do not be confused, Jerusalem is full of social and economic challenges, and the unification of the city is not perfect and full of challenges, but it is a union.

The barbed wire fences in Mamilla have been replaced by clothing and Judaica stores, the "Stop, border ahead" signs have been replaced by cafes and restaurants full of goodies, and the wilderness has been replaced by sounds of laughter and a mixture of languages from tourists from all over the world.

And when it is united, then even when we fight at the Western Wall, I am happy. Because we have a wall to fight about.

And about the Temple Mount, even though it doesn't exactly answer Motta Gur's declaration today that "the Temple Mount is in our hands," I'm happy.

About the neighborhoods of Ma'ale HaOlivet and Kfar HaShiloah, Kiryat Menachem and Rehavia, about the archaeology that is exposed daily in the City of David and its environs, about the ancient and new that are integrated into the city that is thousands of years old. That's what I'm happy about.

A glance at our enemies may help reevaluate what we have.

A look at Hamas, which raises Jerusalem to the top of its war while we raise it to the top of our joy, and threatens to fire rockets because boys wave a flag and girls dance.

A look at Iran and its proxies in Syria, Gaza and Lebanon, which are celebrating Al-Quds Day, their Jerusalem Day, as a day of hatred and warmongering, a day of hatred against Israel and the Jews, "a day that emphasizes the continuation of resistance and jihad."

And in front of the black - there is light. Our Jerusalem Day is the Light.

A day of joy, of excitement, a festive day, a day that remembers nothingness and rejoices about what is, a day in which we put aside for a moment the daily and general challenges of Jerusalem, and simply rejoice. Pure joy.

And on this day, the education I am trying to instill in my children gathers, so that they, too, great-grandchildren of my grandfather who fought and was wounded in Jerusalem during the War of Independence, will be moved when they watch the black-and-white videos of the soldiers who, just after liberation, write a note on the way to the Western Wall, innocently won.

I want their hearts to vibrate when they see and hear Rabbi Goren blowing the shofar, and to be moved when they see the picture of the three paratroopers at the foot of the Western Wall.

I want them to know that the existing one is not self-evident, and that we need to hold on tightly to it and continue building and growing.

Let them know that we are here, fulfilling the longing of thousands of years, "on the rivers of Babylon where we sat and wept remembering Zion," and out of the same faith and excitement - we will overcome the challenges, both daily and national.

Happy holiday, a beloved city.

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