I was in Jerusalem for two days this week and had hoped to show you beautiful photos or our historic and holy city. Instead I will show you photos and tell you a little bit about the very sad event that occurred while I was there.
The Jewish people together with many visitors of all faiths from around the world pray at this very spot every day. Prayers for everything, but especially for peace with our enemies, who are so very very close, and in some cases practically next door. Prayers for freedom from fear in everyday life, a basic right of all humans everywhere.
The residents of Jerusalem have been inconvenienced for years as the new train system was built, and yet that is minor in comparison to the events of yesterday. A bomb filled suitcase or backpack was detonated at a very busy bus stop, a bus stop that I myself have used many times waiting for buses to return to my home up north. One woman lost her life, 50 others were injured physically, countless others experienced deep trauma. We were driving not so far from the scene when all of a sudden the air was filled with sirens, and police cars came out of the woodwork rushing to the scene. Moments later we heard the tragic news on the radio, and stopped in a corner store to see for just a moment photos of the scene on their television. Tears came to my eyes— tears of sadness, of disbelief, of frustration.
Here within these ancient walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, the Jewish people were under siege and suffered great tragedies at the hands of the Romans many thousands of years ago. Today the enemies are not the same, and yet they want the very same thing.
Here is the Tower of David, David HaMelech, the very same David that wrote the book of Tehillim (psalms)—a book used for prayer and supplication, a book read to find a place of peace within.
And yet there is no peace in our tiny land across whose borders missiles have begun to fly again this week. And so we will continue to pray for peace and we will certainly not lose hope that indeed the world can be a much better place.
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