the ravaging of jerusalem

Jerusalem is a contentious issue.
Jerusalem is part of "the discussion."
Jerusalem, it seems, is a legitimate negotiating point.

Clearly, Jerusalem is up for grabs.

My G-d!
Is this really happening?

And what does all this imply?

One implication is this: The city of Jerusalem has no special relationship to the Jewish people, to Jewish history or to the spiritual life of a Jew. Jews may have a relationship to Jerusalem, but so do others.

My point here is not a political one, it's a Jewish one.
As a Jew, I have always known that my relationship to and with Jerusalem is as special—as utterly unique—as my relationship to and with my wife. My wife and I may have other relationships (we have friends, we are blessed with children, we have lovely neighbors) but in terms of one another, our relationship is profoundly special. Such a relationship can't exist anywhere else in the universe other than between the two of us.

So it is, in my heart and soul, with Jerusalem.
So it is, in the collective, eternal heart and soul of the Jewish people, with Jerusalem.

That such a relationship is negotiable is an absurdity.
That it is fair game for "discussion" is a perversion.
This is a brutal violation of something remarkably beautiful.
Jerusalem is being ravaged.

And I can only ask myself: If I am silent in the face of this grotesque distortion of reality, am I not party to it?