As Jews around the world gather on Tuesday to lament the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and the millennia of exile that ensued, it is important that we take a moment to contemplate why we continue to mourn even after all of these years. For the Jewish people, Jerusalem is not merely a geographic locale or even a strategically located capital city – it is the basic justification for our existence as a nation.
What drove Jews over such a long time and across the vast Diaspora to mourn for Jerusalem for two thousand years was the belief that Jerusalem eternally encompassed our collective hope and dream. It was the loss of Jerusalem we cried for, and it was Jerusalem – Zion – that drove our national rejuvenation. What differentiated the Jewish Diaspora from all others was a common goal that transcended any one segment of the population."
