05/13/2026
Jerusalem Day Message
Fifty-nine years ago, I wish I had understood the significance of that fateful day in June when the Holy City of Jerusalem was reunified. As I listened to the dramatic reports on television, I could not fully appreciate what it meant to witness Jewish soldiers standing before the Western Wall, praying, weeping, and sounding the shofar for the first time in nearly two thousand years. At the time, it was a powerful news story. Only later did I begin to comprehend that it was far more: a moment of Jewish destiny, longing, faith, and history playing out before the eyes of an entire generation.
This coming Friday, the 28th of Iyar, Jews around the world will be celebrating Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day). Here at STOCS, we will be reciting the entire Hallel with a blessing, thanking Hashem for the beautiful, spiritual, and miraculous gift of Jerusalem, the Holy City.
Many may question why Hallel is recited with a blessing. This practice is based upon Talmud Megillah 14a:
ומה כשיצאו ישראל ממצרים מעבדות לחירות אמרינן בגלל גאולה זו שירה, שירת הים ושירת הלל כשיצאנו ממיתה לחיים מידי המן לא כל שכן.
Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Avin said that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa said that they reasoned as follows: If, when recalling the Exodus from Egypt in which the Jews were delivered from slavery to freedom—we recite songs of praise, the Song of the Sea, and the hymns of Hallel, then, in order to properly recall the miracle of Purim and commemorate God’s delivering us from death to life, is it not all the more so the case that we must sing God’s praise by reading the story in the Megillah?
Fifty-nine years ago, in the tense days and weeks preceding the Six-Day War, fear gripped the people of Israel. Mass graves were quietly prepared throughout the country in anticipation of what many believed would be catastrophic losses. Nathan Joel, writing in The Times of Israel, notes: “Before the Six-Day War, Israelis dug mass graves in Tel Aviv’s public parks… as Egypt massed its forces and Arab leaders openly declared their intention to annihilate the Jewish state, Israeli authorities quietly prepared temporary burial sites for the tens of thousands of casualties they expected.”
Baruch Hashem, those graves were never needed. Through a stunning series of military victories and events that can only be described as miraculous, Israel emerged triumphant in just six days. The salvation of the Jewish people at that moment is a living example of the teaching of the Gemara: when the Jewish people face the threat of destruction, Hashem Himself intervenes against the enemies of Israel. What appeared to be a moment of impending tragedy became, through Divine providence, one of the greatest moments of redemption and Jewish pride in modern history. We were saved from certain death and merited the reunification of the Holy City of Jerusalem.
In Hallel we recite:
זֶה־הַ֭יּוֹם עָשָׂ֣ה יְ־הֹוָ֑ה נָגִ֖ילָה וְנִשְׂמְחָ֣ה בֽוֹ׃
This is the day that Hashem has made; let us exult and rejoice in it!
The reunification of Jerusalem remains one of the most powerful reminders in modern Jewish history that hope, faith, and courage can alter the course of history. What began as days of fear and uncertainty ended with Jewish soldiers standing at the Kotel, tears in their eyes and prayers on their lips, witnessing a moment generations could only dream about. Fifty-nine years later, the sound of the shofar at the Western Wall still echoes in the hearts of the Jewish people, reminding us that Am Yisrael Chai we live, thrive, and return home. Writing this article has given me goosebumps, just thinking about how it must have felt to be one of those soldiers on that fateful day in June 1967. This Friday, let us thank and praise Hashem with goosebumps and joy in our hearts!
לשנה הבאה בירושלים
Rabbi Evan Shore
