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Next year in divided Jerusalem
By Bradley Burston

Another seder is past. The long night that is meant to conjure up a past of slavery and a miraculous and terrifying exodus, reaches its formal conclusion with the words "Next year in Jerusalem."

Commonly, the words pass without a second thought, the cliche to end all cliches, the coda as cop-out, little more than the light at the end of a wine-soaked, food-drugged tunnel of text.

There are, of course, many people abroad for whom the meaning is clear and intensely personal, and linked, year after year, to long-deferred plans to visit or move to Israel. Traditionalists commonly view its full-out form, "Next year in a [re-]built Jerusalem," as a reference to the construction of a new Holy Temple and/or the coming of the Messiah.
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But as the Rorschach test of Jewish aspiration, the plea of "Next year in Jerusalem" deserves at least that second thought. The following are a few options, admittedly personal as well.

Next year in Jerusalem I:

Jerusalem belongs to me. It belongs to me because I loved the city before I ever set foot in it. It belonged to me when I was born 15,000 kilometers away. It belongs to me because for 30 centuries it was the center of the world for people whose blood is in my blood, no matter where on the earth history and circumstance cast them.

Jerusalem belongs to me. Next year I want to see it divided.

Next year in Jerusalem II:

Jerusalem belongs to me. Ten centuries before the birth of Jesus, his ancestor David chose it as his capital city. Fifteen centuries before the birth of Mohammed, Solomon - whom Mohammed revered as the prophet Suleiman, son of the prophet David, who is Daoud - built a temple on the high place in Jerusalem called Moriah and ruled as the last true monarch of a united kingdom of Israel.

Jerusalem belongs to me. Next year I want to see it divided.

Next year in Jerusalem III:

Jerusalem belongs to me, no less and no more than it belongs to the Christians who hold it sacred as the site of the Passover seder known as the Last Supper, and of the crucifixion and resurrection.

Jerusalem belongs to me, no less and no more than it belongs to the Muslims who hold it sacred as the site of Al-Aqsa, the Noble Sanctuary, from which Mohammed ascended to heaven.

Jerusalem belongs to me as a Jew. And as a Jew, next year I want to see it divided.

Next year in Jerusalem IV:

I believe with perfect faith, that most Israeli politicians are lying when they say that Jerusalem will remain united as the capital of the State of Israel. I believe with perfect faith that they know the real truth: that Jerusalem is already divided.

We have all seen it divided in spirit. We have seen its heart broken over and over by people who love the city and hate the fact that it must be shared.

We have all seen it divided in fact. This year, when we will be holding celebrations for what we have come to call the "reunification," we will in fact be marking the 40th anniversary of its redivision.

It remains divided not only because Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem have remained Palestinian even as they grew, and Jewish neighborhoods in West Jerusalem have remained Jewish even as they grew. It is divided anew every time that Jews from Tel Aviv and Rishon Letzion and Kfar Shmaryahu and Ramat Gan decide not to visit Jerusalem - even West Jerusalem - as a consequence of free-floating fear, or merely because, while they love Jerusalem, they don't really like it much.

It is divided every time Jews from West Jerusalem decide against making a left turn into a Palestinian neighborhood, and every time a Palestinian fantasizes about buying a home in the west of the city, but drops the fantasy at once.

We, the Jews who love Jerusalem, have voted with our feet against an eternally united capital. The votes are in. It is time we acknowledged the results.

So far, by walling off parts of the city with concrete barriers that are absurdly tall, absurdly situated, and absurdly easy to circumvent, we have both admitted to and complicated the future, and the redivisions to come.

Someday, the world will force its Jews and its Palestinians to accept the one salient formula they cannot accept at present: The world will only recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel when Israel recognizes the city's Arab neighborhoods as the sovereign capital of Palestine, and the world will wait to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, until the Palestinians recognize the city's Jewish neighborhoods as the sovereign capital of Israel.

We can wait to be forced, or we can begin the process ourselves, at the negotiating table. And, if we succeed, at some point we will likely need to force the world to share responsibility for the sanctity of the holy sites of three religions, the true doomsday threat of the Middle East.

I therefore raise my glass to "Next year in redivided Jerusalem" - to a city partitioned along lines which acknowledge the reality of the Earthly City, the terrible genius of Yerushalayim shel mata, the Jerusalem of those who love her and cannot bring themselves, on their own, to share.


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Recent blogs:

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  1.   Jerusalem can`t be shared if one side insist on 09:50  |  Jerusalemite 06/04/07
  2.   Very Well said , Bravo 10:08  |  Libnanee 06/04/07
  3.   Israel`s Barrier must include Christians in Bet Lekhem and Ramala 10:19  |  Hal 06/04/07
  4.   A DIVIDED JERUSALEM INCLUDES BURSTON`S GILO APARTMENT 10:22  |  Yishai Kohen 06/04/07
  5.   I will come to your divided city 10:23  |  Cord H. Kaldrack 06/04/07
  6.   Next Year in a Rebuilt and United Jerusalem!!!! 10:49  |  Gershon 06/04/07
  7.   Who is right, Bradley or the polls....?? 10:52  |  Swiss (Dino) 06/04/07
  8.   #5 CORD PULLS THE WRONG CORD AND COMES UP WITH ZERO 11:04  |  paul harris 06/04/07
  9.   on the Apartheid wall 11:06  |  christian in Ramalla 06/04/07
  10.   Christian must be protected from Talmudic 11:10  |  Christian in Gaza 06/04/07
  11.   Next Year 11:13  |  Baruch 06/04/07
  12.   Peace will only come when Muslims ignore the Koran 11:16  |  SLAVO 06/04/07
  13.   Bradley Burston sings Will Fyffe 11:24  |  Clickfool 06/04/07
  14.   Has Burston ever visited Jerusalem ? 11:31  |  Alex 06/04/07
  15.   #13 clikky must be 85 at least WILL FYFFE INDEED . 11:35  |  paul harris 06/04/07
  16.   Dividing Jerusalem? 11:50  |  D 06/04/07
  17.   Next year 12:20  |  Ralph 06/04/07
  18.   Please pontificate to the Muslims about peace. 12:28  |  Hal 06/04/07
  19.   Burston has balls 12:57  |  pro bono publico 06/04/07
  20.   If Jerusalem is to be divided 12:57  |  Yonatan 06/04/07
  21.   Ramalla: "We prefer to be with our Muslim brothers" 13:03  |  Hal 06/04/07
  22.   PS, Christian in Ramalla 13:09  |  Hal 06/04/07
  23.   Burston is an appeasing post zionist 13:11  |  Ben Uziel 06/04/07
  24.   burston and the left are DEFEATIST`s!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 13:14  |  Yoni 06/04/07
  25.   Yasher koa7!! 13:21  |  Michael Steiner 06/04/07
  26.   Talmud and Christian in Gaza 13:28  |  David 06/04/07
  27.   APARTHEID TOWARDS JEWS 13:29  |  STOP APARTHEID 06/04/07
  28.   #9 So ,Christian you are prepared 13:30  |  Druze in Haifa 06/04/07
  29.   divided...sadly 13:37  |  ravi 06/04/07
  30.   jerusalem 13:40  |  fish 06/04/07
  31.   For Paul Harris # 15 13:43  |  Clickfool 06/04/07
  32.   Hal #22 ..I can`t believe you 13:50  |  Christian 06/04/07
  33.   Mr Bradley Burston 13:59  |  Maureen L 06/04/07
  34.   We Should Rejoice 14:00  |  Shelly Waxman 06/04/07
  35.   ClickFool misses the point again 14:02  |  Star of David 06/04/07
  36.   Sussex, Scotland is SECEDING from England. 14:06  |  Cathy 06/04/07
  37.   Divided Jerusalem makes Israel canceled from map 14:12  |  Gabriel 06/04/07
  38.   to #28 Druze...Muslims don`t force people to 14:21  |  Christian 06/04/07
  39.   #27....so you want the Palestinians to suffer 14:25  |  human Jew 06/04/07
  40.   David #26 lying through his teeth 14:28  |  Evangelical Christ. 06/04/07
  41.   Youni, Jerusalem. The Geramsn of the 1940s 14:32  |  Mizrahi Jew 06/04/07
  42.   fish # 30 14:45  |  ChanahS 06/04/07
  43.   #31 clikky maKES another funny MAX MILLER A NEIGBOUR 14:59  |  paul harris 06/04/07
  44.   christians, @9,10 15:02  |  vladimir 06/04/07
  45.   A redivision? Possible... 15:08  |  ATLAS 06/04/07
  46.   Im a palestinian! not an Apartheid follower 15:08  |  Christian Pal 06/04/07
  47.   If Bradley say that Mohamed ascended heaven from Al Aqsa 15:12  |  Joseph E . 06/04/07
  48.   Occupied Gilo/Har Gilo? 15:15  |  Palestinian Brit 06/04/07
  49.   Hal with his head in the sand..... 15:22  |  Palestinian Brit 06/04/07
  50.   no 9 15:30  |  fish 06/04/07
  51.   Mosques next to churches. 15:33  |  Palestinian Brit 06/04/07
  52.   Forty Years of Unification 15:40  |  Johnny Weintraub 06/04/07
  53.   Arab Muslims are guilty of Aparteid against Jews. 15:48  |  Joe 06/04/07
  54.   Why Jerusalem is divided and should not be 16:08  |  Shalom Freedman 06/04/07
  55.   JUST DON`T TOUCH THAT BY YOUR DIRTY HANDS 16:12  |  indrajaya 06/04/07
  56.   Alienssss 16:19  |  merre 06/04/07
  57.   to Hal 16:21  |  Merre 06/04/07
  58.   Libnanee, dont get your hopes up! 16:24  |  SLAVO 06/04/07
  59.   #1jersalemite,If not the wall , what else can 16:26  |  TOMY 06/04/07
  60.   Simple minded believe that Jerusalem is the key to peace.. 16:27  |  SLAVO 06/04/07
  61.   I WOULD Like to KNow Gaza Christan 16:41  |  TOBIA 06/04/07
  62.   Palestinian Christian 16:45  |  Carole 06/04/07
  63.   to Yoni 16:49  |  david 06/04/07
  64.   #4 Yishai Kohen- Bradley Burston`s a `good settler` 16:50  |  Dani 06/04/07
  65.   to inrajaya 16:52  |  david 06/04/07
  66.   Yonatan good idea#20 17:01  |  Danite 06/04/07
  67.   Step by step 17:03  |  Danite 06/04/07
  68.   Al Quds (Jersalm) is ours. Get out!! 17:07  |  Amin Nusseibeh 06/04/07
  69.   Next year in the REAL Jerusalem 17:11  |  Tosefta 06/04/07
  70.   indrajaya and "dirty hands" 17:16  |  tommy suharto 06/04/07
  71.   #9 and #10...same Muslim person 17:22  |  SLAVO 06/04/07
  72.   RESPOND TO #1 17:27  |  TOBIA 06/04/07
  73.   BURSTON GIVES AWAY WHAT DOESN`T BELONG TO HIM 17:41  |  HAL TRIPP 06/04/07
  74.   Maybe the Mufti can be proved wrong... 17:42  |  John 06/04/07
  75.   Secular are more bloodthirsty than religious 17:52  |  Joe 06/04/07
  76.   my suggestion 18:00  |  just offering 06/04/07
  77.   Hal; Orthodox Jews spit on Christians on J`lem 18:00  |  A Bethlehemite 06/04/07
  78.   International City of Jerusalem 18:01  |  Diogynes 06/04/07