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Bang the Rabbi presents:

Jerusalem?...I Hardly Know Him

by Rabbinical correspondent Rabbi Michael Zauderer

Did you ever wonder how many times the word Yerushalayim appears in Tanach? The answer is a grand total of four. How could Yerushalayim, a central symbol in Judaism, appear only four times in Tanach? The answer is that Yerushalayim only appears four times when it is spelled with the second yud. However, if you redo your Bar Ilan CD-ROM search and this time spell Yerushalam leaving out the second YUD, the result would be a most impressive 660 times. Why is it that Yerushalayim in almost the entire Tanach is spelled without the YUD?

Rabbi Goldin, our guest speaker for Yom Yerushalayim at the Frish high school, quoted the Midrash in Berishit Rabbah 56:10 that answers this question. Yerushalayim, the Midrash records, is a combination of the first two times that the city appears in Sefer Berishit.

Yerushalayim first appears when Malki-Tzedek king of Shalem comes out to pay homage to Avraham Avinu, after his victory over the four kings. Rashi (Berishit Chapter 14, verse 18) informs us that Malki-Tzedek was non-other then Shem, the son of Noach. He lived in what we today refer to as Yerushalayim, and gave the city the name Shalem.

The second occurrence is after Akideat Yitschok (Berishit Chapter 22: verse 14), which Chazal point out occurred in Yerushalayim. Avraham calls the place Yireah (Lit. See).

The Midrash continues that Hashem, kaviyachal, was faced with the dilemma of what name He should call His holy city. If He would call the city Shalem after Shem, Avraham would complain; if He would call the city Yireah after Avraham, Shem would complain. To please both sides, Hashem merged the two names, Yireah and Shalem, together and created the name Yerushalayim

With this Midrash in mind, we can now understand why the Tanach almost always spells Yerushalayim without the second Yud. The second half of the city's name originates from the word Shalem, and Shalem is written without a Yud.

However, the question remains, why couldn't Hashem use both names? Why would each one complain against the other?

Rabbi Meir Simcha HaCohen the Rabbi of Dvinsk, Latvia, (author of the Ohr semich on the Rambam) explains in the Meshech Chachomah, his work on Chumash, that Avraham and Shem were arguing what the ideal method of Ovadas Hashem (service to G-d) should be. Shem's method to serve Hashem was via the ben adam lichavero (between man and his fellow), while Avraham's method was via the ben adam limakom (between man and G-d).

Shem lived at the time of the Mabal, the great flood. What cause this great flood? The Torah tells us that "The world was filled with stealing." In other words, the flood was brought about because they were lacking in their ben adam lichavero. After the flood, Shem's mission was to fix this area of ben adam lichavero. He, therefore, called his city Shalem, reflecting the shalom, or peace, between people. Furthermore, the name Malki-TZEDEK itself conveys this message. The Torah commands the Beis Din, Jewish courts, "Tzedek tzedek tirdof", which obligates the court to judge righteously, an obligation of ben adam lichavero.

Avraham, on the other hand, lived during the time of the Tower of Bavel. This generation attempted to attack G-D, a severe violation in the area of ben adam limakom. Avraham succeeded in stemming the tide of idolatry, and spreading monotheism throughout the entire world, thus fixing this ben adam limakom. He referred to the place of the Akedah as Yireah. This word is synonymous with Yeras Shemayim (fear of Heaven), which is the foundation of ben adam limakom, based on the verse in Proverbs The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (1:7).

We can know understand the major dilemma Hashem had in naming His holy city. Which characteristic should He emphasize: Shem's lichavero or Avraham's limakom. Hashem answered that both Shem and Avraham are correct. Both the ben adam lichavero and the ben adam limakom are necessary. Hashem, therefore, merged both concepts into one name- Yerushalayim, thus emphasizing the indispensability of both aspects of avodas Hashem.

We can now understand why Yerushalayim plays such a major role in our life, for it possesses these two basic components. If we are lacking in either one, we can chas veshalom lose the Yerushalayim that we have. Chazel explain that the first temple was destroyed because the Jews worshipped idols, a violation of ben adam limakom, and the second temple was destroyed because of sinat chinam, a violation of ben adam lichavero. Only when we have both components, the Yireah and the Shalem, will we merit having Yerushalayim in its entirety. Today, when Yerushalayim is once again in jeopardy, we have to intensify within ourselves the attributes of Yireah and Shalem. Only through strengthening our ben adam lichavero and our ben adam limakom will we be able to withstand this difficult test and hopefully merit the rebuilding of the third temple in our days.

send comments about this article to rabbinical correspondent, Rabbi Michael Zauderer.

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