Yom Yerushalayim

  

Yom Yerushalayim - Jerusalem Day is an annual Israeli national holiday celebrated on Iyar 28.

It is primarily celebrated by secular and national-religious (religious-zionist) Israelis and Jews. Celebratory customs outside of Israel include saying the full Hallel prayer, dancing, and learning about Jerusalem's history; Israeli schools devote the week preceding this day to enhancing students' knowledge and understanding of the city's significance. Some Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jewish people do not celebrate this holiday, although it is more widely celebrated in that community than Yom Ha'atzma'ut.

According to the 1947 UN Partition Plan, Jerusalem was supposed to be an international city, not part of either the proposed Jewish or Arab state. The Jewish leadership accepted the plan, but the Arab leadership rejected; several Arab nations and armies subsequently invade Israel. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the city was divided between Israeli and Jordanian control during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Jordan controlled Jerusalem's Old City and the West Bank, and killed or forced the Jews in those areas out. Jews were forbidden from entering Jerusalem, including their holy sites, and Jewish cemeteries and synagogues throughout the West Bank had been trashed and desecrated. Nineteen years later, East Jerusalem (where the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site, is located) was captured by Israel as a result of the Six-Day War. The war ended in ceasefire on June 11, 1967.

On May 12, 1968, the government proclaimed the holiday of "Jerusalem Day" for the 28th of Iyar, corresponding to the date that the Israeli military liberated those parts of Jerusalem which had previously been in Arab possession. On March 23, 1998, the Knesset passed the "Jerusalem Day Law" which made the day a national holiday.

One of the main slogans (made into a song) for the holiday is "k'eir shechubra la yachdav" meaning "The city which was reunited". It is a passage from Psalms:122:3 "The built-up Jerusalem is like a city that was joined together within itself".

On Yom Ha'atzma'ut it is common practice for Israelis to hang out flags outside their home windows. Traditionally, these flags aren't taken off again until after Jerusalem Day.

 

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