If I forget you, O Jerusalem . . .

.
If I have to choose I-words for ABC Wednesday, they can only be these:
.
"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her skill . . .
אִם-אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלִָם-- תִּשְׁכַּח יְמִינִי.
.
Even today, after the ingathering of the exiles, after our immigration to Israel, after the rebuilding of Jerusalem, after partial redemption, we still remind ourselves of this verse and the next verse of the Psalm:
"Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy."
.
You find Psalm 137:5 quoted everywhere, even on T shirts!
See the one on the left, next to the red Coca Cola shirt? (Give a click to the photo.)
These are gifts for Christian tourists at Yardenit Baptism Site gift shop.
.

When you take an intercity bus and arrive at Jerusalem's Central Bus Station, this is the first thing you see when you get off the bus:
"IF I FORGET YOU, O JERUSALEM, LET MY RIGHT HAND FORGET HER CUNNING . . . "
.
That is a door on the right of the photo, so you can understand how big the words are.
.
One family has the reminder to remember hanging on their door, next to the garlic, in the old Jerusalem neighborhood of Mishkenot Shaananim.

In an earlier post we talked about this tile reminder of the destruction of the Temple and of the necessity to remember Jerusalem even, or especially, by the rivers of Babylon.

It's in the stairwell of an old house in Romema ( remember?).

.

For centuries the longing for Jerusalem was in the forefront of the Jewish consciousness.

Let's hope that Jerusalem will always be thought of with love by people everywhere for countless generations to come.

.