Love for adam (humanity) in Jerusalem Al-Quds. In my view, this is the essence of Ir Amim’s vision, both as articulated in the new document Hope from Jerusalem, and as embodied in the organization’s work over the decades. Hope from Jerusalem offers a comprehensive and penetrating appraisal of the needs of all the human beings living in Jerusalem for security and prosperity. This vision constitutes a kind of photographic negative of the prevailing nationalist discourse on Jerusalem, which subjugates the city to a racist agenda that polarizes and segregates Jerusalemites, undermining their security and endangering their future. Ir Amim removes these discriminatory blinders from our vision of the city, and establishes the struggle for the wellbeing of all Jerusalemites as a source of hope for all people in Israel-Palestine.

I would like to shed light on Ir Amim’s vision from within a Jewish religious perspective by exploring the phrase “Love for adam (humanity) in Jerusalem Al-Quds.” Let us begin with the word adam. In Kabbalistic tradition, the term adam, which in regular discourse simply means "humanity", functions as a mystical-religious symbol with far reaching metaphysical connotations. Adam symbolizes a particular constellation of powers and qualities that enable divine abundance to flow into the world. This flow of abundance is dependent on a precise balance of complementary forces, such as spiritual transcendence and sensual groundedness, compassion and justice, giving and receiving, spontaneity and structure — and many more. To maintain this balance, the constellation of powers must be shielded from evils such as hatred and narcissistic rage. Adam symbolizes both the constellation of powers and their correct balance. When adam is whole, life-giving divine abundance irrigates the world.

Perhaps surprisingly, the name of God, Y-H-V-H, is a sister-symbol, a kind of Kabbalistic synonym, for adam. Adam and Y-H-V-H both symbolize the constellation of powers - correctly balanced - that enables the flow of divine abundance. In this sense, adam is not only the name of the human species, but also a name of God. In this text, when I transliterate adam, I mean to refer to the mystical-religious symbolic meaning of this term as it functions in Kabbalistic tradition.

For me, the word "humanity" always carries these mystical-religious meanings. Only by reference to the full resonance of religious imagination and mystical symbolism do I feel that it is possible to touch - to express something - of the infinite significance of each human life. In this way, the term "humanity" itself becomes a sacred term, and Ir Amim's mission of "love for adam (humanity) in Jerusalem Al-Quds" becomes, in my eyes, a sacred task.

Let us get deeper into the Jewish religious meaning of Ir Amim's sacred task by further unpacking the phrase "love for humanity in Jerusalem". Not only is adam a Kabbalistic symbol, so is "Jerusalem". For Kabbalah, Jerusalem symbolizes the vessel into which divine abundance flows before it spreads out into the world. It is from Jerusalem that the abundance irrigates the entire world. But from where does the abundance flow into Jerusalem? The source of the flow of abundance is another Kabbalistic symbol called Mount Zion. From Mount Zion the divine abundance flows into Jerusalem and from there into the world. Understanding Kabbalah involves learning to use words not only in their simple sense, but also as mystical-religious symbols, like the names of God. For Kabbalah, words like adam, Jerusalem and Mount Zion are not simply names and places, but aspects of elohut (divinity) itself.

The relationship between Mount Zion and Jerusalem as Kabbalistic symbols is expressed in a verse from Psalms (133:3). If we translate the verse according to its Kabbalistic interpretation (rather than its simple meaning), it reads: "Like the dew of the Hermon which flows down upon the mountains of Zion, for there God commanded that the blessing of life would irrigate the entire world". The "dew of the Hermon" and "the blessing of life" both signify divine abundance. The abundance flows from the Hermon mountain, the highest point in the Land of Israel, down to Mount Zion, and from Mount Zion into Jerusalem. God commanded that from Jerusalem the whole world would be filled with "dew" and "the blessing of life" like the waters fill the sea.

But Kabbalah teaches that the flow can be cut off. It is only made possible by the right connection between Mount Zion and Jerusalem. And that connection is only possible if Jerusalem constitutes a "city of justice". If injustice reigns in the holy city, the connection between Zion and Jerusalem is severed. When the connection is severed destructive "forces of impurity", instead of "the blessing of life", ooze out of the brokenness and wreak havoc in the city and the world. This state of affairs is called horban har tsion ("the destruction of Zion"). Every year, Jews mourn the destruction of Zion on the day known as Tisha B'Av. The Kabbalah teaches that what we mourn on this day is not only the destruction of the Temple, but also injustice in the holy city.  "The destruction of Zion" was not simply an event that occurred 2000 years ago, but an ongoing reality which occurs with each new act of injustice. Every time another Jerusalem family, such as the Rajabi family in Batan Al-Hawa or the Salem family in Sheih Jarrah, falls victim to Israel's racist persecution of Palestinians, another piece of Zion is destroyed. When the State of Israel unjustly demolishes a Palestinian home, it is the Home of God - the Temple - that is destroyed. Each time another Palestinian neighborhood is slated for ethnic cleansing, it is the Shekhinah (the presence of God) who faces eviction.

The Kabbalists describe this ongoing destruction as a state of loss: Zion is lost to Jerusalem, and Jerusalem is lost to Zion. But we must believe that a day will come in which all the families of Jerusalem - East and West - will be protected from the impure forces of persecution and oppression emerging from the broken Mount Zion in the form of Israeli state policy and settler NGOs. On that day, Zion and Jerusalem will no longer be lost, for they will find each other in the city of justice, and adam  (humanity) will flourish in the holy city.

That happy day is described in Isaiah 27:13, "And the lost ones in the Land of Assyria and the outcasts in the Land of Egypt will return to worship before God in the holy mountain, in Jerusalem". The Kabbalah teaches: Who are "the lost ones"? They are Zion and Jerusalem, who lost each other due to injustice in Jerusalem. But when justice reigns in the city, and the vision of Isaiah is realized, then "the lost ones" will find each other again and the life-giving connection between Zion and Jerusalem will be restored. Therefore, the verse states that they will worship "in the holy mountain", that is, on Mount Zion (the source of the flow), which will be "in Jerusalem" (the vessel into which the abundance flows). Then, adam will be complete again, and the world will be filled with "dew" and "the blessing of life".

Ir Amim is not a Jewish or a religious NGO. None the less, in my eyes, Ir Amim's vision for Jerusalem Al-Quds embodies the most exalted of Jewish religious aspirations.