[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 6556]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    YOM YERUSHALAYIM, JERUSALEM DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. LOIS FRANKEL

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 8, 2013

  Ms. FRANKEL of Florida. Mr. Speaker, 46 years ago today Israel 
liberated its capital city of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War, 
allowing Jews for the first time in decades to visit Judaism's holiest 
site, the Western Wall. That is why Jews across my home District in 
South Florida today are celebrating Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day.
  In synagogues and community centers from Palm Beach, to Boca Raton, 
to Ft. Lauderdale, and indeed around the world, Jews are rejoicing with 
song, dance, and prayer, while also commemorating the solemn sacrifice 
of hundreds of Israeli soldiers whose lives were cut short in the 
Battle for Jerusalem.
  Jerusalem has been the heart of the Jewish people for thousands of 
years. Through centuries of exile, Jerusalem remained the focal point 
of Jewish aspiration. In fact, Jews have always prayed toward the 
Western Wall regardless of where they stood geographically in the 
world.
  That is why Israel's founding Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion said in 
1947, ``No city in the world, not even Athens or Rome, ever played as 
great a role in the life of a nation for so long a time, as Jerusalem 
has done in the life of the Jewish people.''

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