The Test of Jerusalem
From Rabbi Shmuli Halpern on the Parsha by Denver Community Kollel
May 15, 2026 · 29 min · Season 2 · Episode 7
About this episode
This episode explores the spiritual significance of Jerusalem and the implications of the covenant between Avraham and Avimelech.
The Test of Jerusalem Yom Yerushalayim Ask almost anyone who has stood at the Kotel what it felt like. The answers vary in detail but not in substance. The noise stops. Not just outside — inside. Every competing claim on your attention, every divided loyalty, everything you have been quietly serving alongside G-d — it falls away. And there is only one thing left. One G-d. Yours, and you are His. That experience is not a side effect of being in Jerusalem. It is Jerusalem. To understand what the city is — and what Yom Yerushalayim is really asking of us — we have to understand what has always kept us from it, and what has always brought us back. In Bereishit chapter 21, Avimelech approaches Avraham with a request. He has watched Avraham. He has seen that G-d is with him in everything he does. And he says: swear to me — by G-d — that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my grandson. And Avraham swears. A covenant is made. Many commentaries explain that it is this covenant — this pact between Avraham and Avimelech — that keeps the Jewish people out of Jerusalem for hundreds of years after they enter the land. That seems strange. A diplomatic agreement with a…
People in this episode
Host: Rabbi Shmuli Halpern
Topics covered
- Jerusalem
- Yom Yerushalayim
- covenant
- spiritual experience
- Avraham and Avimelech
- Torah
Keywords
- Jerusalem
- Yom Yerushalayim
- Kotel
- Avraham
- Avimelech
- covenant
- spirituality
- Torah
- religion
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Bereishit
Places: Jerusalem, Kotel
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