The Hebrew word ir (עִיר) means city or town, in both ancient and modern usage. It comes from a verbal root that means “watchful” or “wakeful,” probably because it originally referred to the watchtower of a settlement. In Modern Hebrew, it is distinguished from a kefar, which is the term for a village.
There is no city in Jewish tradition with more religious significance than Jerusalem, the site of the ancient Temple and the modern capital city of the State of Israel. In the Hebrew Bible, Jerusalem is called ir david, the City of David, for the ancient king who first made it the Jewish capital. Jerusalem is also called ir hakodesh, the holy city (Isaiah 52:1). The destruction of the city and its Temple in 70 CE was most significant crisis Judaism ever faced, and is memorialized every year on the fast day Tisha B’Av. Jews also commemorate this catastrophe by shatter a glass at a wedding ceremony. Whatever its state, Jerusalem has always been the spiritual capital of Judaism. Jews face Jerusalem to pray and evoke it daily in their prayers. Today, Jerusalem is a thriving metropolis and the capital of the modern Jewish state.
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