Good morning from Jerusalem. It has begun. For the next three years there will be major development and construction work done at the entrance to our capital city. The city's residents and visitors will have to take alternative roads to enter the city, due to the construction of a huge new Business Quarter in the city, as well as the construction of underground tunnels, and more.
The following story took place in Jerusalem some 70 years ago. Then, too, construction and development work was performed in the city. Rabbi Yaacov Moshe Charlap, who was the Rabbi of the Sha'arei Chesed neighborhood, was lying in bed at his home, sick. Digging and drilling machines were being used right under his bedroom window. His family members were thinking to do something about it and move the source of the noise away to a more distant place, but Rabbi Charlap told them: "Until recently I was privileged to go out of the house and see Jerusalem being built. Now I am bedridden, and can no longer go out, but when I hear the noise that the machines make, I know that Jerusalem is being built. Do not take away from me this privilege, let me at least hear Jerusalem being built."
This is a point to think about the next time you are stuck in a traffic jam due to the development work being done in Jerusalem.
