The Ongoing Jewish Via Dolorosa

January 1, 2012

By Nurit Greenger

The Via Dolorosa is the Latin word for the way of sorrow, the way of pain, the Way of Grief or the Way of Suffering. It is the street, in two parts, within the Old City of Jerusalem, Christian tradition holds to be the path, marked by "stations,", through which Jesus walked, carrying his cross, on the way to his crucifixion.

The cross is a symbol of Christian suffering. Christian historical tradition implies that Jesus carried a heavy wooden cross on his back for one day, walking, sometimes falling, through the streets of Jerusalem, until he arrived at the final point of his crucifixion. However, throughout 2,000 years of their own Via Dolorosa, in the Diaspora, Jews have carried on their back, the Jewish Magen David-Star of David, the symbol of Jewish pride and much suffering. Jews have carried on their back the Star of David since the day they were freed from bondage in Egypt. They walked their Via Dolorosa in the Sinai desert to resurrect as a Jewish nation in the land of Canaan that became the Land of Israel. After the destruction of the First Temple, the Israelites walked the Via Dolorosa to exile in Babylon. After the destruction of the Second Temple, Jews were expelled from their Homeland and scattered to the four corners of the world and for 2000 years they have walked the Via Dolorosa of endless suffering, acts of torture and discrimination against them, culminating with the Holocaust. Nowadays, the Jewish State of Israel continues carrying on her back the Jewish Star of David through endless suffering from wars and terrorism and now even being marginalized, demonized and delegitimized worldwide.

While Jesus died for the sins of every Christian and his death has redeemed all Christians of their sins, Jewish suffering has not ended and they have not been redeemed yet. Jews keep on carrying their symbol of suffering on their back with no end in sight to have their desired ever lasting peace.

The traditional belief is that three days after Jesus was crucified he was resurrected.

The Jewish nation has been resurrected over and over again. Jews were resurrected from the destructions of their two Temples and their homeland by ruthless conquerors; they were resurrected from endless suffering marked by horrific main events as the Inquisition, Pogroms, endless libels and expulsions and the last resurrection from the ashes of the Holocaust. And now it appears that the resurrection of the Jewish nation in their Homeland state of Israel is not appealing or is acceptable to the world.

No other nation in the world spilled so much blood and was endlessly persecuted. If Jews were not systematically killed the Jewish Nation could have counted more than 100Million members or perhaps more.

It appears that the world, as a whole, has considered and is still considering Jews' lives to be rather worthless. Today, the sound bites are that the state of Israel, the safe refuge for Jews, should have never been established. Meaning, any Jew who managed to survived the Holocaust would have had to keep on walking the Via Dolorosa, the Death March until the entire Jewish nation would have been exterminated.

Israel is the last station of the Jews' Via Dolorosa. Beyond this station, is the Jews' final crucifixion.