Jerusalem : The Reunification of Jerusalem, Israel's Eternal Capital

Yom Yerushalayim "יום ירושלים" (Jerusalem Day) is the most recent addition to the Hebrew calendar as an Israeli and Jewish national holiday, celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem, every year on the 28th day of Iyar. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel declared Jerusalem Day a minor religious holiday to thank God for the victory of the six-day-war, and for answering the 2,000-year-old prayer of "Next Year in Jerusalem".

Yom Yerushalayim celebrates the reestablishment of Jewish sovereignty over the Jewish capital that was destroyed by the the Romans in the days of the second temple. Since the Roman destruction, Jerusalem, though always home to a Jewish community, has been ruled by foreign hands.  Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel, first established by King David, the Jewish king that conquered it and built it as the seat of his monarchy in approximately 1000 B.C.E.

Yom Yerushalayim is marked by state ceremonies, memorial services for soldiers who died in the battle for Jerusalem, parades through downtown Jerusalem, reciting the Hallel prayer in synagogues, lectures on Jerusalem-related topics, singing and dancing, and special television programming.