Trump, like King Cyrus of Persia, made a “big declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of the holy people,” said Rabbi Mordechai Persoff.
By: AP and United with Israel Staff
An Israeli organization has minted a coin bearing President Donald Trump’s image to honor his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The Mikdash Educational Center is producing the “Temple Coin,” features Trump alongside King Cyrus of Persia, who 2,500 years ago allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon.
Rabbi Mordechai Persoff said that Trump, like Cyrus, made a “big declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of the holy people.”
The Balfour Declaration is also mentioned on the coin as another milestone in the history of modern Israel, which was followed century later by Trump’s Jerusalem declaration.
The Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917 was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Baron Rothschild stating that “His Majesty’s government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
In 1922, the League of Nations adopted this position and made the British Mandate “responsible for putting into effect the declaration,” which led to the UN vote in 1947 and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
Fulfilling Biblical Prophecies
Israel has warmly welcomed Trump’s move, which angered Palestinians.
After Trump’s declaration, some 250 Israeli rabbis sent him a letter thanking him and praising him for his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The letter told the American president, “You have the rare privilege to be the first president to recognize Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the State of Israel.”
“We are confident that you will be remembered in the history of the Jewish people forever as one who stood at the fore and was not afraid. May God’s promise to Joshua be fulfilled upon you: ‘Did I not command you, be strong and have courage, do not fear and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’”
“We merit living in a generation in which prophecies are being fulfilled, one after the other,” the letter continued, emphasizing that Trump is playing his role in that process.
“The presidents of America merited standing by Israel in actualizing the prophecy of the return to Zion and the building of the State of Israel. “
“With this recognition, we see the fulfillment of another step in the completion of the prophecy of Isaiah that the nations of the world will recognize the centrality of Jerusalem,” said Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, one of the signatories. “‘For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch. The nations will see your vindication’ (Isaiah 62:1). We hope that other enlightened and believing nations will follow in the footsteps of the United States.”