Happy are those who love you, and happy those who rejoice in your prosperity. Happy are all the men who shall grieve over you, over all your chastisements, For they shall rejoice in you as they behold all your joy forever. (Tobit 13:13)

Being restored to Jerusalem has become a symbol of being restored to wholeness.

Jerusalem, home of God, is to be our home. Jerusalem, place of righteousness, is the place where I belong. Jerusalem, the just community, is where we are to abide together in peace.

I expect the author of Tobit intends - mostly - to celebrate the particular city.

But wherever we encounter God, wherever we allow the sacred to claim us, wherever we share joy and grief with others, there too we may find wholeness.

The sacred is less an issue physical space and much more a matter of our openess to God.

Above is Jehovah Embraces Jerusalem by William Blake.