Jerusalem

He who has not seen Jerusalem in its days of glory, has never seen a beautiful city in his life. He who has not seen the Temple in its full construction has never seen a glorious building in his life.

The Rabbis taught: A person should always strive to live in the Land of Israel, even in a city that's mostly idolaters, and should avoid living outside of Israel, even in a city that's mostly Jews. Because he who lives in the Land of Israel is like one who has a God, and he who lives outside the Land is like one who has no God. Therefore it is said, “To give you the land of Canaan, to be your God” (Lev. 25:38)

Rabbi Zeira said: "We learn that the air in Eretz Yisrael makes people wise."

(4) This is what G-d says: There will be a time when old men and old women sit in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand at an old age. (5) And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing.

(11) One may [forcibly] bring anyone to the Land of Israel, but one may not remove anyone. One may [forcibly] bring anyone to Jerusalem, but one may not remove anyone.

Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: The people of Jerusalem were people of arrogance.

Why all this? Because it is said, "Because out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Is. ii. 3).

One may not raise chickens in Jerusalem, due to the sacrificial meat that is common there. There is a concern that chickens will pick up garbage that imparts ritual impurity and bring it into contact with sacrificial meat, thereby rendering it ritually impure.

And one may not build out projections or balconies from houses that are in Jerusalem. First, it is due to the danger of contracting ritual impurity by being in the same tent as a corpse, i.e., under the same roof, in which case the impurity spreads to all items under the roof. If even a small part of a corpse is under a balcony, everyone who passes under that balcony is rendered impure. Many people come to Jerusalem to sacrifice offerings, and they must maintain a state of ritual purity. The other reason is so that those great crowds of pilgrims not be injured by colliding with the projections.

The next halakha pertaining to Jerusalem is: And one may not establish garbage dumps in it. The Gemara explains that the reason is due to the repugnant creatures that are attracted to such heaps and impart ritual impurity upon their death.

Once the Temple was built in Jerusalem, all other places became ineligible for building Houses of God or to offer sacrifices there, and for all generations there is no Temple other than the one in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Abbahu said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because its citizens intentionally omitted recitation of Shema morning. This means that in the morning and evening, when the Jews should have been reciting Shema, they were drinking wine and liquor.