City of David
City of David: The Story of Ancient Jerusalem
by Ahron Horovitz (edited by Dr. Eyal Meiron)
The book’s author, Ahron Horovitz, lives in the City of David and directs the entity that published the book, Megalim—the City of David Institute for Jerusalem Studies. The book’s foreword—written by distinguished archaeologist and scholar Dr. Gabriel Barkay—states that “in recent years the City of David has become a National Park” that not only “attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year,” but is also “the most visited ancient site in the country.”
Horovitz quotes an interesting rabbinic explanation for how Jerusalem got its name:
Abraham called it “yir’e” as it says, “And Abraham called the name of that place ‘God will see,’” [Adonai yir’e].
Shem called it “Salem,” as it says, “Melchizedek King of Salem” (Genesis 14).
God said, “If I call it ‘yir’e’ as Abraham did, righteous Shem will be resentful. Yet if I call it ‘Salem,’ then righteous Abraham will be resentful. Rather, let me call it ‘Yeru-salem,’ [Jerusalem] combining both names.”