Jerusalem. One of the most important cities for all three monotheistic religions in the world. Dream of pilgrims.
Today Shavit takes us to there
. What a city! Already in the approach there seems to be an expectation in the air. From the car we look our for the Dome on the Rock. But when we overlook the city from Mount Scopus, the splendid city truly unrolls in front of us. The Dome on the Rock, the golden spires of the Greek Orthodox church, the characteristic yellow stones of the old city walls... it's amazing.
So much history and religion in one location. I do not think there is an equivalent in the world. Not even Rome can boast such an importance.
We spend the day walking through the old city. We stroll - seemingy casual - through the garden of Getshemane to the Greek Orthodox church, built at the location where according to tradition Jesus prayed before his betrayal.
Personally I do not want to question the accuracy of the various locations of biblical events where now churches and chapels have been constructed
. As a Christian it is enough for me that the events took place. But it is impressive to see the hosts of pilgrims, some from far away, full of devotion praying at the various sites. Some bring objects they want to bless by touching them to various objects here in Jerusalem.
I can only imagine the religious value of a rosary, which has touched the stone where Jesus prayed, after the pilgrim returns to some tiny village in Ethiopia, .
The sun is bright and hot, and the stones of the city are blinding white. All buildings in Jerusalem must be covered on the outside by the same type of stone, to maintain the unity of the city architecture.
In this area, next to the old city wall, there is a gigantic graveyard, which covers the bulk of the hillside - all of Jews who wanted to be burried in their holy city. All graves are made of the same yellowish white stones.
After some mango juice we go into the old city, to the Wailing Wall
. Donned with a kippah (for the men, Sisi goes to the site for women) Shavit and I approach the wall. Hundreds of Jews are praying. This is the last remaining foundation wall of the temple of Salomon (actually, the replacement of it after the Babylonian exile). The temple was destroyed by the Romans (emperor Titus, if my memory serves me well) and the Jews still mourn the destruction and pray for it to be rebuild.
This of course makes it an extremely contentiuous issues in politics and religion, because on this very same foundation, the Ommayads have constructed the third most important mosque - after Mecca and Medina.
All three religions hold as tradition that the rock in question, was the location where Abraham almost sacrified Isaac.
No matter from which perspective you approach thisWestern Wall, it is a place charged with history. No intelligent person can escape the significance
. People come and go hundreds at a time, scriptures are read by the orthodox jews, still with long side locks of hair and black coats and hats.
Later we go inside the tunnels under the wall, and I am impressed by how extensive they are. Gigantic blocks of stone have been stacked as part of earlier and final foundations. The mere thought of moving and raising these stones is staggering.
At some locations underground we can look down into deeper excavations, and in a number of places we look down through a glass covered hole to places where archeologists are now working in chambers 30 or 40 meters deeper than where we are walking. This mount is one solid testimony to man's search for meaning,
Afterwards we follow the Via Dolorosa (the path Jesus walked from the place of his condemnation to the place where he was crucified). Many times in Catholic churches I have have watched the pictures of the stations of the cross. Every church has them, and catholics "walk the forteen stations" in their church and pray at every station.
Now for the first time I actually walk the stations - for real. We follow the ancient road through the city where criminals had to wak and carry their own cross to the 'place of the skull' just outside the city, where they would be crucified,
At every station, a church or chapel has been erected, and it moves me to see how people are praying. Some are dressed western, like a group of east europeans who are guided by a priest who initiates the prayers at every station at which the whole group joins in.Others, llike the Ethiopians, are dressed with a piece of sackcloth and a colorful scarf around their head.
At one station there is a spring and all Ethiopians are lined up with bottles and jerrycans.
After the Via Doloroa we walk through the old Jerusalem bazaar. Amazing not more movies have been recorded here. It's a wonderful maze of thousands of small stores selling everything from laundry detergent to fine gold. The architecture of the small recesses, the quaint corners - stores are sometimes not bigger than 2 square meters - will (unfortunately) never be repeated in modern shopping centers. Yet here they attract people from all over the world.
On the way home we stop at an arab restaurant and enjoy an abundance of great meat, salad and many small side dishes, incluing humus, halva and olives.
We sleep peacefully in the Promised Land.
Jerusalem
Monday, May 02, 2016
Jerusalem, Israel
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