10 - Co-existence 1

It has been a very saturating 48 hours, and I have asked some of my nuclear family members for help in writing this blog entry on our first day and a half in Jerusalem. What, I asked Asher, Dad, Rebecca, and Susan, would you write about if you were keeping a chronicle of your experiences and reflections on this trip? What has stood out in your mind, puzzled you, or surprised you? Which memories would you want to make sure to hold on to by memorializing them on paper, and also publish to your friends/family/colleagues (if anyone is still reading through these entries).

I had hoped that hearing their thoughts would help me focus my writing on the top three key experiences or themes thus far in Jerusalem, but they have highly disappointed me. Although we were not greeted to this holy city with palm branches and song, Jerusalem has made a grand entrance into all of us.

The thoughts and reflections that my family members shared with me as stand-outs are certainly highlights or points of interest for me as well. It seems a common theme of Jerusalem is co-existence. Co-existence in Jerusalem has an age-old precedence, but it looks very different here than it did in hilly Haifa, where Jews and Muslims, and a Christian minority live in relative (albeit decreasing) calm, integration, and interdependency. And it seems as though many doubt that the problems associated with co-existence in Jerusalem will be most difficult, if not impossible to resolve over the next couple of generations.

Asher:
Co-existence of old and new. After a full day in the City of David and the Old City of Jerusalem, we walked back to our hotel outside of the Old City walls. Like night and day, within 50 feet (perhaps, I’ve gotten no better at estimating distance in Israel) we passed from the ancient, walled, cobblestone alleys to a bustling 4-lane throughway with fast cars and few pedestrian passages. Immigration to Jerusalem continues to be high (as it is throughout all of Israel), and city planners have a great deal to consider, including how they might maintain the intimate feeling of this holy walled city among the demand for inclusion in its residential and commercial neighborhoods.

Co-existence in one 10x10 square feet of land. Twice a day, non-Muslims are allowed to visit the Temple Mount, one of the holiest Jewish spaces, and the exterior of the Dome on the Mount, one of the three most holy Muslim sites. For the Jews, the top of Mount Moriah is significant for its prominence in the story of God instructing Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and also for being the site of the two Jewish Temples and site for the Holy of Holies. Muslims built the Dome of the Rock on the exact same spot at the Jewish Temple had been nearly 1,300 years ago, and have developed a compelling claim of their own for the space. The religious and political interests and sensitivities seem to be never-ending, but also must be resolved in order to create a lasting peace in the Middle East.

While on the Temple Mount, we had a touching experience. We passed thorough security, through the appropriate gate, and onto the Herod additions to the Mount. Our guide was careful not to show us pictures in the books he brought in case someone should think he was reading a prayer book and force us to leave the courtyard. For about 15 minutes, he recounted some of the history and tensions of the space, and about half way through, an Arab many began to linger around our shady spot. We all noticed him, and I wondered why he might be hanging around … was he interested in learning what this Jewish guide might be saying? Was he going to ask us to buy something from him (as many children and other adults were doing) on the Mount? Was he going to challenge something our guide said? When our guide, Aaron, invited us to walk up to the Dome of the Rock (which we are not allowed to enter), he asked to interject and politely informed us that while as non-Muslims we indeed are not allowed to enter the Dome of the Rock, that there is a replica of the mosque in Tempeh, Arizona, and he hoped we would go to visit it. He also informed us that he son is a professor at UCLA, and is working with a variety of students, professors, and community groups to initiate and maintain healthy interfaith discussions. Clearly we do not know why this man chose to tell us about his sons initiatives, but I would like to think that perhaps this man is a moderate Muslim and has taken it apon himself to help non-Muslims in Israel learn about these more moderate efforts to co-exist around the world.

Dad:
Co-existence throughout time. Jerusalem, like Jafo, has a 5,000 year history. King David made Jerusalem his capital in approximately 1,000 b.c., and it has been a great city for Jews, Christians, and Muslims ever since. We went to the City of David today, where we learned about David and Solomon’s improvements to the city and the beginning of the First Temple Period. We pictured Isaiah prophesying from its walls that the Assyrians would not conquer Jerusalem, and we traversed the ½ kilometer long tunnel through the sandstone that King Hezekiah had constructed to protect Jerusalem’s water supply during this time. And then we learned about Jerusalem’s fall to the Babylonians, the Roman era and construction of the Second Temple, fall of the Second Temple, Crusadors, Muslims, and on forward to current affairs. All of this history is stunning, and yet rather confusing. It is amazing that archeologists are uncovering old sites from all of these periods, and yet astounding that they are doing so under the homes of citizens who protest their methods.

A note on our time in Hezekiah’s tunnel … pitch black, cold water to mid-calf (and above the knees at the beginning), and only 2-feet wide at most, the construction of Hezekiah’s tunnel (dug by two teams starting at opposite ends and meeting at the middle) is a true feat. Our walk through was fun and we were amazed to be able to walk the same tunnel, exactly, that was constructed over 2,500 years ago. But our experience was made so much more significant thanks to the group of Hassidic girls ahead of us. We were learning from Aaron at the entrance to the tunnel when we let them go ahead of us. No older than 12-14, a group of two dozen girls in calf-length navy pleated wool skirts, stockings, button down shirts, and nylons one by one shrilled as they plunged into the water. We embarked after them perhaps 5 minutes later. After some time walking through the dark tunnels, we began to hear singing … all in Yiddish these young girls were memorializing their experience in song, and we followed their melodies for the next 20 minutes until we all emerged at the ruins of the pool.

It’s time for us to go to our last “all-family” dinner, so I’m going to post this and dash, but please stay tuned for more on the past day and a half.

Rebecca:
The Kotel (Wailing Wall)

Susan:
Armenian funeralEpisode with the shopkeeper