Travel Biography - Week 125.

Jerusalem - Small and Insignificant?

Jerusalem is a small city over 60 km inland from the sea or 37 miles from the coast. Unlike most major cities worldwide, it has no river flowing through or around it. Furthermore, it's split down the middle, with the Jewish West Jerusalem, its wide, traffic-laden streets, and the Arabic East Jerusalem, which includes the mostly traffic-free walled Old City. Yet, before the 1967 Six-Day War, East Jerusalem and the Old City were in Trans-Jordan, and a wall divided the city between two sovereign States which were hostile to each other. A late elderly friend wanted to visit Jerusalem Old City sometime before 1967. He and his wife had to fly to Jordan's capital, Amman, and travel west until they arrived at Jerusalem's Old City, but they weren't able to cross into Israel.

New and Old. Glass Works at the Citadel.

General view of the Citadel, near Jaffa /Gate.

View of the Old City from the Citadel Tower.

A Souk in the Old City.

At the Damascus Gate.

Geographically, Jerusalem is insignificant in both size and location. Neither is it a trading port. Yet, according to the prophet Zachariah in the Bible, it will be a cup of trembling for all the nations surrounding it, if not worldwide. It is believed by many scholars that when other nations surround this particular city to attack, the Battle of Armageddon will break out, that final war, bringing an end to human history as we know it. How could an insignificant-looking city have such earth-shaking phenomena?

Yet, throughout my life and recorded in this Biography, I felt a real privilege to have visited this fascinating city and walked its streets. I always recall my first visit here in 1976 - (Week 4). The Old City souks were more akin to the ancient Middle East culture during my first visit there. Furthermore, unlike my late elderly friend, I was able to land at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport and from the Jewish New or West City, I entered the Old City simply by entering through either the Jaffa Gate or the more ornate Damascus Gate on the north side of the city.

After staying in Jerusalem in 1976, I returned again in 1993. That was when I noticed a distinct modernisation of the Old City to suit the growing influx of Western tourists. The following year, I spent a whole month as a resident at the New Swedish Hostel on Souk David after my dismissal as a volunteer from Stella Carmel Christian Conference Centre in Isfya, near Haifa. And here I am again, in 2000, no longer alone but with my wife Alex, in her 19th week of pregnancy, celebrating our first Wedding Anniversary. 

We were fortunate to rent a hotel-style room with a double bed at the New Swedish Backpacker's hostel in the heart of the Old City. It was a superb location for a cut-price stay. But there was a downside. When checking in at Ben Gurion Airport to fly back to the UK, the security checks were tightened. This was due to staying at a Palestinian-owned property. In 1993, my backpack was emptied in a small side room, and also here, my person was thoroughly examined. It was quite a humiliating experience performed by well-trained Israelis, and one I never went through anywhere else in the world. As such, throughout our stay, I felt apprehensive about our departure security check at the airport.

Our Involvement in Jewish Festivals.

Sukkot - Festival of Booths.

These two allowed us to photo them.

A Booth fronts a Restaurant.

Yom Kippur Prayers at the Western Wall.

We arrived in Israel at the start of its New Year, or Rosh Hashanah, followed by Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Festival of Booths. Corresponding with Sukkot was Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, the most important day of the Jewish calendar. All these happened during our two-week stay in 2000. Having stayed in the Old City during Sukkot, we weren't affected by holiday closures as we were during Rosh Hashanah, as all businesses in the Old City were Arab-owned.

But in the Jewish West City, as we strolled along the streets, we saw that temporary booths were everywhere. From small, two-man shelters to large tents stretching the length of a shop or restaurant. It was on one of the evenings that we sat in a shelter outside a restaurant for the opportunity to experience Sukkoth for ourselves. I even approached two Orthodox Jews at a small booth for permission to take a photo of them with the shelter. To my surprise, they were happy to oblige.

On the Day of Atonement, we stood at the Western Wall. In the Bible, on that special day of the year, the priest, a direct descendant of Aaron, Moses' brother, was to sacrifice a lamb at the altar at the Most Holy Place of the Temple and pour the blood on the solid gold Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. But in our day, neither the Temple nor the Ark existed, so all they could do was pray at the Wall for forgiveness of sins and atonement. 

The Sukkot lasted a week, but the whole of Israel closed down on the first and last day of the festival. However, during the five days in between, normal trading was possible. Hence, with the buses running, we were able to take a day out to Eilat, a four-hour journey covering 366 km or 227 miles.

Jerusalem's Spirituality and its Effects on Us.

Alex at the Site of the Crucifixion.

At the Church of Dominus Flevit.

The Church of the Ascension.

Inside the Church of the Ascension.

Inside the Church of the Nations.

Alex saw Jerusalem as a spiritual solace as well as a city of historical and cultural significance. At various sites, she knelt and offered her prayers. One example was in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Fortunately, as it was off-season and most of the tourists and pilgrims had gone home, the queue to enter the Sepulchre was short and fairly fast-moving. This allowed Alex to linger at the ledge where traditionally, the body of Jesus was laid after he was taken down from the cross. 

Nearby, within the same building, the exact site of the cross is represented by a lifesize image of Christ crucified. Alex stood with reverence as I looked on. It's here that the Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Coptic, Armenian Apostolic, Syriac, and Ethiopian Orthodox churches accept the area as authentic, while the Protestants insist that the site is located at the Garden Tomb, north of the city, despite archaeologists saying that the tomb is considerably older, by as much as 700 years than the "new tomb no man had used" to bury the body of Jesus.

I visited the Garden Tomb in 1994, and indeed, it does look authentic, but this was the original opinion of an Englishman, Charles Gordon, in the 19th Century, after receiving reports from other missionaries before his time, that the nearby hill does resemble a skull, hence according to Gordon, this hill must have been Golgotha. An Arab bus station is at the foot of the hill, and in 1994, I boarded a bus to Hebron. As the bus remained stationary before it departed, I had a chance to take a good look. Incidentally, the garden which contains the tomb is also known as Gordon's Calvary. 

I decided not to take Alex to Gordon's Calvary after watching her showing reverence and prayer inside the Holy Sepulchre. Besides, whether the Holy Sepulchre was truly authentic or not, I wanted to believe it was so since my first visit there in 1976.

Another site where Alex found spiritual solace was inside the Church of the Nations at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Here lies an enclosure of bare smooth rock. It was traditionally the site of the Agony -  just before Jesus was arrested and his disciples fled. Just outside the church and to the west of it, an enclosure had olive trees thriving within. Some of these trees looked very old and gnarled, and could even be the ones Jesus was familiar with when he sweated blood while his disciples slept.

On the summit of the Mt of Olives, Alex and I visited the Church of Dominus Flevit with its beautiful arch window overlooking the Temple Mt of Jerusalem. We had to pay the Arab keeper of the Church of the Ascension, a small building over the site where the Resurrected Jesus took off from the Mt of Olives in front of his watching disciples, supposing to leave his footprint in the rock.

Just a word about dress mode. Even during the hot July sunshine, these churches and holy sites won't admit anyone wearing shorts or showing bare shoulders. In 1994, I was refused admission to the Church of Dominus Flevit for wearing shorts when I should have known better. Long trousers are a necessity for men, and women are to keep their shoulders covered. Thank goodness I didn't have to wear a tie!

Ancient Jerusalem.

Excavation of the City of David, 1000 BC.

Excavation of the City of David.

Hasmonian Ruins, Citadel.

Alex and I also visited some ancient ruins dotted around the city, especially in the East Jerusalem area. Outside the south side of Temple Mount, a flight of ancient steps leading to a sealed gateway was once used by Jesus and his generation of Jews heading for the Temple. At Jaffa Gate, the ancient Citadel dates back to the Hasmonian period, around the 1st Century BC. In 2000, the site was enhanced by a display of coloured glass. Other sites include the Bethesda Archaeological Gardens, including the pool where Jesus healed a paralytic on the Sabbath. Nearby, an impressive river dam built in the 7th Century BC remains intact.

The Western Wall, especially the lower section, is itself ancient. Built by the Romans, it was once dominated by the Second Temple originally built by Ezra as the Jews returned to Jerusalem following the Babylonian exile, and further embellished by Herod the Great.

However, the most impressive ancient site was the recent excavation of part of the City of David, originally a Jebusite city built on a tongue of land, known as Mt Ophel, stretching southward from the Temple Mount. The excavation, dating from 1,000 BC, recently opened to the public in 2000, faces east into the Kidron Valley with the southern end of Mt of Olives rising on the other side of the valley. 

Apparently, since 2000, the excavation extended further, revealing the Pool of Siloam with steps leading into it, and a street lined with shops for the ancient Jewish pilgrims who made their way to the Temple. At this point in time, the most recent excavations are not yet open to the public, but the excavated Pool of Siloam is earmarked to be refilled with water and restored to its originality. Too bad that it's very unlikely for me to see for myself. Instead, I encourage anyone younger to go and visit - and verify the historicity of the Bible during this age of scepticism.

Other sites include a site near the Cardio dating back to the days of Isaiah the prophet, around 700 BC. In the middle of the Cardio, a glimpse down into a walled hole in the street reveals a section of an ancient wall also dating from the time of Isaiah and King Hezekiah could be seen through a glass panel.

As for Hezekiah's Tunnel, or the Tunnel of Siloam, this was where I waded through from one end to the other in 1976 and again in 1993. I gave it a miss in 1994, and due to her pregnancy, I kept Alex away in 2000. I wasn't sure how she might have felt in such a cold, claustrophobic environment, so I felt wise to stay away. In my day, entry was free and open to anyone, as long as the gate was unlocked. But now, I believe that a building covers the cave-like entrance with steps leading down. I have no regrets. My visits to the Tunnel were timely - as much of its history was unspoiled by any form of commercialism.

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Next Week: Snorkelling in the Red Sea.