Jerusalem!!!

It has been a long time since I have posted and I apologize. The reason was that our four days in the Holy Land were set at ultra high speed. It was one of the most amazing trips for me. I was excited beyond normal people words. I was in the Holy Land!! I cannot impart to you how much that meant to me as a history student, nor how often I felt chills go up and down my spine upon seeing some of these sights. I could spend a lifetime in that place and never tire of the people (Palestinian or Israeli), or the sights, or the feelings you get when gazing at the city. Speaking of which, we arrived in Tel Aviv at around 10:30ish, and after clearing customs and finding our travel company, it took us an hour to get to Jerusalem. The Holy City itself!! We stayed at a hotel located in East Jerusalem, right inside the Jaffa gate. So we were physically inside the Old City portion of Jerusalem; if you look at a map we were right on the border of the Christian and Armenian Quarters. Here it is, my first sight of the Old City...

That was right around midnight, so it was off to bed for me. The next morning, June 24th, was amazing for me!!! We went off on a stroll down the thin sloping "roads" the Old City (driving simply will not work). It is actually really small, it took us maybe ten minutes to cross the city at its widest point. I guess I should have expected that, since the wall it self that you saw in the picture above was a reconstruction of the medieval walls, razed to the ground in 1234 by the Tartars. The current walls were built in 1538 by the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. It really does feel like a medieval middle-eastern town though. A lot of the architecture is from the Mameluke period, when Jerusalem was ruled by the Mameluke slave-soldiers of Egypt...
What I was never really able to get over, for the entirety of our stay in the Holy Land, was how close everything was to everything else. After a short walk, our guide turned us down a small path, we turned the corner, and saw this...

One of the holiest sights in the entire world, on a beautiful morning, the Western Wall. It is all that remains of the Temple built by Herod the Great. It was a Thursday, a day when the boys come to the wall for their Bar Mitzvah, and leave the wall as men. So I am glad we got there early, otherwise it was probably going to get a little crowded closer to the wall, especially on the women's side of the mechitza (the barrier between men and women while they pray). We were still able to get in and I left a prayer note in the wall. You have to cover your head before God though...
Before going up the long wooden ramp to al-haram al-qudsī ash-sharīf, I snapped this picture...

He was wandering around since we arrived, and I thought he was an appropriate reminder that what we were about to do is something very few Palestinian Muslims have been able to do. Al-haram al-qudsī ash-sharīf, the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims, the Temple Mount to Jews and most Christians, has been off limits to Palestinians who don't live in East Jerusalem since 1967. It was an intense experience for me. You go up this long enclosed walkway overlooking the Western Wall...
You enter through a small doorway, into a beautifully landscaped space...

With the wind whispering in those pines, you know immediately why it is the Noble Sanctuary, a great and holy place regardless of what religion you have. It was absolutely beautiful. The Al-Aqsa mosque was off to our right...

And we had a view of the Dome of the Rock through the trees off to the left...

It was otherworldly, a truly beautiful place. Here are some more of my favorite pictures...

We didn't get to go inside, only Muslims are allowed to enter these holy places now.

The history of the place may already be known to you, here is the brief version. The where the Dome of the Rock now stands, is exactly over the place where Jewish Temple, the shrine to the Holy of Holies, once stood. This was where Soloman's Temple was, and after its destruction by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II in 586 BCE, the sight remained empty until Herod the Great. Herod the Great was the Herod who wanted to find Jesus as a newborn to kill him. His son, Herod Antipas, is the Herod in the story of Jesus' crucifixion. It was Herod the Great, who built the very Temple that Jesus went to visit before his death. It was huge, and remained the holiest place for Jews until its destruction in 66 CE during the Roman suppression of a Jewish revolt. Al-Aqsa was the first Muslim addition to Mt. Moriah (the other, less politically charged name for the site); the mosque was probably built by the Umayyad Caliphate in the 670's. The Dome of the Rock followed in 691. During the Crusades, Al-Aqsa was the headquarters of the Templar Knights, the Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon. The Dome was turned into an Augustinian Church. The dome itself was originally covered by the melted remnants of 100,000 melted dinar coins. Under the Turks, the Dome was covered in tiles. In 1955, the Jordanian government undertook a renovation of the Dome and covered it in a bronze/aluminum alloy. In 1998, the Dome was again refurbished with 80 kilograms of gold. A personal gift of King Hussein of Jordan of $8.2 million made this possible.

It was an incredible morning experience!! I have been excited about doing this for a long time and I am still excited thinking back on that morning!! We weren't finished though. We went for a visit to an Israeli court. It turned out that the building itself was the original location for the High Court of the British Mandate of Palestine. We actually sat in the very room that was once used for that purpose. It is under refurbishment and is being prepared to function as a museum, or at least that is the plan right now.

Next we stopped at the Shoah Memorial and Museum; Yad Vashem.

It was a truly epic monument. You walk through the Museum, getting the full unadulterated view of the brutality and antisemitism. People are telling their stories on video screens. Models tell the story of Auschwitz. I had to pick up my pace, weaving between the groups of Israeli soldiers, because I felt physically ill. The entire story told by the museum ends with the founding of the State of Israel, and a long walk out onto this beautiful panoramic view of the countryside...
The message was implicit, but very clear: "The Jews have suffered for most of recorded history. It stops now. This is Israel, and we are not leaving."
It was hard for me on the rest of the trip. I know all of that is true, but how do you reconcile the needs of two peoples laying claim to one land, when both groups have loud and intransigent sub-groups, who absolutely refuse to yield on their viewpoints. It troubles me, but I won't trouble you.

The rest of the Shoah Memorial area is an enormous plot of ground that includes, the Children Memorial (no pictures), the Hall of Remembrance, and the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations. Walking in this place is a very emotional and thought provoking experience.


After that, we went to another holy spot, this one for Christians and Jews. As you will see in the pictures, the Mount of Olives is the site of a large and prestigious Jewish cemetery. For Christians, Mount Olivet is where Jesus ascended to heaven after giving instructions to the apostles. The view of Jerusalem is amazing...

It is easy to see why so many wars have been fought over this location. Jerusalem is a beautiful city. You can see the Dome of the Rock pretty easily, but you have to look behind it to see our ultimate destination for the day...

I'll tell you what it is later, if you haven't already guessed.
Our guide has us walk down Mt. Olivet. For anyone who wants to do the same, be forewarned, it is steep and the blacktop can be slick, so be prepared. We passed by the Dominus Flevit Church, where Jesus wept over Jerusalem, no shorts so we didn't go in.

At the bottom of Olivet, is the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed the night before his trial and crucifixion. It was beautiful, well-kept by the monks, and filled with olive trees that were probably 2000 years old.

I cannot share with you what it was like to walk and pray in the place where Jesus prayed with the full knowledge of what was to come.

Watching over the Garden is the Church of All Nations...

It was built in the 1920's with the donations of several countries. Every nation that contributed has a dome with their flag and coat of arms.
Our next destination was the same as Jesus' next mortal destination, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre...

It doesn't look like much when you look at the main entrance, especially when this ladder is above the door and has been left there since before 1852...

The reason for this is the status quo rule. The Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, the Armenian Apostolic, and the Coptic, Ethiopian, and Syriac Orthodox Churches all have a portion of the Church as their area of care and responsibility. They don't get along. When and where mass can be held are strictly regulated, as are the common features of the church, like the ladder. Nothing can be moved or changed unless all the communities agree. That seems rather harmless when you are considering the immovable ladder, but included in the common areas are the facades, foundations, the frescoes, etc. The Church is not in good shape, but it is still beautiful and moving.

Our guide left us here, because we were only five minutes from our hotel and he knew some of us would want to spend a great amount of time wandering the halls. Right inside the door is the Anointing Stone, where Christ was prepared for burial...

It is a maze in the rest of the Church, so I suggest if you have plans to go, take a floor plan so you know what it is that you are looking at. Although, it was fun to get lost inside looking.

Turns out that directly to the right of the entrance, if you are facing the Anointing Stone is a steep thin little staircase that leads you right up to Calvary. There is a Greek Orthodox Altar right where Christ was crucified...
It is off to the left, the direction I actually went that Christ was buried, the sepulchre...

As you can see, it too is held by the Greek Orthodox, and there is a long long to get inside.

It was a very and spiritual way to end a day in Jerusalem.