Blog (short for weblog)

Monday July 6th

Sneakers and stone pavers

The old city (dating back to 4000 BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in the world)  of Jerusalem is a relatively compact area of residences, small shops, old ruins, synagogues, churches, mosques, museums and steps. Lots and lots of steps. Nothing can be reached by traveling in a straight line, and most places take quite a bit of three dimensional maneuvering. Because the city is ancient, and bulldozers had not been invented until recently, the level of the city has been rising for centuries. Generally speaking, the bigger the stones are cut, the older the construction is. Street level now is often 30 feet higher than it was when Jerusalem was first settled. Excavations reveal tall Roman columns that you look down on from street level.

Excavated Roman Columns

Building projects are routinely delayed for months because excavation often creates the need for the archeologists to come in, excavate, and record the findings. Cost overruns anyone?

Kids in the City of David

The City of David is the area within the oldest stone walls, and includes much of the area adjacent to the West Wall and the temple mount. There are several walls that intersect in this area, including Turkish walls (newer), walls from the First Temple period, and walls that predate the first temple period. The photo below shows a section of the original boundry wall from the time of the First Temple. The wall was about 15 to 18 feet wide, and 30 feet high. The remains shown sit at a level about 20 feet below current street level.

Wall from the time of the First Temple (about 1000 BCE)

The map below shows the overlap of the walls from the time of David to the walls from the time of the First Temple. As you can see from the contour lines, the city is very steep. More about that later.

Map of wall perimeters

The Old City is divided into 4 quarters; the Jewish Quarter, Christian Quarter, Arab Quarter, and Armenian Quarter. The Jewish, Christian and Arab Quarters date back to Biblical times, and the Armenian Quarter is a relative newcomer. The current quarters were named in the early 19th century. The Old City contains many important historical sites of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths. Key sites include Temple Mount, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque. Click any of the links for more detailed information.

Our walking tour included started at the Cardo (heart), which is the old shopping area of the city. Our guide, Yalla, led us on a fast paced tour that hit a few of the highlights. There are so many heritage sites, museums and points of interest that months could be spent exploring this city. I’ll limit myself to those I have seen first hand.

Mosaic map of Jerusalem-during Greek conquest

The map above was made during the Greek occupation of the city, and shows the Cardo at the very center. The pillars supported a roof and also served to divide the stalls of the merchants from each other. Yalla assured us that the excavated site we saw was accurate in all but the smell.

Our next stop was the Western wall of the Temple, which is the holiest site of Judaism. It’s controlled by the orthodox Jews, and with certain restrictions, open to all who wish to visit.  Our first look was seen by going down several back alleys, up several flights of steps, and into a small back courtyard between a wall and an apartment building covered with air conditioning units. Not exactly prosaic. The crowd below is hiding the wall, but you can make out the Dome of the Rock in the upper left. The guy sleeping on the bench is one tired pilgrim.

First Look

A short walk down many more steps, and twists through alleys brought us to the entrance to the Western Wall. After passing through a guard booth and metal detectors, we joined the hundreds of others for our time at the wall. We got there at about 3:30, and with the two lines (one for men and a separate line for women) there was no wait. We said the traditional prayers, put our slips of paper into the wall, got hustled by the Hasidim for some shekels, and were out of there in 15 min. Whew! Services at home should be so fast!

Western Wall

Here’s a photo of a very sweaty American tourist at the wall:

Sweaty American Tourist

Notice the men in black in the background. These are the Hassidic Jews who hustle tourists at the wall. They approach you and with a soft spoken voice ask you your Hebrew name, insert into a prayer, and hit you up for some money for the poor. If you give them some, they ask for more! What I find amazing is that these people are in the hot sun, dressed in black suits, with heavy black hats, a Talus under their shirts, and they don’t seem to sweat at all. How do they do it?

After exiting the wall area, we  got a break from the sun at an adjacent museum were we saw a movie on how the Second Temple worked in its short life (it lasted only about 50 years before being destroyed by the Romans in 70CE). A monumental structure, it allowed only priests within its walls. Pilgrims were not allowed access to the inside. After a ritual cleansing in the bath houses below the steps, they were allowed to walk up the steps and through the gates carrying their sacrifice (like a goat) being very careful not to come into contact with anyone else. Outside the Temple, they would turn over their sacrificial offering (said goat) to a priest, who would take it inside the Temple for sacrifice and a burning. Their was of course a hierarchy of priests, and only the highest was allowed into the inner sanctum (holiest of holies) to talk with God directly. The Second Temple was reconstructed by Herod in the grandest style, and must have made quite the impression on the pilgrims, most of whom had not traveled more than seven miles from home before their pilgrimage.

We went to the steps we had just seen our pilgrim climb in the film, for a rest in the shade and a short lecture from our guide. We were sitting on the actual steps before the south wall, which was the main entrance to the Temple. The steps were the same height, but two different widths, which was a design to slow traffic down into and out of the Temple.

Steps of the Second Temple

The final part of our tour was also the most challenging. We decended (schleped) about 600 feet down to the floor of the Kidron valley, and then descended down several staircases, paths, and excavation sites to the entrance to Hezekia’s tunnel. Hezekia was the king of Judah, and the tunnel which dates back to 710 BCE is considered one of the major water engineering feats in the pre-classical period.

Entrance to Hezekia's Tunnel

Now this was not perhaps the best idea for a 6′3″ guy of my size who is mildly claustrophic. But how could I pass up the chance to walk in water up past my knees in pitch black for a mile carrying two expensive cameras and a penlight. Too good to miss! AND I got to do it at a fast pace, while hunched over much of the way and turning sideways at the tight spots. Oh Joy!

A high point !

Finally after 20 minutes of banging my head, scraping my shoulders, knees and elbows, we came out to Hezekia’s pool. A popular spot on a hot afternoon.

Hezekia's Pool

But we weren’t done yet. Still had to go back up the hill (600 feet again) to catch our tour bus and head on up to the top of Mount Scopus, and attend the Bnai Mitvah ceremony at sunset. Here’s the view:

Mt. Scopus view towards Judean Desert

That’s the West Bank settlements and behind them is the Judean Desert. The abrupt transition from the lushness of the Hebrew University campus to the wilderness of the desert was a strong reminder of where our people came from. Very, very visceral.

Rabbi Irwin Kula

Tina Hughs

The ceremony was beautiful, with over six hundred of the young and not so young participating. Lead by Rabbi Irwin Kula, the service was an inspiration to all. A young lady, swimmer Tina Hughs whom I had met in Manchester, CT several years ago read the first Torah portion and did an amazing job.

I can’t believe the amount of stairs I climbed that day. About 200 steps to get to the ampitheater where the event was being held, another who knows how many running up and down to cover the event, and then a few hundred more to go to dinner, before descending all of them to get back to the bus for the hour ride back to the hotel. Hard work, but well worth all the efforts.