The holy city of Jerusalem

We know it’s a big call, but Jerusalem has got to be one of the most fascinating places in the world. Simply wandering around the streets we stumbled across countless interesting people, places and rituals. According to Wikipedia, Jerusalem “has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times”, which no doubt has contributed to the diverse mix of people here. Jerusalem’s diminutive Old City, less than one square kilometre in size, is divided up into four quarters – the Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim quarters.

Neither of us are religious, but of course coming from New Zealand, the religion we’re most familiar with is Christianity. However, the Christian denominations and cultures we encountered were different from those back home. In Jerusalem you can find Ethiopian, Armenian, Greek and Russian Orthodox Christians, various Catholics and small Mormon and Protestant communities.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the world’s most important religious site for several Christian denominations. It is where Jesus is said to have been crucified and buried before his resurrection. We stood and watched for a while at Jesus’ tomb. The displays of religious emotion and devotion was like nothing we’ve seen before. One man was kneeling, with his head resting on the tomb. He sat there hunched over, as if in a trance, caressing the stone for the whole time we were inside the church (almost an hour). The pilgrims moving around him had an interesting routine to their visits. They would kneel at the tomb and then unload bags full of religious items purchased from market stalls nearby such as crosses, paintings and candles. After kissing the stone, or lovingly rubbing it clean with their scarves, they would pack up their objects and leave.

On the way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre lies the Via Dolorosa – purportedly the route where Jesus walked, carrying his cross. Some pilgrims carry huge wooden crosses up the path, wanting to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. Every Friday, monks from the Franciscan Monastary lead the “Way of the Cross” procession, stopping at 14 “stations” along the Via Dolorosa said to be sites of significant events in Jesus’ suffering.

Another day we came across an Ethiopian Orthodox church and went in to take a look. Sitting in the church listening to a group of priests chanting, we felt we’d been transported to a different place entirely.

Upon first entering the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, we walked straight into a lively Bar Mitzvah parade. In a new custom that has become popular for Bar Mitzvahs in Jerusalem, the boy who is coming-of age is paraded through the streets accompanied by drums, balloons and proud family and friends.

The world’s holiest site for Jews is the Western Wall – one of the retaining walls for the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount was the site of two past Jewish temples, the last of which was destroyed in 70AD when the Jews were ejected from Jerusalem by the Romans. The desire for a third, eternal temple is very important to religious Jews - there are even architectural plans in the Torah!

At the Western Wall you can see Jewish worshippers write prayers on slips of paper and poke them into gaps in the wall. The idea being that the close proximity to God will help their prayers be heard. The wall becomes so stuffed full of prayers that they are cleared out every few months and buried on the Mount of Olives nearby.

The Western Wall was a mesmerising spot for people-watching. Some worshippers sat near the wall studying the Talmud, others rocked back and forth in a short, rapid bowing motion while praying. It was especially interesting visiting just before the start of Shabbat (the Jewish holy-day) when hundreds of families descended on the site to pray.

Walking away from the wall, we came across a young Jewish boy in a steep alleyway kicking a football around. We joined the game and started talking to him about what he’d be doing during Shabbat. He was really cute and chatty, informing us that “some people think you can’t play football on Shabbat, but you can!!” When we asked to take his photo, he checked his watch and then gave us permission since it was still a few minutes before Shabbat.

Of course prior to visiting Israel we knew a bit about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But we were surprised to hear many secular and liberal Israelis say that they feel more tension between them and the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community than with the Palestinians. Ultra-Orthodox Jews are the most conservative, traditional adherents to Judaism. The most visible group of Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem are the Haredi Jews (of which there are several subgroups). We will use the term Haredi for the rest of the post, as Ultra-Orthodox is seen as a pejorative term by some.

There are a few reasons for the animosity within Judaism. There is resentment at an exception Haredi Jews have from the two-to-three years of compulsory military service in Israel. This exception is based on a Haredi belief that men should be studying the Torah rather than serving in the military. Many Haredi in Israel extend this belief to all work, strongly preferring religious study to employment or conventional education. This results a whopping 55% of Haredi men being unemployed and reliant on benefits. Haredis’ beliefs also lead them to have large families, compounding the severity of their poverty. Suffering under the burden of a high tax rate, many Israelis resent the Haredi Jews for choosing not to work.  The high birth rate means the Haredi population (and their consequent power) is increasing – a concern for some secular and liberal Jews who are afraid of a future of strict religious law.

While in Jerusalem we CouchSurfed with our lovely hosts Smadar and Eran. They suggested we visit the Haredi neighbourhood of Mea Shearim. As we approached the neighbourhood we heard a commotion and walked toward the noise to see what was going on. We arrived at an intersection to find about 40 Haredi Jews of all ages walking along the road who were shouting and pointing at cars driving past. A bystander told us that the Haredi were protesting against people driving during Shabbat (a prohibited activity under Judaism). As the police tried to keep the road clear, several shoving matches broke out between them and the Haredi. It turned out to be quite the show and spectators gathered to watch. It was hard to believe we were actually seeing such a bizarre event.

Leaving the protest, we entered Mea Shearim. At the entrance to the neighbourhood there was a heartfelt sign asking women to dress modestly. Haredi Jews have a variety of traditional dress styles depending on the particular sub-group they come from. Men’s clothing includes some interesting hats, robes and suits, while women tend to wear conservative blouses and black skirts.

The neighbourhood was like another world. The poverty was immediately evident and far worse than we had expected. We saw streets full of rubbish and poor quality, overcrowded housing. Because of Shabbat, and perhaps due in part to poverty, the kids were all playing together in the streets with basic, traditional toys such as skipping ropes. Because of their large families, the elder kids often have childcare responsibilities and it was common to see young children carrying around their even younger siblings. We felt very conspicuous walking through the area and received several suspicious looks.

Another day we went on an unconventional walking tour of Musrara, a mixed-religion neighbourhood right on the pre-1967 border between Israel and Jordan. The tour was run by a passionate group of artists who are trying to encourage interaction and understanding between the communities’ various religious groups through workshops and public art projects. With a largely segregated mixed community of liberal Jews, Haredi and Arabs the neighbourhood is a microcosm of the rest of Jerusalem.

The official sign on the left points to a bomb shelter. The right-hand sign reads “Love” in Hebrew.

While East and West Jerusalem is no longer separated by a border, a cultural divide remains that is so strong it’s as if a physical border still exists. It’s hard to convey this sense, but it is quite incredible – upon crossing certain streets almost everything changes in an instant. Leaving Musrara, we explored the Old City’s Muslim Quarter and some Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem. We found some cool street markets and soaked up the Arab atmosphere – a new experience for us.

Couriers carried trays through the bustling markets, delivering drinks to the stall holders.

The Temple Mount, which we mentioned earlier as the world’s holiest site for Jews, is also the world’s third most holy site for Muslims. It’s not hard to see why the area, the size of just two rugby fields, has been such fought over for so long. Temple Mount is currently under Islamic control and visiting hours are restricted for the non-Muslim public. We were not allowed inside the Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem’s most iconic landmark) but were able to have a close look at the exterior.

We left the Old City to explore the Mount of Olives (the site of an ancient Jewish Cemetery) and then continued onward to some Palestinian neighbourhoods. This was another time of feeling out of place – we were constantly watched and on several occasions residents offered us directions back to the tourist landmarks. We found a place to look over the West Bank separation barrier and one of the Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem. Israel began constructing the barrier in 2003, after the Second Intifada, with the stated purpose of preventing suicide attacks on Israel from the West Bank.

This is potentially opening up a can of worms, but… here’s a basic summary of some of what we have learnt about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As a disclaimer, we have a lot more to learn before we feel like we can have fully informed opinions on this clearly divisive issue. Initially, it seems to us that there is such a long and messy history of wrongdoing on both sides that being “pro-Israel” or “pro-Palestine” as some people are is far too simplistic.

The Israeli barrier and settlements have been criticised as human rights violations, an attempt to unilaterally define new borders and a barrier to achieving a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. At present Palestinians have neither full rights as citizens of Israel (a “one-state solution”), nor their own sovereign territory in the West Bank and Gaza (a “two-state solution”). Many Arabs living in Palestine either fled or were driven out (depending on who you ask) during the Israeli War of Independence and became refugees. Those who stayed have fewer rights and a lower quality of life than Israeli Jews and live under threat of violence from the Israeli military.

Looking into East Jerusalem from the Old City walls

On the other side of the argument, while there are more than 126 Christian-majority states and 49 Muslim-majority states in the world, Israel is the only Jewish-majority state. A one-state solution could mean an Arab majority at the polling booth and, therefore, the end of Israel as the Jewish state (which was the whole reason for its creation). As for a two-state solution, Israel has had to fight for its survival ever since its inception, in seven major wars and countless smaller conflicts. While fledgling Israel supported the UN Partition Plan which included both a Jewish and Palestinian state, the Arab world rejected the plan and started a war instead. All of Israel’s major population centres are within artillery range of the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights, making the country nervous about handing over this militarily strategic territory to hostile neighbours. One Israeli view is that the Palestinian refugees constitute a population exchange for Jews who had to flee the Arab world during the Israeli War of Independence.

With fresh violence in Gaza just days after we left, and escalating rhetoric on both sides, it sadly looks like a lasting peace in the Middle East is not getting any closer. Indeed, with Iran developing nuclear weapons while making genocidal comments against Israel, it seems that there is more war to come.

If you’re still reading at this point (our longest post yet) then maybe you understand why we found Israel’s history, religion and politics to be so overwhelming! It was really hard to write this post and try to convey the experience of being here - we’ve tried to do our best.

Our time in Israel really stuck with us and we’ve thought and talked about it often since leaving. From Jerusalem we left Israel and headed to Turkey’s Lycian Coast. It’s a region known more for relaxation than conflict, so we promise a lighter post next time!

Comments from WordPress

• Hayley 2012-11-22T19:39:41Z

  Wow! What a post. Will have to reread before offering a comment. Will have to go visit, can’t wait to talk to you about it.

Written by Craig Drayton and Sally Robertson