Flashback Series: Jerusalem

Jerusalem: The Holiest of Holy Cities

July 2014

I’ve seen a lot of places in this world. I’ve been to five continents, walked through a variety of landscapes, experienced dozens of different cultures, but nothing prepared me for my experience in Jerusalem.

Like most of you from back home reading this, I was raised Christian, and went to church every Sunday, where my mother told me to read the Bible instead of sulking and not paying attention to the ‘boring sermon.’ (For some reason, I decided I would start from the beginning each time, and therefore have read the Book of Genesis so many times I had passages memorized.) Church was a mandatory Sunday and Wednesday evening event until I was confirmed, at which time my mother let me choose if I wanted to attend or not.

Unhappy at my years of compulsory attendance, I embraced my newfound freedom and stopped going to church as often. High school life got busy, I moved away for college. Church was not high on my priority list, as I believed I didn’t need to attend church to still believe in God and receive His support. However, though I still held these beliefs in my heart, my mom’s gift of freedom and my move away from home was exactly what I needed to begin returning to the church, because I began to go on my own. No one was making me, no one even knew I went, but I began to go again simply because I realized I missed singing the familiar songs and hearing the familiar stories. Church was so much a part of my childhood that I decided it was still a part of me, and I began to embrace it and actually enjoy it. It became more than just Bible stories and consternation sermons, and developed into a direct application of Christianity to my life.

Then I moved away from the United States. Living in other countries hasn’t been conducive to making me a regular churchgoer. However, I always found services for holidays and important events, and I’ll always be thankful to Pastor Steve and his wife Mary for welcoming me to the International Lutheran Church in Seoul, South Korea. I found churches in Costa Rica, South Africa, and Russia to complement my travels the following two years. But at the same time, I was also seeking challenges to my faith. I wanted to know about the alternative religions, in order to learn about what it really meant to be Western Christian. I visited Buddhist and Hindu temples throughout Asia, Eastern Orthodox churches in Russia, and Muslim mosques in Turkey. Judaism was the only one of the major world religions left to be discovered, and this I found in Israel. 

My experience in Israel, especially in Jerusalem, taught me that being Christian isn’t limited to going to church on Sunday, singing hymns of praise, and reading the Bible. I had no idea, as a little girl squirming through the sermon in church every Sunday, that I was actually a part of a wordwide network with roots which go back thousands of years, beginning with the Jewish faith. The people and stories that I had learned about in Sunday school were actually real, historical people with real contributions to a magnificent, glorious place which became a diamond in the rough among the sandy, desolate hills of the Middle East. I’m talking about the crossroads of the world and one of the most controversial cities in history: Jerusalem.

The Walls of the Old City of Jerusalem

The walled city of Old Jerusalem, rising like a fortress, didn’t seem like a very holy place at first glance. It actually seems a little chaotic, with cars, tourists, locals, nuns, Orthodox Jews, and Muslims all crossing paths and walking every which way. I had trekked my way

from the bus station down Jaffa Road, historically the road to the ancient port city of Jaffa, (now right next to modern Tel Aviv) so I was pretty hot, sticky, and smelly. But this was all forgotten once I saw the walls of Jerusalem. This was it.

The Old City

I entered the Jaffa Gate and, (I wish I could tell you that it was an immediate wave of awe and peace) was greeted with tourist shops, vendors, and tour guides trying to get you to pay them money. Go figure. As they saw me looking around and trying to figure my way around I could see them starting to swarm so I just took off walking, figuring I’ll find my way eventually. This led me down the slippery, ancient stone steps to a labyrinth of stone walls and narrow corridors that either led to a small number of open spaces, or into covered bazaar like street stalls, where more people tried to sell me things. Somehow I managed to find my way to my hostel, which was basically inside a dark, stone cave. I was led up the stone steps to my room, which also looked like a cave, but luckily had a fan. (If you’d like to see pictures of my cave dwellings, the hostel’s website has some good photos here.)  After five straight minutes of fan time, I finally gathered myself together and began to think about my next course of action.

As it turns out, the female only dorm was also occupied by Esther, an Israeli girl who worked at the hostel and stayed there for free. She was so kind to me, and helped me with directions, tips, and her best advice: “See as much of Israel as you can.” The rest of the afternoon was devoted to a grocery store trip to buy some provisions (had to go back outside of the walls), a trip back to the bus station to arrange for a day trip the next day, and some wandering around the old city – it closed down quickly after sunset, however, so there wasn’t much to see once I got back. I did discover that the cave hostel featured an incredible rooftop with views over the Old City, including the gold-topped mosque on the Dome of the Rock.

Rooftop Views

The Muslim Quarter during Ramadan

Ramadan lights.

I’m going to write about my day trips in Israel and Tel Aviv in the next post, so I’ll skip ahead to the rest of my time in Jerusalem. Basically I did three day trips in three days, then devoted my afternoons and evenings to exploring the Old City. It took a lot of navigation, but I eventually gained a mental map in my mind of all the twists and turns. The Old City is divided into four official Quarters: In a city already divided, the Old City is further divided culturally and historically into four Quarters: the Muslim Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, and the Christian Quarter. I was very aware when I would wander into the Muslim Quarter, because at the time they were celebrating Ramadan, which meant they would fast from sunrise to sunset, then have celebrations all night long. There were festive lights and flags strung up all along their quarter walls, which made for a beautiful atmosphere. They were also pretty aggressive (thus sometimes more effective) sellers, so I had to be careful not to give in while admiring their beautiful stalls of goods.

For Christians, the most sought after site in Jerusalem is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is said to be the site (since the 4^th century) where Jesus died on the cross and his tomb is now interred. Now, picture what you learned in Sunday school, of the quiet, green, open hill of Gogoltha, with mourners and followers weeping at his death. The quiet, peaceful rock tomb that Mary Magdalene, on a bright sunny day, opened and discovered that the body of Christ was gone. Do you have those images in your head?

Now picture a domed room lavishly decorated with shiny, granite like rock, gold adornments, smells of incense, a centrally located, roped off altar, crowded with people waiting in line and taking pictures of themselves with cameras and i-everythings. That’s what it looks like today. Big contrast from Sunday school. The photo will do it better justice than my explanation: 

The Holy Tomb

I didn't take any pictures inside, simply because I wanted to take it all in. I was admitted in line by the church officials, allowed in to the tomb, where there are candles, rosaries, and other offerings on the stone bench where Christ is said to have lain. Inside was a quiet contrast from the outer room, and I tried to gather a sense of holiness and spirituality as I had my alone time inside.Sharing the experience with the millions of other people who had made the same journey added to the moment, and I tried my best to absorb it fully. 

I ended up going back to this church three times during my time in Jerusalem because it was so fascinating. It's much larger than just that one room, with each part of the church belonging to different holy sects and branches of religion. There is so much to explain, so I'll let you explore Wikipedia if you'd like on our own here. Just know that it's an amazing place to explore, and I think one could spend years inside of it without fully learning everything there is to know. It was the highlight of my experience in the city, alongside my visit to the Western, or wailing, Wall. 

This site I think more people are familiar with, as a shared site of worship for both Jews and Muslims as the remaining wall of the Temple Mount and the presence of the prophet Mohammed, respectively. Unfortunately, I didn't do my research ahead of time, and visited the Wall on Friday evening, which was the start to Shabbat, the holy Jewish day of the week, which means there were no photos allowed. I took one from further away during a walking tour, so that will have to do! Although it certainly does not hold the same significance for Christians, just being present at the Wall among all of the worshippers was a sight to behold. Why is it called the Wailing Wall, you ask? Once again relying on Wikipedia to help explain: "According to Jewish Law, one is obligated to grieve and rend one's garment upon visiting the Western Wall and seeing the desolate site of the Temple." Today there is no rendering of garments, but there is still plenty of grief.

The last big monument, which I have plenty of pictures of, is the Dome of the Rock and the golden domed mosque. Because I was there during Ramadan I was not allowed to enter the mosque nor the platform, and I believe it was also closed to non-Palestinians due to some unrest happening in the country while I was there, which I'll talk about later. I was able to view it from a distance, however, which was spectacular enough, as you can see in the picture below, taken from the Mount of Olives, just outside the city walls. 

 On my final afternoon in Jerusalem, I took a walking tour given by a theology student at one of the local universities. To me, it's best to describe Jerusalem's history as an onion, with layers upon layers of different rulers, religions, and cultures, all slapped up on top of each other. One can cut to the center to reveal the ancient Roman roads, to three quarters of the way to see the Via Dolorosa, the

road upon which Jesus walked while being led to his crucifixion, cut just halfway to see the influence of the Ottoman Turks, or just see it on the surface of today's dusty walls and crossroads of cultures. No matter how you look at it, Jerusalem is a fascinating place and my three days barely scratched the surface. As always, I plan to and very much hope to return to this holy place, hopefully armed with more knowledge to keep up with all of the history.

Next, I'll tell you more about my travels through the country of Israel. Stay tuned!