Bright and early I left with Will and Chandler, two non-Jewish students fascinated in the religions and politics of the Middle East, on an Arab bus to the Damascus Gate, where we met Jamal and Ramzy, two Arab students from Hebrew U. The goal of the day was to get an in depth tour of the Temple Mount, including all its sites. The rule was that only Muslims could enter the holy sites, but we figured with the help of Jamal and Ramzy, things would work out.
There were complications.
From the get go, we had trouble getting up. We entered the Western Wall Plaza, and saw that that the tourist line went all the way to the outer wall of the Old City, so we didn't want to wait three hours. I gave Jamal a quick tour of the Kotel, and then we tried to get in through the Muslim-only entrances around the platform. Jamal and Ramzy to go through any entrance around the Muslim quarter, but none of us Americans could because we had no proof that we were Muslim, but then when we went back to the tourist entrance, Jamal and Ramzy almost weren't allowed in. We were nearly stuck, trapped, and separated in the Old City by these security points, so what was this talk about Jerusalem being united?
We finally got to the tourist entrance, and there we managed to budge our way in to the front of the line, in time to see some percussion...
Remember today was Yom Yerushalayim. Even though the Hebrew date fell on Friday, it was being followed today so it wouldn't interfere with Shabbat. Half an hour later we were on the Temple Mount, my second time. Unfortunately, all the sites were closed, because there were only tourists there at this time. For three hours, the five of us walked around الحرم الشريف al-Haram ash-Sharif (the Arabic name for it, or simply Al-Alqsa) discussing religion and taking pictures. Through our religious discourse, I found out just how important the afterlife is in Christianity and Islam.
Once tourist hours ended, we talked strategy. I really wanted to enter Solomon's Stables, to see the archway built by Herod that still supports the Temple Mount platform. Will had been there and said it wasn't that pretty. He on the other hand, wanted to enter Islam's third holiest site, the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Jamal and Ramzy decided we should just all go in because it was empty, so we did. It was a long open sanctuary with a soft red carpeted floor and two rows of pillars. Thirty seconds later, we got nabbed by the security officers and others. They told us to leave the plaza, but not before the Arabs fought on our behalf, asking why nobody else was allowed into the Mosque. Another one of their friends had joined them, and he was a Christian Arab. we learned that as long as you were Arab you could basically go into any of these places. The security officer said reasons included Israeli Prime Minister elect Sharon's visit, which the international community views as the spark of the Second Intifada, and just the fact that Israel chooses to let anybody up, so they want to make their own choices, so they're saying no. It was a bit of a letdown, but I can say that I walked into Al Aqsa on Yom Yerushalayim.
Following a relaxed lunch, Will guided us to an interesting Church just inside the Jaffa Gate called Christ Church. What was interesting about it was not just the underground remnants of Herod's aqueduct system, but that everything was in Hebrew. I asked one of the volunteers why a Church about the details, and he said it was chosen as a way to make the Jews feel more comfortable and remind them that Jesus has Jewish roots. I still didn't understand this strategy though, because it would require the Christian community to learn and read Hebrew as well, since they used a Hebrew New Testament.
I also found something I had been looking for for a long time, since Bet Jamal: A Yiddish edition of the New Testament. I got the dual Hebrew Yiddish version since that was all they had, but for the rest of this post, remember that I was walking around with this book...
From here we walked through the Muslim Quarter, and I discovered just how cheap the Arab market is. When one of us Americans asked for a popsicle, it was 5 sheckel, and that's cheap for us, but when Ramzy asked, it was one! That's a quarter. While enjoying the popsicles, a group paraded by singing Jerusalem songs.
It was a very unusual feeling. I was now with two Arab Muslims, two Arab Christians, two American Protestants, and myself. I was the only one who had a connection to the group that just walked by, as well as the only one around who understood what they were saying. I began to think how the local Arabs must understand this day, and it might come close to another event where Israel shows off the territory it's captured. This of course is not the real reason. Regardless of the enemy at the time, a day such as the recapturing of Jerusalem would be celebrated. Even if there were no Arabs in Jerusalem, the day would still be celebrated, but without any knowledge of the significance of this day, and remember the Muslim calendar is different from the Jewish calendar and all Israeli holidays follow the Jewish calendar (Memorial Day, Independence Day), it can only make them feel less comfortable and more irritated.
That said, I knew that by the end of the day I would in effect be on that other side. However, I spent much of the day thinking over this turn of events, and how I could celebrate the holiday in a more respectful manner. I decided it would be okay to celebrate throughout the Jewish Quarter, and of course, the Western Wall. We'll get there later, but remember I gave Jamal a tour so I had already been there once.
After popsicles, we climbed to the roof of the Austrian Hospice, a Christian site, and enjoyed the Old City from a bird's eye.
Then Jamal led us to an incredible archaeological discovery known as Zedekiah's Cave, a quarry that runs under the Muslim Quarter, and may have been where Solomon took stones to build the First Temple. It was a huge area that Freemason's use for ceremonies since they view Solomon as a freemason. It was also the site where I nearly passed out because it was cool and humid and I had slept four hours the night before from the Student Day concerts.
We broke up after the cave, but in thanking Jamal and Ramzy, I recognized how much of an eye-opening experience the day was for me. I had combed the alleys of this city so many times and was amazed to find still so many more places, not to mention new faces and perspectives.
On my own now, I returned to Jaffa Gate, looking for Jason and Tom from my apartment. The parades continued through the Jewish Quarter. Did I mention soldiers were everywhere?
I had to buy a kippa since I had brought no religious anything onto the Temple Mount. I found Jason and Tom and then visited the Kotel for the second time. On the way to dinner, we found streets packed with cars that were stuck because of concerts and parades in the middle of the streets. It looked like these things, like road closings, were absolutely spontaneous, but it was pretty cool.
Dinner was on Ben Yehuda Street at Pinati's (known for their hummus with ground beef), and then we returned with the mounds of people, back to Jaffa Gate, back to the Kotel, and all the while with my Yiddish-Hebrew New Testament.
At the Kotel, for perhaps the only time all year, a band and cantor led an evening service over the microphone. It was perhaps the most amazing time to be at the Kotel because the ultra Orthodox don't follow modern holidays like Yom Yerushalayim, so they weren't there. All the youth of the city were though, complete with flags and extreme shirts and banners. Thousands of people then danced and sang to Hallel, a special service usually only done of traditional Jewish holidays.
I thought about where I had started the day, how many circles I had entered and left, and where I now was. I had spent almost 15 hours in the Old City, and now I was back with my normal group of friends, back in a very Jewish Jerusalem scene, but with far greater understanding than most of just what Jerusalem, القُدس, Al Quds, ירושלים, Yerushalayim means. Here is what it means to the Jewish People:
and now for a different perspective, Here is Will Smether's account of the day:
Jerusalem: Al-Aqsa and other exciting times!
Jerusalem is like any other city, except when it's not... which is all the time.
Since the Pope left last Friday, things have gone back to normal in Jerusalem. Today we planned to visit Al-Aqsa (the Temple Mount). So, Chandler, Ira, and I met up at 7:30 and took the big Isawiyya bus to Damascus Gate. Ramzy and Jamal, two of our Arab Muslim friends, met us there. We decided to enter from the tourist entrance next the Cotel (the Western Wall). When we arrived onto the Cotel grounds, Jamal announced that he had never been here before. How ironic that his first time would be with two Christians and a Jew.
The line for the tourist entrance was full of tour groups so we decided to try our luck at one of the Muslim entrances. So, we made our way to an entrance. The Israeli guards stopped us and said, "Where are you from? Are you Muslim?" For some reason, I said, "yes". Which started a big inquiry into proving that we were Muslims. They demanded passports with proof of our religion which of course we didn't have. They questioned Ramzy and Jamal in Arabic and ran their Palestinian ID cards through the machine. Eventually, we just gave up. I think it was Chandler's fluffy curly hair that prevented us :P. Either way, we weren't going to get in easily.
So, we returned to the Cotel. We returned through the same door we had exited merely 5-10 minutes before. This time, the Israelis stopped Jamal and Ramzy - what a turn of events! They seemed unconvinced that the two Arabs were with the three Jewish looking guys. After a long impromptu interrogation, they were allowed to pass.
We made a quick detour so that Jamal could say that he had been to the Cotel. And then we went up to the tourist entrance. The line was incredibly long, so we acted in typical Israeli/Middle Eastern fashion and simply cut. But you have to understand, these are tour groups. If you don't cut, you'll never get in. The tour guide we cut was giving us trouble and so we cut behind her group. We were slick though. Tour groups are clueless without their guides. So, I asked the group behind us where they were from. Spain. Wow! So, I'm extremely interested, where at in Spain? And of course, that gets them completely distracted from the fact that you obviously just cut them and now they are explaining their entire trip and why they are here. We entered with them. Piece of cake.
Climbing up the wooden ramp above the Cotel, Jamal laughed that he was having to enter Al-Aqsa like a tourist. How ironic for him. Once on the Temple Mount, I immediately launched into a tirade of pictures. The Temple Mount is a notoriously difficult place to get into, so I wasn't taking chances. We walked around musing about how we might enter the mosque of Al-Aqsa. We chilled for a moment in the shade and watched some kids play soccer. It's such a peaceful place. A couple kids were sliding down the ramp of Marwani Mosque (Solomon's Stables) on plastic chairs. A Muslim guard was chasing them saying in Arabic "Don't be shaming this place in front of tourists!" He was right, there were many tourist groups. It was a much busier place than the last time I was there. And there were Israeli police patrolling around.
We finally settled under the shade of a tree on the steps of the Dome of the Rock. Our conversation shifted to questions about religion. So, there we were: two Christians (Chandler and me), two Muslims (Jamal and Ramzy), and a Jew (Ira) having a major interfaith dialogue on the steps of the Dome of the Rock. Wow. We talked about the fact that Christians believe Muslims and Jews are going to hell unless they accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, that Muslims believe that Jews and Christians are going to hell unless they accept Islam (although Jamal did say that he thought that someone was not condemned if they truly weren't convinced of Islam), and about how Judaism isn't concerned with the afterlife but with doing the laws today. We talked about how Jews and Christians believe that Mohammad was a false prophet and that the Qur'an was not inspired and about how Muslims believe that Jesus was just a man and that Christians and Jews corrupted their Scriptures. It was truly an amazing moment that we represented the three faiths and could talk without getting upset and at the holiest of holy sites. It encouraged me that we could be frank and state what we really believe instead of dancing around it by claiming that we really don't believe in heaven or hell or that the other side is "wrong".
I encourage everyone to state what they believe and not be afraid of looking cool, being politically correct, or being considered "intellectual". In the end, your conviction matters not how you looked. We could all use more openness. Besides, if we are being honest, we have to realize that we are all engaged in the same quest to find the truth.
We stayed on the steps until the tourist time ended at 10:30. Then we tried to enter the Dome. Come to find out, it's just flat out not allowed for anyone who's not Muslim. The guard, humorously was wearing a "I'm 40 and still naughty" hat which looked ridiculously out-of-place at the entrance to this holy shrine. Jamal and Ramzy explained what it meant to him and he got really embarrassed.
Another one of our Arab friends, Jack, joined up with us and we decided to make a try on the mosque of Al-Aqsa itself. So, we resolved to ask for forgiveness not permission and walked straight to the side entrance. We took our shoes off and walked in.
I was enraptured in the awesomeness of the moment. I was walking inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third most holy site in Islam. It was so incredible to be in such a contested, famous, and... forbidden place. An elderly Muslim man praying at the door started yelling at us. He told us to go to the front and make sure it was okay to enter. We walked back out the side entrance and around to the front and made our case. The guard wasn't too pleased, but he didn't yell or get angry. He and another man argued with Jamal and Ramzy for a while. I caught bits and pieces of their conversation. They were arguing that Mecca and Medina were closed to non-Muslims, so why not Al-Aqsa? To which Ramzy countered that we (Chandler and I) had been in many mosques in Egypt and Jordan. But it ultimately came down to the new rule enacted around a year ago: non-Muslims are forbidden to enter Al-Aqsa or the Dome of the Rock. Why? Because the Muslim authorities are annoyed that the Israelis let just anyone into the Temple Mount and so the only way to exert control is to forbid entrance to all tourists not screened by the Muslim authorities, which is everyone.
So, not wanting to cause an international incident or have to explain to my mom why I'm on CNN, we left. We were starving anyway. It was by now 11:30 and we had been on the Temple Mount for 3 hours! So, we ate at Humus Lina, owned by our friend Mohammad. I had Humus with Fol, great stuff! We wandered around for awhile and found ourselves standing outside the Austrian Hospice when a large crowd of Israeli youth marched by waving Israeli flags and chanting something about "Jerusalem... ours..." Ira explained that today was the 42 anniversary of the Israelis retaking Jerusalem in 1967, Jerusalem Day. That explains why we had no school...
We said goodbye to Ramzy and Jack and went and chilled in Zedekiah's Cave/Solomon's Mines. I don't know how there's that deep of a cave underneath the Muslim quarter. It scares me honestly for the safety of the people living there.
Jamal taught me three new words:
"Shtana" - "Wait!" (Shtanu is plural)
"Fhhemet" - הבנת
"Al Jader" - "fence/wall" (what the Arabs call the Separation Wall/Fence)
Jamal and Ira said goodbye and Chandler and I headed up Yafo Street to catch a bus to Givat Ram. Little did we know that Jerusalem Day means lots of parades and tons of Israeli patriotism. Yafo and King George were closed due to parades. There were groups of Israeli youths everywhere we went chanting songs and waving flags. Around the Old City especially in the New Gate area there were soldiers and police everywhere and traffic was horrible. Bellagon! And I thought we just went through the chaos from the Pope being here...
We walked the entire length of King George, gave up on buses, and took a taxi. The Hebrew University campus on Givat Ram is nicer on the outside, but the library is pretty confusing. We bussed back to Mount Scopus and went to the library there and then starving, we finally headed home. We reached the Kfar at about 7pm. Almost 12 hours since we had left. Starving and tired, we went to get some food at a local restaurant.
Burger's Bar was out of wings. So we tried a new place. We ordered some food and sat down. The Israeli TV was in an uproar over Iran's latest missle launch and what the Saudi royals were saying. Chandler and I started to discuss it and so did the guys next to us. So, we sort of just began to all four talk about it. Turns out, these guys work for the European Union. We questioned them about the Islamification of Europe and Holland (they were from Amsterdam) and what they thought about Iran. They were the most conservative Europeans I have ever met.
Turns out, they are Dutch commandos who are deployed here to protect EU and Dutch ambassadors! They invited us to go to the shooting range in Tel Aviv the next time that they go! We exchanged numbers and parted ways. I immediately called my dad to tell him that I had just been invited to go shoot with Dutch commandos! Ha, crazy!
So, I must say, Jerusalem is full of excitement. Today, we had an interfaith talk on the steps of the Dome, got kicked out of Al Aqsa, and got invited to shoot guns with Dutch commandos.
And now I'm just sitting here in Chandler's room listening to the loud explosions of fireworks for Jerusalem Day.
Dream big, go places, and do amazing things people. I'm not special, but I will probably get many "I could never do that" comments. As long as you tell yourself you can't do something, you won't. So stop telling yourself you can't, and start working towards some amazing goal! The world awaits!
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”
- St. Augustine
Since the Pope left last Friday, things have gone back to normal in Jerusalem. Today we planned to visit Al-Aqsa (the Temple Mount). So, Chandler, Ira, and I met up at 7:30 and took the big Isawiyya bus to Damascus Gate. Ramzy and Jamal, two of our Arab Muslim friends, met us there. We decided to enter from the tourist entrance next the Cotel (the Western Wall). When we arrived onto the Cotel grounds, Jamal announced that he had never been here before. How ironic that his first time would be with two Christians and a Jew.
The line for the tourist entrance was full of tour groups so we decided to try our luck at one of the Muslim entrances. So, we made our way to an entrance. The Israeli guards stopped us and said, "Where are you from? Are you Muslim?" For some reason, I said, "yes". Which started a big inquiry into proving that we were Muslims. They demanded passports with proof of our religion which of course we didn't have. They questioned Ramzy and Jamal in Arabic and ran their Palestinian ID cards through the machine. Eventually, we just gave up. I think it was Chandler's fluffy curly hair that prevented us :P. Either way, we weren't going to get in easily.
So, we returned to the Cotel. We returned through the same door we had exited merely 5-10 minutes before. This time, the Israelis stopped Jamal and Ramzy - what a turn of events! They seemed unconvinced that the two Arabs were with the three Jewish looking guys. After a long impromptu interrogation, they were allowed to pass.
We made a quick detour so that Jamal could say that he had been to the Cotel. And then we went up to the tourist entrance. The line was incredibly long, so we acted in typical Israeli/Middle Eastern fashion and simply cut. But you have to understand, these are tour groups. If you don't cut, you'll never get in. The tour guide we cut was giving us trouble and so we cut behind her group. We were slick though. Tour groups are clueless without their guides. So, I asked the group behind us where they were from. Spain. Wow! So, I'm extremely interested, where at in Spain? And of course, that gets them completely distracted from the fact that you obviously just cut them and now they are explaining their entire trip and why they are here. We entered with them. Piece of cake.
Climbing up the wooden ramp above the Cotel, Jamal laughed that he was having to enter Al-Aqsa like a tourist. How ironic for him. Once on the Temple Mount, I immediately launched into a tirade of pictures. The Temple Mount is a notoriously difficult place to get into, so I wasn't taking chances. We walked around musing about how we might enter the mosque of Al-Aqsa. We chilled for a moment in the shade and watched some kids play soccer. It's such a peaceful place. A couple kids were sliding down the ramp of Marwani Mosque (Solomon's Stables) on plastic chairs. A Muslim guard was chasing them saying in Arabic "Don't be shaming this place in front of tourists!" He was right, there were many tourist groups. It was a much busier place than the last time I was there. And there were Israeli police patrolling around.
We finally settled under the shade of a tree on the steps of the Dome of the Rock. Our conversation shifted to questions about religion. So, there we were: two Christians (Chandler and me), two Muslims (Jamal and Ramzy), and a Jew (Ira) having a major interfaith dialogue on the steps of the Dome of the Rock. Wow. We talked about the fact that Christians believe Muslims and Jews are going to hell unless they accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, that Muslims believe that Jews and Christians are going to hell unless they accept Islam (although Jamal did say that he thought that someone was not condemned if they truly weren't convinced of Islam), and about how Judaism isn't concerned with the afterlife but with doing the laws today. We talked about how Jews and Christians believe that Mohammad was a false prophet and that the Qur'an was not inspired and about how Muslims believe that Jesus was just a man and that Christians and Jews corrupted their Scriptures. It was truly an amazing moment that we represented the three faiths and could talk without getting upset and at the holiest of holy sites. It encouraged me that we could be frank and state what we really believe instead of dancing around it by claiming that we really don't believe in heaven or hell or that the other side is "wrong".
I encourage everyone to state what they believe and not be afraid of looking cool, being politically correct, or being considered "intellectual". In the end, your conviction matters not how you looked. We could all use more openness. Besides, if we are being honest, we have to realize that we are all engaged in the same quest to find the truth.
We stayed on the steps until the tourist time ended at 10:30. Then we tried to enter the Dome. Come to find out, it's just flat out not allowed for anyone who's not Muslim. The guard, humorously was wearing a "I'm 40 and still naughty" hat which looked ridiculously out-of-place at the entrance to this holy shrine. Jamal and Ramzy explained what it meant to him and he got really embarrassed.
Another one of our Arab friends, Jack, joined up with us and we decided to make a try on the mosque of Al-Aqsa itself. So, we resolved to ask for forgiveness not permission and walked straight to the side entrance. We took our shoes off and walked in.
I was enraptured in the awesomeness of the moment. I was walking inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third most holy site in Islam. It was so incredible to be in such a contested, famous, and... forbidden place. An elderly Muslim man praying at the door started yelling at us. He told us to go to the front and make sure it was okay to enter. We walked back out the side entrance and around to the front and made our case. The guard wasn't too pleased, but he didn't yell or get angry. He and another man argued with Jamal and Ramzy for a while. I caught bits and pieces of their conversation. They were arguing that Mecca and Medina were closed to non-Muslims, so why not Al-Aqsa? To which Ramzy countered that we (Chandler and I) had been in many mosques in Egypt and Jordan. But it ultimately came down to the new rule enacted around a year ago: non-Muslims are forbidden to enter Al-Aqsa or the Dome of the Rock. Why? Because the Muslim authorities are annoyed that the Israelis let just anyone into the Temple Mount and so the only way to exert control is to forbid entrance to all tourists not screened by the Muslim authorities, which is everyone.
So, not wanting to cause an international incident or have to explain to my mom why I'm on CNN, we left. We were starving anyway. It was by now 11:30 and we had been on the Temple Mount for 3 hours! So, we ate at Humus Lina, owned by our friend Mohammad. I had Humus with Fol, great stuff! We wandered around for awhile and found ourselves standing outside the Austrian Hospice when a large crowd of Israeli youth marched by waving Israeli flags and chanting something about "Jerusalem... ours..." Ira explained that today was the 42 anniversary of the Israelis retaking Jerusalem in 1967, Jerusalem Day. That explains why we had no school...
We said goodbye to Ramzy and Jack and went and chilled in Zedekiah's Cave/Solomon's Mines. I don't know how there's that deep of a cave underneath the Muslim quarter. It scares me honestly for the safety of the people living there.
Jamal taught me three new words:
"Shtana" - "Wait!" (Shtanu is plural)
"Fhhemet" - הבנת
"Al Jader" - "fence/wall" (what the Arabs call the Separation Wall/Fence)
Jamal and Ira said goodbye and Chandler and I headed up Yafo Street to catch a bus to Givat Ram. Little did we know that Jerusalem Day means lots of parades and tons of Israeli patriotism. Yafo and King George were closed due to parades. There were groups of Israeli youths everywhere we went chanting songs and waving flags. Around the Old City especially in the New Gate area there were soldiers and police everywhere and traffic was horrible. Bellagon! And I thought we just went through the chaos from the Pope being here...
We walked the entire length of King George, gave up on buses, and took a taxi. The Hebrew University campus on Givat Ram is nicer on the outside, but the library is pretty confusing. We bussed back to Mount Scopus and went to the library there and then starving, we finally headed home. We reached the Kfar at about 7pm. Almost 12 hours since we had left. Starving and tired, we went to get some food at a local restaurant.
Burger's Bar was out of wings. So we tried a new place. We ordered some food and sat down. The Israeli TV was in an uproar over Iran's latest missle launch and what the Saudi royals were saying. Chandler and I started to discuss it and so did the guys next to us. So, we sort of just began to all four talk about it. Turns out, these guys work for the European Union. We questioned them about the Islamification of Europe and Holland (they were from Amsterdam) and what they thought about Iran. They were the most conservative Europeans I have ever met.
Turns out, they are Dutch commandos who are deployed here to protect EU and Dutch ambassadors! They invited us to go to the shooting range in Tel Aviv the next time that they go! We exchanged numbers and parted ways. I immediately called my dad to tell him that I had just been invited to go shoot with Dutch commandos! Ha, crazy!
So, I must say, Jerusalem is full of excitement. Today, we had an interfaith talk on the steps of the Dome, got kicked out of Al Aqsa, and got invited to shoot guns with Dutch commandos.
And now I'm just sitting here in Chandler's room listening to the loud explosions of fireworks for Jerusalem Day.
Dream big, go places, and do amazing things people. I'm not special, but I will probably get many "I could never do that" comments. As long as you tell yourself you can't do something, you won't. So stop telling yourself you can't, and start working towards some amazing goal! The world awaits!
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”
- St. Augustine
The Dome of the Rock
Al Aqsa is like a park for Arabs... There is a high school on the far end by the Muslim Quarter.
This is the Muslim security guard for the Dome. Notice what his hat says. This is Jamal and Ramzy explaining to him what his hat means. He got pretty embarrassed.
The Dome is closed to non-Muslims. But Jamal got me in last time! Woot!
Us in Zedekiah's Cave/Solomon's Mines
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