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Published: September 5th 2007
After our short stay in Tel Aviv, we drove to Jerusalem. This is a beautiful drive up into the hills through forests that have only existed since the State of Israel was founded. I had visited Jerusalem 13 years earlier, and much had changed since then; there was a lot that I did not recognize. The city is a mix of the old and new, the ancient is being rediscovered while the modern is being imposed around it, and we made the mistake of not obtaining a detailed map of the entire city prior to this part of our journey. We had maps of the country and major roads, and of the central city - so in between we ended up guessing, following the sun, and asking for directions. Fortunately, we did find people who could give good directions.
After finding our way to the Park Plaza Hotel on the west side of Jerusalem, we deposited our luggage and ventured into the old city of Jerusalem. We entered the New Gate, in the northwest corner of the city, and walked through the Christian Quarter until we reached the Citadel of David, which is located next to the Jaffa Gate.
View from our hotel room
Showing some of modern western JerusalemThis is misleading, as King David actually did not build the citadel. Parts of it date back to the Hasmonean period (164 B.C.E. - 63 C.E.), while there are Roman, Byzantine, Mameluke, Crusader and Ottoman portions of the complex. The distinctive tall minaret/watch tower of the citadel was built during the 16th century. The citadel itself was the first thing that Christian pilgrims would see as they approached the city, and thus it received its name. We then proceeded down the narrow streets, which were lined with shops and people hawking their wares into the city’s interior.
After getting slightly lost more than once, we found our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is the most holy place in Christendom and contains many of the most important sites related to the life of Christ. All of the holy sites in the church were discovered by Saint Helen, the mother of Constantine the Great, who was the first Christian Emperor of Rome. With her son’s patronage, Helen had traveled on a pilgrimage in the mid 4th century and was troubled when she learned that the bishop of Jerusalem could not tell her where the holy sites related
to the life of Christ could be found. She then spent the rest of her life finding holy places and relics. While we know there is some question about these sites among scholars, we decided it was appropriate to be reverent anyway.
One of her first finds was the cross upon which Christ had been crucified. It had been disposed of in an old cistern that was full of rubbish. That site is now the Grotto Chapel, which is about two or three stories beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Church also contains the site of Christ’s trial, His scourging, His crucifixion, the place where His body was anointed and the place of His resurrection. Most of the stations of the Cross are found outside of the church.
The original church that was erected here was later encased in heavy stone masonry by the Crusaders to protect it. Today the Church of the Holy Sepulcher houses five different Christian denominations that administer various sites within the church. In order to prevent conflicts between these different groups, the keys to this church are administered by two Muslim families who have faithfully opened this church every morning and
closed it every night for many generations. It was here that we found a corner in this very noisy place and said prayers for all of our Christian brothers and sisters.
After leaving the Church of the Holy Sepulcher we found our way into an open market at Muristan and discovered a charming rooftop restaurant that overlooked much of the city. This was a delightful and quite international place, from which we took photos of the city’s skyline. As we enjoyed our meal we also enjoyed listening to the different languages spoken around us, especially the young Jews singing at the table next to us and the Polish patrons that shared conversation and their table with a couple of Orthodox priests.
We then found our way into the Muslim quarter and to the Dome of the Rock, the third most holy place in all of Islam. Heavily armed Israeli police stopped us as we tried to enter and informed us that we could not enter the Temple Mount unless we were Muslim because it was a time of prayer for Muslims. This effort on the part of Israeli officials to honor the rights of other religions has gone
a long way to insure peace in the Holy City.
We walked to the Jewish Quarter and to the Western Wall, the most sacred place in Judaism. Because of the Jewish Sabbath, we were not allowed to approach the Wailing Wall or take pictures. Jews of various denominations, all easily identified by their Sabbath dress, were present in large numbers, and we returned to the Citadel of David and the Jaffa Gate via the city’s Jewish quarter, which is the most modern portion of the city.
The following day we retuned to old Jerusalem and began by driving around the exterior of the city walls. We started on the north end of the city and drove by the Damascus Gate, which was that portion of the city that the Crusaders stormed when they captured Jerusalem in 1099. We stopped to take a lot of pictures of the surrounding hills from the eastern side of the city. There are beautiful views of the mountains around the city from here. They are really hills that are referred to as mountains, such as the Mount of Olives. We then hiked up to the Lions Gate on the city’s east side, called
The anointing stone where Christ's body was prepared
Polish soldiers working as UN peacekeepers visit the church such because of the pairs of carved lions that are in the wall surrounding the gate. It is believed that Christ entered the Lions Gate when He rode into Jerusalem in triumph, and the Church of Saint Ann and the Church of the Virgin Mary’s Birth are located just inside of the Lions Gate. The Lions Gate enters the Muslim Quarter of the city, and there is a large Muslim cemetery on the slopes outside of the city wall.
We then drove along the southern wall to the Dung Gate where there were a lot of tour buses depositing visitors that were entering the Jewish Quarter. The Dung Gate derives its name from the fact this is where animals were brought to the Great Temple Mount for sacrifice. Today the Dung Gate is the principle entry point for those wishing to visit the Western Wall or the Temple Mount. The Western Wall is sacred to Jews as it was all that remained after the Romans, under the command of Titus, conquered the city in 70 A.C.E. and proceeded to dismantle the second Great Temple in 70 and 71 A.C.E. This area and much of the adjoining plaza are now
Altar of the Crucifixion
Below the altar, visitors may place their hands in the place where the cross is believed to have stood. undergoing extensive archeological excavation, and the area looks nothing like it did when I visited 13 years earlier.
Slightly further north along the southern wall, we found another excavation in progress, but on a much smaller scale. When we stopped to investigate, we learned that the site was part of the on-going investigation into what was the old City of David. It was here that King David established his capitol between what had been the tribal territories of Galilee and Palestine. This was a site that had not been excavated at all during my earlier visit.
We parked in the underground parking near the Jaffa Gate. As it was a Sunday, the city was much less busy than the day before. We entered the Jaffa Gate and the Citadel of David, which was now open for tours. Our tour guide was an older woman who had a lot of information on the city’s history, and the graphics and interpretative displays are excellent. Parts of the Citadel had been preserved in order that visitors could see a portion of what the Citadel looked like during various historic periods.
From there we returned through the city to the Dome
of the Rock and were now permitted to enter the area of the Temple Mount. Mount Moriah is located here, which is believed to be the central point upon which creation began. To the south of Mt. Moriah is the El-Aqsa Mosque, and on the upper platform is the Haram al-Sharif, or the Dome of the Rock. It is here that the angel Gabriel carried Muhammad during His Night Journey from what is today Saudi Arabia. The peak of Mount Moriah is enclosed within the Dome of the Rock, and upon that rock Muhammad’s footprints can be seen. As non-Muslims, we were not allowed within the Dome of the Rock, so we sat down in the shade outside of the beautiful Haram al-Sharif, leaned against its exquisitely tiled walls and said prayers for all our Muslim brothers and sisters.
We then stopped for lunch at a Muslim restaurant along the Ha-Shalshelet, which is the narrow street that separates the Muslim and Jewish Quarters of the city. After a short walk from the restaurant we entered the plaza of the Western Wall. As it was a Sunday, Sherri was permitted to enter the women’s area and I the men’s area
along the wall. After washing ourselves in the ablution basins that are provided, Sherri donned a scarf and I put on a cardboard yarmulke, which was provided at the entrance, and we each went to the wall and said prayers for our Jewish brothers and sisters.
We returned to Ha-Shalshelet and walked west to the point where the street is called David. This is the central point of the city that marks the four corners of the Armenian, Christian, Muslim and Jewish quarters. We followed the street of David back to the Jaffa Gate. Our two days of exploring this very special place, that is sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, was over, and we felt as though we had paid tribute to three of the foundational Faiths to which the Baha’i Faith pays honor.
We left ready to begin our Baha’i pilgrimage. I recall our friend Leyla telling us a story about the former mayor of Jerusalem, who at a rededication for part of the old city, turned to a Baha’i dignitary and indicated how proud a moment it was for Israelis to rebuild Old Jerusalem. After a pause, he then indicated to the Baha’i guest that
he knew, however, that the Baha’is were building the New Jerusalem.
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jim moore
non-member comment
great journal
Really wonderful to read this, to get a sense of the layers in Israel and how you both are connecting with them. Love, Jim