Advertisement
Published: December 6th 2009
Edit Blog Post
For any young male travelers looking to cross the Jordanian border into Israel via bus, carrying a passport stamped from countries such as Yemen and Lebanon (who lets just say aren't on good terms with Israel) and holding around $12,000 cash on yourself, may I suggest you bring a good book. Actually, besides the good book, I would also suggest you bring all of your flight info, hotel info, work experience documentation, names of co-workers (with their social security numbers if possible), history of your own education and your third grade teacher's social security number wouldn't hurt either. All of these should help to make your anticipated 4-5 hour wait/interrogation at the border much more efficient and enjoyable. This was my experience as I left Jordan and sought my re-entry into the Western world, or at least as Western as you can get in the Middle East.
The security checkpoints in Israel seem to inspire a staircase of impressions and emotions. First, it's a bit intimidating that so many young people with automatic weapons are taking their jobs very seriously. Second, it becomes admirable how dedicated the guards are. Next, it becomes a bit humorous of how even at the
local post office and banks they still take their jobs so seriously (this was my first time walking into a bank and being asked by the guard if I was carrying any weapons). After this humorous stage, it pretty much returns to the first level of intimidation and the staircase of emotions seems destined to remain in a self-perpetuating cycle.
Beyond the security (which puts all other airport security to shame), I had the opportunity to take in the amazing amount of historical and diverse culture within Jerusalem, as well as the very free spirited Tel Aviv. How can I possibly describe Jerusalem? The history of the area is simply humbling. Records dating back to the 4th millennium BC, it is one of the oldest cities in the world. Under King David, it was a capitol of the Jewish Empire back in 1000 BC and of course, since this era it has shifted owners a few times. The Assyrian and Babylonian empires gained control at times, as well as Rome played a significant part in the city's history. Eventually Jerusalem fell under Islamic control, until the times of the Christian crusades in which Europe had control of the holy
city. Soon after though, control was gained again by the Islamic empire, up until recently with post World War II in which control has shifted back to the Jewish society (which is of course still disputed, perhaps setting the foundation for another 'changing of hands').
Why would this city be so contested for so long? Religious significance plays a major part. For the Jewish religion, the Western Wailing wall is the most holy site for this religion, due to the belief that these foundational stones date back to the oldest temples, possibly 1000 BC. As for the Muslim religion, Jerusalem is considered to be the third most holy city with the Dome of the Rock, which is the believed stopping off point for their main prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven to hang out and meet the other previous prophets for a night. This is coincidentally built upon the holiest of Jewish sites. Christian's are also highly captivated by this holy city, for it is here where the claimed Last Supper and crucifixion of Christ took place (which the site location varies depending upon which Christian sect you follow). For a simple historian and traveler like myself, Jerusalem is a
Dome of the Rock
At this time of the day, this is the closest a non-Muslim like myself can get. place that offers an amazing amount of sites to see and a one of a kind 'religious peace.' I say this because the old city that contains all the major sites is divided into four quarters, being Islamic, Jewish, Christian and Armenian. Going from quarter to quarter is like literally entering different worlds. While the Jewish quarter can be very clean and new, entering the Muslim quarter entails much more noise, commotion and a different form of excitement. Walking through and getting lost in the old city was one of my most enjoyable parts of the experience. Besides seeing the major sites and temples that the city is nearly overloaded with, the various shops in the four quarters present a wide range of items and aura's worth the time taking in. Overall, Jerusalem is a very diverse and lively city.
While there are many good points to take in and enjoy, I was also unable to miss some dangers that exist. The first real danger a person will come across is the offering of a 'good price' (which in short means good price for them to sell an item to you). Besides lighter ones such as this that many
other tourist cities contain, Jerusalem is unique in its high degree of fundamentalism. What do I mean by fundamentalism? Well, I think it better to give a more constructed term, being Triumphalism. In this term, the base idea is that one form of religious faith believes they are sole believers of the 'true faith.' This can be a bit dangerous for two reasons. First, there is more than one religion, thus, there is more than one 'version of the truth.' Second, religions are all based upon faith in which there is not really any way to determine who is right besides being 'more faithful.' Often, this has translated to intolerance, hatred and violence, all in the name of bringing the one 'true peace'. While Triumphalism is the term given by academics, this point of reference is perhaps better understood by how it is used by the common religious follower, which translates to roughly, "I'm right, you're wrong, go to hell." In a sad truth, I noticed that every quarter in the old city displayed this mentality in degrees, making sense as to of why there are so many armed guards in a religious city dedicated to the ulitimate purpose of
Another pleasent walkway
Often, I did quite enjoy walking the streets of the old city. finding peace (or once again, their own version of peace).
As for me, I chose not to fall into the trap of having to wear different costumes, chant secret passwords, kiss holy sites nor any other ritualized expectation of receiving salvation or joy from the area. Instead, I chose to embrace all of what the city had to offer, for better or worse, and accept that fact that we are all different in our ways, but similar in that no one is perfect nor all knowing. By not limiting myself to any type of tunnel vision methodology, I was able to take in quite a lot, meet many new people and enjoy many types of food and drink. It's funny, you could wonder if this simple idea works so well for traveling, why wouldn't people follow this same idea in a broader context, like how to live your life and let others do the same?
After finding my own salvation in the Holy Land, I spent a couple of nights in Tel Aviv, finding a very different version of Judaism salvation. Let me stress this point again, the Mediterranean is a fantastic sea! With this time in Israel
complete (and another 3 hour security checkpoint at the airport), I officially put an end to my time in the Middle East and was off to another continent and another journey.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.078s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 8; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0466s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
barbara
non-member comment
interesting
oh my gosh...you are having an adventure!! miss you ..aunt barbara