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Jerusalem, Israel
The faithless they don't love you, the zealous hearts don't love you, and that's not gonna change
My last stop in the Middle East and my last stop in Asia was Jerusalem, one of the most famous, historic and contentious places on earth. And while every sight and every site there seems to be drowning in history, I'm starting the pictures with a building that's only about eight years old. This is the main hall inside Yad Vashem, where pictures are forbidden (something I found out just after taking this one). Yad Vashem is the Israeli National Holocaust Memorial and Museum, a place where you can see Schindler's List (not the movie but Schindler's actual original typed list). The building was designed by Moshe Safdie and is just amazing. It is built into a hill (actually Mount Herzl, the Mountain of Remembrance) with a continuous skylight and underground exhibition spaces. The exhibits are as heavy as you probably imagine (it is a holocaust museum after all) and the building embodies that. The circulation pushes you from the light into the dark, and, eventually, to a moment of hope. It all ends by emerging through the mountainside, literally peeling away to reveal an open view of the Ein Karem Valley and the promised land. Absolutely spectacular in person.
This is the Wailing Wall, the Western Wall of the Second Jewish Temple. Built by Herod (or more accurately, built by slaves under the direction of Herod), it is the largest piece remaining of the temple in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is also as holy of a site as you can get for Jews, even the pre-security signs say that this is "where the Divine Presence always rests." Hopefully the Divine Presence rests on both sides of the fence. The left, large, generous side is reserved for men worshipping at the wall while the far smaller crowded section on the right remains reserved for women.
If you’ve ever wondered what Jerusalem might have looked like say 2,000 years ago (or so), then look no further than the Israel Museum. The model was originally built as a tourist attraction at the Holyland Hotel (which kind of sounds like the title on an Elvis Presley song) and was moved piece by piece to the museum not all that long ago. I’m not sure if there is a little tiny divine presence at the little tiny Temple as well, but if so, try and avoid that part of the model.
The Israel Museum has a lot more than just that little tiny Jerusalem with its little tiny Temple and its little tiny resting divine presence. Its biggest draw is that it is home to the Dead Sea Scrolls, possibly the most famous archeological artifact in the world. The Israel Museum doesn't allow photos of the scrolls, possibly because they are 2,000 years old and wouldn't react all that kindly to modern flash photography, but that's ok. Just seeing them in person in that weird looking building without taking any photos of them was more than enough for me.
Welcome to the most fought over location in the entire world. The Dome of the Rock is built atop the Foundation Stone, the rock outcropping where Abraham himself went one day to almost kill his son Isaac, where the Ark of the Covenant once rested and where Muhammad stopped by on his night journey to heaven. That must be one hell of a rock.
It is possible to visit the Temple Mount but it is not easy. Hours are limited and there is only one entrance (with a very long line) available for non Muslims. Muslims have multiple entrances and Jews are forbidden to visit the Temple Mount altogether, not by secular law but by the Torah. There is some confusion as to the exact location of the Holy of Holies (where the Ark would have sat and where the Divine Presence hung out and talked to the rabbis), and since it is forbidden for everyone but those rabbis to visit the Holy of Holies, religious Jews are forbidden from the whole larger site. Unfortunately this leaves nothing but super annoying Christian tour groups left to wait in the non Muslim line with you. For a good two hours I heard the conspiratorial beliefs of an American church group behind me, all about the Illuminati and the Freemasons and secret assassinations, before they ceremonially washed their hands with a half empty bottle of water. I was happy to finally ascend the mount and break free of them.
Unfortunately my time atop the Temple Mount was limited. I was one of the last people allowed up and maybe had five minutes before they started clearing the place of non Muslims (the guy on the left was responsible for that). But even with limited time, I was still appreciative of the opportunity to ascend the Mount, the center of the world (or at least one of them) for so many people for thousands upon thousands of years.
I may have not been on the Temple Mount for all that long (it would have been a lot longer if anyone from the church groups in front of me had ever been through a security check even once in their life before), but I did manage to take a few pictures of what I could.
Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world and has seen a lot of action in the last four or five millennia. In addition to Abraham, King David (no relation), Solomon, Muhammad, the Babylonians, Romans, Persians, Crusaders, Ottomans, and British, the city also famously hosted Jesus Christ, although all things considered, his visit didn't go all that well. Starting near the Lions Gate is the Via Doloroso, the Way of Suffering, a path that starts at Pontius Pilate's place and ends with a crucifixion. The Via Doloroso is marked with street signs and sometimes big plaques with Roman numerals, each representing a different station of the cross, and it comes to its eventual end inside the extraordinarily messy Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
There are a lot of historic sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, although a lot of them are not necessarily in the right place. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre claims to be built on some fairly important soil, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's the right fairly important soil. Back in the 300s, Constantine's mom St Helena (or just Helena as she was known at the time), led a pilgrimage to Palestine and during that visit she marked a lot of the sites that are still celebrated today. She also claims to have found the true cross, but what are the chances that it was just lying around for 300 years untouched. Just saying.
So if St Helena was right, this is the location (inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher) of Golgotha, the Rock of Calvary, the exact (or possibly exact) site of Jesus Christ's crucifixion. The church also claims to have Jesus' tomb and a piece of the rock that once sealed it, but then again who knows if historically any of that is even close to right. But of course none of that matters to the masses of people waiting in line to kiss a rock and believe as a matter of faith that it is a rock above all other rocks.
When you think of Jerusalem it is easy to think of all of its history and its religious significance and its political troubles, but it's also an actual city where people actually live, although god knows I sure as hell would have moved out of there if I could.
My hotel in Jerusalem was not in the Old City but instead about a 10 minute walk west on Jaffa Road. From there it was all downhill to the Old City, through the Jaffa Gate and along David Road (again, no relation), right to the Western Wall. By the time you get to the Temple Mount you realize that it's not a mount at all as much as it a slight, low hill. Not that there aren't real mounts in Jerusalem. The city is in a hilly section of the promised land that kind of feels like the westside of Los Angeles, with lush green forests in all directions, and by "all directions" I mean between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. I never got far enough east of Jerusalem to see the security wall or the Palestinian territories, although I got pretty close.
Just outside the walls east of the Old City (and technically in the West Bank) is the Mount of Olives, another place just teeming with history and legend and (unlike the Temple Mount) some legitimate elevation change. Jesus hung out here as well as in the Garden of Gethsemane at the base of the hill. And the hillsides are filled with Jewish graves since this is the location where the Jewish messiah is supposed to come first to start resurrecting the dead. Plus it has the great, classic view back over the Kidron Valley toward Jerusalem, where the Temple Mount kind of actually looks like a mount and the Dome of the Rock towers over it all.
