Day 4 - MON - 17/9/12 - Israel, Jerusalem
With our score of a bonus day in Jerusalem we hoped that the free city tour was on today! So we headed to another gate of the Old City wall and with success our guide Jerry was waiting for us. Jerry is an ex- American living in Jerusalem with his wife and 2 children and offered us an interesting incite into the culture and people living in Israel.
He gave us the thousands of years history compressed into about 8 minutes - great way to learn it when you are standing in the heat ;) I will try and recall the key points so it gives you a little more context from my previous day's blog to understand a little more about the wailing wall in particular...
Jerry explained that Mt Moriah was flattened by the Sultan and the wailing wall is actually the western wall was actually constructed as a supporting retaining wall along with the arches around the site and atop stood the Temple Mount - Second Temple, dating AD70.
It is said the Jewish believe the wailing wall to be the closest they can get to the most sacred spot of Mt Moriah. It is here they used to come to lament their loss as pilgrims and would cry but now they generally come to pray and we observed them rocking their foreheads with prayer books against the wall and reversing away from the wall when they are finished, not turning their back to it until they reach the exit to the prayer area. It is fascinating to observe the faith of these people and the different religious groups all within the same area. Muslims on one side, Jewish on the other and Christians within the same City Walls and in my opinion all praying to the same entity. From the stories I was to hear I sum it up to be - the same god, except Muslims call it Allah, and they don't believe Jesus was the son of god. The rest is quite interchangeable I think but I'm sure that would spark plenty of debate amongst extremists and dedicated pilgrims.
The current building on Mt Moriah is the Al Aqsa (translates to 'the furthest') Mosque - where it is
said Mohammed made his way to heaven to join Allah.
Hence the prime real estate that surrounds this site for all religions and why it holds such significance for the Jewish and the Islamic's. To that end in the 6 day war of 1948 resulting in Israel being taken back from Jordan by the Israelis. At the time of the war both Mt of Olives and the Old City were under the control of Jordan.
A few other interesting questions were answered by Jerry for us - The differences in Jewish dress (ie. the furry hats etc) are based on the villages they were from during their time in exile in Eastern
Europe. I seemed interesting that perhaps one day a high up member of the village may have rocked up with a different hat on and then the tradition started. The Market Place we had visited in previous days is actually called the Suq - it is a traditional covered market trading area that is all around the Old City centre. There is also a tale that the Jaffa Gate was too small for a chariot to come through back in the Emperor’s time so the emperor ordered a new gate to be bunged into the Old City Wall; just cut in and fixed up to accommodate the latest chariot size.
Close by but outside the Old City wall is the City of David and Mt Zion. The City of David is said to be where most of the bible was written. Mt Zion has Dormition Abbey atop it. It is said it was the
location for the Last Supper and is also said to be the place where Mary ascended to heaven.
Jerry explained that for Israeli's and Arab's with centuries of defending the country, the culture is
very much if you want something, then take it. Westerners are often referred to as Luff Luff's. A
Luff luff is like the kid in kindergarten that gets pushed around all the time and just takes it. This is
very much the case when it comes to queueing in Israel. They will cut in because they can, so we were advised to cut right back as it is expected of their countrymen and earns more respect for foreigners. We were also told that they are passionate people and even if they seem like they are shouting at each other, they are actually just getting their point across passionately. This I can associate with!!
The afternoon was spent on another tour with Jerry. This time to the near Mt of Olives. As mentioned in the previous days blog with Mt Moriah - This is said to be the place that all 3 religious (Jewish, Christian and Islam) agree will be the place that will be the final judgement place for entry into heaven. As such it is prime real estate for burial plots and unless you are a Nobel prize winner or some of the early victims of war such as the 10 year old boy that would run communications for Israeli side and victims of the terrorist attacks from 9/11. So basically if you are there, you are first in the queue.
With Mt Olives also being said to be the place where God took a teaspoon of soil and created 'Adam' (of Adam and Eve fame), where Abraham sacrificed Isaac, where mankind thinks more of his brother than of himself and where God had spoken to the people to build The Temple (which is now The Mosque of Ascension).
Lastly this is also where is it said that Jesus ascended to heaven; with this point in mind there is a
stone in the Mosque of Ascension (the then Chapel) with Jesus' footprint on it. The second footprint is now worn away with it being placed into a set back area to show the direction where Mecca lies as this is now a mosque.
Next stop was Pater Noster church. This is said to be where Jesus teaches the disciples the End of Days and where the Lord's Prayer originated from - in the grotto beneath the current church's grounds.
Next church was Dominus Flevit. On entry to the grounds there is a display of osuary - bones boxes. Once the body of the deceased person decomposes, the family return and place the bones in an osuary. The osuary is just as long as the longest bone in the body - the fema. This then frees up the sarcophagus for the next family member. This was common practice during the time of the second temple burial period.
The Sunday Path is the path Jesus took to get to Jerusalem (refer to the backward high speed reverse
down this same Sunday Path). It was at this church that Jesus' is said to have stood at this point and
had a future vision of the Roman's burning the Jewish temple on Mt Moriah and crucifying Jews on the Mt of Olives. This was instead of the Mt being covered in olive trees, it was covered in crucifixes made of olive wood and blood running all over the mountain. It is said he also saw Jews throwing themselves over the walls of the secured city (secured by the Romans, having locked all the Jews in to starve them out). It is said that he wept at this.
Continuing down the hill was the Church of All Nations where it is said Jesus suffered and prayed on the rock located in the church before being put on the crucifix. Again a new church has been built over this site, completed between 1937-39 by the same architect - Antonio Barlougi, as for the Dominus Flevit church.
The last stop on the tour was said to be Mary's tomb or crypt (Jesus' Mum).
It seemed that from the top of the mountain Jesus was 'divine' and the further down the hill he got, he became worse off with the timing of his life; poor bastard. It was no wonder that a man who predicted the future, healed people and rose from the dead was hunted down; a very similar outcome if he had been born in Medieval times - burned at the stake.
Cheap eats for dinner with a pasta night out as it was Jewish New Year so again everything was closed meaning we also had to push our travel out to the night after and have 1 less day in Petra. So tomorrow we'll head to Bethlehem for a little squizz around.
