“Jerusalem Below”

Galatians 4:25 26 "But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother."

Back from our first weekend in Jerusalem, we can testify that the Jerusalem below is definitely not “free”. Of course I’m making a pun with what Paul wrote; he was not writing about financial cost. Whether the two kinds of freedom are linked or not can be debated, but we got another dose of what it means to be a tourist, and it reinforced how valuable the tourist season is to those who live in the Old City of Jerusalem.

We will never forget our visit. It started rather shockingly! We finished working on Tel es-Safi/Gath around the usual 1 pm, and were told our bus that takes us to and fro would wait around 20 minutes and take us on to the local bus stop if we wanted. 20 minutes! We had to finish storing our suitcases, put on something a little cleaner than our dig clothes, and make it to the bus. No way for a shower. “That’s how we travel in Israel. There will be showers in Jerusalem.”

So we arrived in Jerusalem, dirty, tired (let me emphasize TIRED) and got off the bus at the entrance to the “Wailing Wall”. With directions from our friend Jonathan (pronounced Yonatawn) we found our way into East Jerusalem and onto our first street. There we asked for directions and a young man said he would guide us.

And sure enough he did. Right to the door of Hashemi Hotel. And then he wanted 100 Shekels (around $30.00. This time we said NO. We paid him a few shekels and went into the hotel, but he was angry with us.

This hotel is run by devout Muslims who post signs everywhere stating that there will be no smoking in the rooms, no alcohol on the premises, and no unmarried couples allowed in a room together. We had to show our passports to prove we had the same last name (a marriage certificate would be helpful if a couple chooses to keep different last names!) and, when we said we had been married 38 years, they promised us the “honeymoon” room.

As plain and simple as it was, it was the perfect retreat for two exhausted, first time “archaeologists.” And the rest of the hotel had some wonderful features. Best of all was a roof-top with a view of the lower city. Wow!

We were amazed to watch Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish families streaming through the Old City to the “Shabbat” services at the Wall. We were so hungry we didn’t join them until they were streaming back, or stopping to perform Shabbat dances (men only) at an intersection. It was night when we made it back to the Wall and read the Shabbat rules that forbid photography.

We have learned from personal conversations with Jonathan, from signs posted on the Wall Square, and also from paintings we saw the next day, that one of the oft-repeated prayers at the Wall is that God will open the way to rebuild a third temple. There is even a Temple Institute whose mission is to have all the particulars in readiness, including priests who are themselves ritually pure, to start the services. This event may yet happen, although no one can calculate the cost if Islam were brought to the place where they were to abandon their third holiest site. A greater miracle would find a way to let both faiths have their holy places on Mount Moriah.

Sabbath morning started rather late, I can assure you. We ended up visiting the “Garden Tomb”, which is a delightful place to meditate on Jesus’ death and resurrection, and also the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which has so many layers of religious practice and even property-line conflicts, that it takes real imagination to see past the crowds and ornate structure. But even there we found a small corner and read the Matthew version of Jesus’ death and resurrection. And we were moved. We will treasure our time “alone” on that Sabbath morning.

We ended the day walking most of the Via Dolorosa backwards (this is the traditional route Jesus took from condemnation to crucifixion) and out the Lion’s Gate (or St. Stephen’s Gate) on the Kidron Valley side of the city. We passed the Garden of Gethsemane (closed by this time) and walked up toward the Mt. of Olives ridge. We watched, and photographed, the sunset setting behind Islam’s Dome of the Rock, and the lights start coming on in the city, before walking back to our hotel.

(Sunday evening, back in Revadim, we learned that two policemen were attacked at the Lion’s Gate on Friday evening. The prognosis is good for only one of them. There are unimaginable levels of pain throughout the populations in Israel, the West Bank and beyond, and still many display the most wonderful hospitality.)

On Sunday we did some shopping. My, Oh my! Suffice it to say that bargaining is not my forte, and there will be stories to share. It was almost indescribable, but it will be fun trying someday.

We actually, finally, found our city bus and got to the main station, and then got right on a bus that dropped us off at the Revadim stop. And a kind driver took us the last distance to our headquarters. And we both slept well last night before our early morning start to week two at Tel es-Safi/Gath.