Words on Walls

Today was our first full day in Jerusalem and I’m starting to better see how the pieces of the puzzle—places, ideas, events—fit together.  We began the day with a visit to the Temple Mount, retracing many of our steps yesterday from our hostel (the Rosary Sisters) through the Armenian Quarter and the Jewish Quarter.  As we made our way up the ramp leading up to the Temple Mount, we were able to catch a glance of the Western Wall, which we visited yesterday. Today, though, instead of the relative quiet of yesterday, the Western Wall resonated with the celebration of a Bar Mitzvah.  Even as the historical landmarks of Jerusalem endure from age to age, the stories and events acted out around them, near them, and in them shift day by day and moment by moment.

Because the Temple Mount is controlled, in name, by Jordanian kings, we were told to have our passports ready as the space that we would enter upon climbing the ramp would not technically be the state of Israel.  It turned out that even though we had to go through security, passports were not necessary.  In fact, the Israeli soldiers that we’d seen throughout the same city had posts on the Temple Mount as well, further confusing in my mind what exactly the Temple Mount represented and which people groups could lay claim to it.  Regardless, the mood was decidedly different from the celebratory atmosphere of the Western Wall below.  Muslim groups sat in circles on plastic chairs or walls in clumps under trees and next to fountains, holding what appeared to be animated conversations and teaching moments.  The focal point of the Temple Mount is, of course, the Dome of the Rock, located on the Mount’s highest point.  The Dome of the Rock is the third holiest place in Islam, after Mecca and Medina, built in AD 688 to commemorate Muhammad’s Ascension into heaven after his night journey to Jerusalem.  However, the Dome of the Rock is a holy place for Jews and Christians as well.  While not recognizing the ascension of Muhammad, Jews hold the place dear because it was believed to be a former location of the temple and Christians recognize that the mosaic decorations are the imperial jewels of Byzantine rulers and the ornaments worn by New Testament figures, reminding them that “the spoils of have gone to the victor”, the Muslims, according to Murphy-O’Connor’s Oxford Archeological Guide to the Holy Land(86).  Although these other two faith groups are apparently heavily invested in the Temple Mount space, from our short visit there, it became clear that the area and the structures on it indicate only the Muslim interest in the holy space.

One of our other excursions for the day to Hezekiah’s tunnel, an excavation overseen by the conservative Jewish group, ELAD, in a formerly Palestinian area and then to the Hebrew Museum of Jerusalem, also reminded me of the ways in which Israelis and Palestinians commemorate their histories and choose to accept or reject the ways in which their pasts intertwine.  For example, according to Dr. Meyers, at the Hezekiah excavation in the City of David, ELAD has used underhanded methods to acquire property that has historically belonged to the Palestinians.  This situation represented yet another way in which the inhabitants of Israel struggle to negotiate ownership of place.

Even after only two days in Jerusalem, the logistical difficulties of shared holy spaces are becoming increasingly clear, from the stories of bickering among the six Christian groups who share in the maintenance of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the conflict incited by the Dome of the Rock built on top of the Jewish Temple to the humanitarian issues presented by the displaced Palestinian families who lived on top of the area in the City of David that ELAD was determined to excavate.  Like the rest of my classmates, I am only just beginning to touch the surface in my understanding of how archeological sites and holy spaces create conflict for the various religious and ethnic groups represented by inhabitants of Israel.  Jerusalem is multi-layered, with holy sites built one on top of the other.  The city is also multi-faceted; convictions about the archaeological decisions range wildly, colored by everything from Zionist ideology to orthodox Jewish faith to evangelical Christian piety.  As Uzi Baram mentions in his article, “Appropriating the Past: Heritage, Tourism, and Archaeology”, Israel can no longer afford to let a Zionist agenda dictate its archaeological policy.  In fact, Baram argues that Israel should strive for a post-nationalist approach to archaeology, rethinking “how to represent itself to its citizens and to external audiences” (323).  I’m looking forward to more fully grasping what may lie in wait for Israel as the nation strives to address the heated conflict over archaeology and holy spaces and reimagine itself in a post-national context, taking into account the desires of tourists, scholars, Israeli citizens and long-time residents of the nation.

Seminar in a Sculpture Garden

Palestinian Neighborhood Across from the Excavation of Hezekiah's TunnelOn Top of the Temple Mount

The Dome of the Rock

Hannah and Me Wait to Climb the Ramp to the Temple Mount

Today has been one of the longest days of my life, I think.  In about ten minutes, I will finally be able to lay down in a bed for a full night’s sleep.  This has been a long time coming.  I left San Francisco on the 26th of December at around 10pm, arriving in Newark to meet up with my group the next morning.

After a layover of 9 hours, my classmates and I go through a second layer of security before boarding our plane for Tel Aviv.  After chatting with Reena, an Isaeli-American student attending seminary in Jerusalem, I settle in for the ten hour flight, sleeping on and off and getting to know my classmates better.

Customs is extremely fast in Tel Aviv airport.  In fact, I’m convinced that we haven’t yet gone through customs when I notice I’m standing right by the exit to the airport.  We step outside into the mild Israeli winter and begin to take in our surroundings.  Several of the members of my group have never been out of the United States before and the rest of us love noting their excitement.  Even for those of us who’ve spent extended time outside of the United States, Israel is fascinating.  The landscape leaving the Tel-Aviv airport is flat and clean, and we hum along the newly-constructed highway while listening to the introductions and explanations given by our tour guide, Gabbi, a friend of the Meyers.  Gabbi throws in jokes from time to time, welcoming us to his country and telling us how wonderful of an experience this will be for us.  He then proceeds to pass out hats reading “Sindbad Tours”, his touring company, maps of the Holy Land, and dates from his second home in Jericho. Later at the bus station as we wait for students to finish up transactions with money changers, Gabbi will offer us heaps of clementines, also from his home in Jericho.  He explains that many Israelis grow their own produce, and as we whir past groves of olive trees he describes how olives and olive oil in particular contribute greatly to the livelihood of many families.  The produce is fresh and flavorful, but different from anything I’ve tasted in the states in an unidentifiable kind of way.

After putting our baggage away in the Holy Sisters Convent in West Jerusalem and scrubbing away some of the dirt of travel, we emerge again, excited and unsure of exactly what the afternoon will hold.  The coming hours are a whirlwind of trekking through the Old City of Jerusalem.  We visit the Church of the Holy Sepluchre (an amazing mish-mash of a holy place), the Wailing Wall (some Orthodox Jewish men sang chants from the men’s section, celebrating the approach of a marriage), and the Garden Tomb (a possible location of Golgotha and the tomb where Jesus was buried).  The city bustles around us and we wind our way through colorful markets selling everything from scarves to soap to souvenirs.  At some points we have trouble staying together, and I have a couple of mishaps as I fight my way through the crowd, accidently bumping the barrel of an Israeli soldier’s gun on my camera lens and then narrowly avoiding being run over by a cart.  There are less tourists than I expect here; this makes sense because December is in the off-season for pilgrimages, but it still surprises me.  We run into an African group several times who seems to have had a special fabric printed to make entire outfits for themselves for this trip.  We, the Americans, with our large cameras and fitted jeans stand out around every turn of the streets.  This is something we’ll have to embrace, I think.

A Possible Site of Golgotha, According to the Tour Guide at the Garden Tomb

Looking Down on the Southern Temple Wall on Muslim Ruins

Walking through the City Streets

A Reconstructed Wall, Still Displaying the Markings Used To Put It Back Together

The Notice Outside of the Garden Tomb... A Bit Mixed-Up!

Part of the City Wall

The Dome of the Rock, From Afar