Jerusalem - City of David

December 29, 2019

Our last trip in Fall 2020 was to Israel. In this blog I am writing about our 1 day trip to Jerusalem. This is the most fascinating place I have visited. This place has rich history that is personally relevant to me, especially relevant to my faith and my upbringing. I was raised a catholic. Although I am not a practicing one now, biblical stories still resonate with me.

The tour to Jerusalem was arranged by the Hebrew university. In fact, the tour guide was a business school professor, who teaches Marketing at the Hebrew University. She started out by sharing that every tour guide has a different interpretation of Jerusalem and she will share her interpretation, the interpretation that has been passed down to her by her grandmothers and her family. She also said that her tour is an important lesson on branding and developing brand value.

Our first stop was the Mount of Olives. This picture of the city of Jerusalem was taken from there. Mount of Olives is considered holy by the followers of the three Abrahamic religions in the world. Followers of all three religions - Christianity, Islam, and Judaism - believe that we will all meet here on judgment day and proceed to heaven or hell from here depending on our moral life. The most noticeable landmark from the mount of olives is the Al-Aqsa mosque. This is Islam's third holiest place and it is believed Prophet Muhammad ascended into heaven from here.

Next stop was Jerusalem. We entered the city of David at Jaffa Gate.Visitors from the sea port of Jaffa have entered the city through these gates since time immemorial. When David, a shepherd boy, became king after defeating Goliath, he needed a strategic place as the seat of his kingdom. He chose Jerusalem. The pictures above are of the Jaffa gate.
Jerusalem is a walled city. After entering the gates, we walked on the Jerusalem wall from Jaffa gate to Damascus gate. The wall that currently stands was built by the Ottoman emperor Sultan Suleiman. The legend goes that Sultan Suleiman was getting recurring dreams of lions chasing him and devouring him. One night he stopped running from the lions and asked them why they were chasing him. He learned that they were chasing him as a punishment for not protecting the holy city of Jerusalem. So he built this wall in 16th century.

The pictures above shows the Jerusalem bagel. It is unlike any bagel we get in United States. Its oblong shaped and is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, covered in sesame seeds. Its often had with z'atar. We enjoyed these as we walked the wall. Next picture, we are on the Jerusalem wall with a view of the Jaffa gate. And next above, you can see the map of Jerusalem. The black lines indicate the walls we are walking on. There is a  break in the wall around the Jaffa gate, which was created in 1898 by the Ottoman authorities in order to allow German emperor Wilhelm II to enter the city in his carriage. Because of this, now cars can access the Old City from the west. 

Above are views from the wall. We got off the wall at Damascus gate and proceeded into the traditional market, and then Via Dela Rosa, the way of the cross. Below are some pictures from the market.

Food, food and more food! Here are the pictures of a lot of food that were displayed in the market. Many of these sweets resemble the traditional Indian sweets. Many of the Indian desserts like jalebi and gulab jamun appear to have originated in Persia or the middle east. 

 

Above are pictures of the Via Dela Rosa, the road where Jesus carried his cross. There are 14 stations on the way of the cross. Each of the station is maintained by a different sect of the catholic church. Below are some pictures of the stations on Via Dela Rosa. For example, in the picture below we can see that the station three is maintained by the armenian catholic church.

There were markets along the Via Dela Rosa. The small narrow streets reminded me of old Delhi, but these are much much cleaner.

We exited the Via Dela Rosa and made our way to the Ethiopian Church (seen below) built above the Church of Sepulcher.

Above is a picture to the entrance to the Church of Sepulcher. The church is built on the mount where Jesus was crucified. His body was brought down from the cross and laid in a cave for the Sabbath on this mount. Almost 300 years after Jesus' death, the Roman emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and he sent his mother Helena to locate the tomb of Jesus. She got a church built here and same structure has stood here since 335 AD. Different sections of this church are controlled by  different sects of Christianity, depending on their prominence in the world. There is a space for Roman Catholics, Syrian Catholics, Greek orthodox, Franciscans, Ethiopian Christians, and many more. 

Inside the church, there is a large mural depicting the passion of Christ above the stone where his dead body was anointed.

 

Above is the picture of the stone of anointing, this is the place where Jesus was taken down from cross, anointed with oil, his body wrapped in linen and then placed in a tomb. Here you will see believers constantly praying and anointing the stone with oil. An interesting fact about Church of Sepulcher: Its keys have been in the hands of a Muslim family since the seventh century. They open and close the church everyday.

After the church of Sepulcher, we walked to the Jewish quarters. We walked through an area that was completely destroyed during the Jordanian occupation (1948-1967). After Israel won the 6 day war in 1967, they rebuilt the synagogue (see picture above) and other structures from the pictures they had of the place before the occupation.

Finally, we were at the western wall, the holiest place for people of Jewish faith. We could see faithful facing the wall and praying. There were vendors selling small white blank prayer cards to believers who could write their petitions and place them in the wall. Our group did not want to go through security to get to the wall; instead, we walked to an unsecured side of the wall. We could see prayers and bar mitzvah ceremonies being conducted with huge Torah scrolls. I touched the wall for some much needed good luck. 

The tour left me wanting for more. I don't know what I am searching for but it seems this place might have some answers. From the generation when Saint Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus converted my family members to Christianity, up until my grandparents, they all believed fervently in the stories that originated from this place. They all had faith that the powerful story will save them and their future generations. 

I hope to return here and learn the story of this beautiful city from the perspective of the different religions.