Jerusalem (Subtitle: No Room at the Inn)

Michael, Clark and I finally said goodbye to Tel Aviv today, and hello to Jerusalem, the holy city we all know and love as the headquarters/symbolic victim of the Zionist-Crusader Forces of the Godless West (TM). (Incidentally, Clark and I want to make t-shirts: On the front, there would be an IDF soldier and a medieval knight, and on the back, in big bold letters (like for SWAT teams), it would say "Zionist-Crusader Force"). Contrary to popular belief, Jerusalem has so far neither turned out to be the headquarters of any kind of occupation, nor has it turned out to be a particularly hostile place (so far, though obviously, we're in the relatively safer tourist areas). Actually, if I didn't know that I was in spitting distance of the West Bank, I'd think I was in Ireland for all the apparent danger/unrest in the area. That aside, you do gain some understanding of Israel's fears re: the Palestinians when you realize that Tel Aviv (the operational capital of the nation) is less than an hour from the frontier, and relatively speaking, Jerusalem is a far more distant frontier than other parts of the border with the West Bank.

Politics aside, the city itself is quite beautiful. We are staying in East Jerusalem, just outside the Damascus gate of the Old City, which gives us ready access to most of the historical areas of the city while hopefully keeping us out of harm's way. We are in the Arab portion of the city, so we are being a bit careful with what we do/where we go than we might be otherwise, but so far we haven't had any trouble at all on the streets. Ironically, the Palestinian areas of the city are in some ways more familiar and comfortable than the Jewish ones; we all understand Arabic much better than we do Hebrew and the street dynamics are very similar to those in Cairo. I'm hoping this will continue to be an advantage throughout Holy Weekend.

Speaking of Holy Weekend, I have to say it is really cool to be here in Jerusalem for the end of Passover and the Easter holiday. After we got in (a little after noon) today, we dropped our stuff off at our erstwhile hostel (more on housing intrigues in a bit) and went into the old city to see the religious sites around us. On the way, of course, we got to see a good bit of the Old City and its lovely architecture. I didn't really realize it before coming here, but the Old City is a rather impressively intact medieval style city, with complete city walls, operational gates, narrow cobbled streets and aged buildings. Adding to the interest, every single street is filled with shops, stands, juice bars and restaurants, turning the whole city into one giant bazaar. As most of the city seems to be populated with Arabs (who I suspect live elsewhere for the most part if only for space reasons), the winding streets of the Old City strongly remind me of the Khan el-Khalili bazaar in Cairo. Jerusalem is probably a little bit more touristy, but not so much as to be overwhelming.

We began our tour of the fascinating elements of the city by basically making a beeline for the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. It took a bit of wandering (though we were well lead by a girl named Sasha who'd been here for a few days), but we made it to the Wailing Wall pretty quickly. It was quite a sight, though smaller (at least widthwise - vertically, it is quite high) than I was expecting from pictures I've seen. You could tell even from a distance how incredibly old (and worn) the stones of the wall were; up close, you can practically see the centuries carved into some of the rock. Overall, I felt the site had a certain majesty (calling to mind the temple of old, perhaps), but also sadness. We were lucky enough to be there during some kind of ceremony (mass bar mitzvahs, maybe?) and so most of the time we were there the entire wall resonated with prayer, which I found really powerful. We were able to go up all the way to the wall and touch it (after getting skullcaps to cover our heads appropriately). On the whole, it was a really great experience, marred only slightly by one thing; the Wailing Wall is divided into two sections, one for men and one for women. I imagine this is because of the massive Hasidic influence (especially at the wall - probably 95% of everyone I saw there was hasidic or otherwise orthodox in dress and comportment). I'm not about to criticize customs that aren't my own (and that I don't properly understand), but it just seemed unfortunate that women and men should have to be divided in prayer, particularly when the wall itself is so divided and fragmentary. I may be waxing poetic (if so, feel free to shoot me), but somehow the division felt like a microcosm of a lot of other divisions in the Middle East and in Middle Eastern societies.

After our visit to the western wall, we went out of the Old City and around to the Lion Gate to do the Stations of the Cross (as part of the route to the Church of the Holy Sephulcher). We were able to visit almost all of the shrines (I couldn't find 7 for the life of me and I think 9 was closed or some such) and got to the church feeling very pious indeed. I felt that the richness of the experience was hugely amplified by the heavy Christian Orthodox (particularly greek, but also Armenian and other Eastern Orthodox) presence in the city. Actually, between the Russian Orthodox Christians and the Hasidic Jews, the city looked like it was hosting the annual pageant of the "Confederation of Former Tsarists and Nostalgic White Russians." (I particularly like this one kind of hat some Hasidic men wear, which looks like a thick single layer cake made out of fur. I kid you not, the thing is probably 8 inches thick and two feet in diameter). This Orthodox presence is very visible in the Church itself - much of the artwork and architecture recalls the Byzantine tradition more than the Latin tradition. The Church itself is very beautiful (particularly the central portions around the primary domes and the Sepulcher itself), but I was dismayed to see that much of the rest of the church is badly in need of repair. My understanding is that part of the problem is political competition between the Greek, Latin and Armenian churches, but it seems a shame that the holiest center in Christianity should be in parts little better maintained than basements in Cairo. The bathrooms in particular recalled more closely the actual trials and suffering of Christ than the holy site they were meant to be attached to.

That aside though, I really appreciated the opportunity to see/pray/experience the religious side of Jerusalem. I don't often get the chance/take the time to be a part of the more organized aspects of the Christian religion, but I always enjoy it when I do. I keep telling myself that I'm going to start going to mass regularly (or semi-regularly), but most of the time I don't actually live up to that 'commitment.' I end up only getting involved during the high holidays, and not often any time else. With time, I hope to find a better balance for me between the organized and personal aspects of my spirituality.

Anyway, on a more secular note, after taking in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, we went out into the bazaar parts of the city for a little more shopping before dinner (of course, while criss-crossing the city, we'd had plenty of time to look at a variety of shops and such, too). I got a huge Israeli flag and a couple of really great t-shirts that i'm looking forward to wearing back home, far away from the Middle East. My current favorite has a picture of an F-15 with the caption: "Don't Worry, America - Israel is Behind You." While I imagine it goes over like a lead balloon in oh, Syria, it's been a universal favorite for all the Americans/AUCians who've seen it.

Dinner came at around 8:30 (early by Israeli standards) when we went to a place in the Old City called (oh hell I don't remember, something like Cafe Andumin, but actually not anything like that) "Cafe Andumin" for lack of actually knowing the name. They had fantastic grilled food (and local Israeli wine), which was great, and as the restaurant is situated on the roof of its building, we had a great view of the whole city - from Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock (which we weren't able to visit as they are closed on Fridays for prayers), to the Church of the Sepulcher, the Church of the Ascension and the Tower of David (Citadel of Jerusalem). We met up with some AUC girls who happened to be staying near our hostel, and they were a nice addition to our group (and especially dinner conversation). I had something of a political discussion (as yet uncompleted) with one of the girls who is basically a batshit looney Republican (though very nice otherwise). I don't know where she thinks she gets her facts, but her die hard refusal to consider the possibility of global warming and/or the possibility of regulated capitalism puts her sadly far away from the fact/reality based community that I like to think most people live in. Such a tragedy.

Well, I think i'm going to bring this to something of a close. Its quite late now and I really should be headed to bed so that I can enjoy the day tomorrow. Our sleeping accommodations leave something to be desired, because the hobos who run the hostelry establishments around here managed to lose our reservations (along with those of a great number of other people). In addition, they managed to book more reservations than they actually had rooms (including literally promising rooms to people off the street) and also to lose our reservations again later in the day after we thought we'd remedied the situation before (they took us to the neighboring hostel which gave us beds, but then rescinded them to give them to someone else. Each hostel owner claims the other one told them we didn't need the rooms anymore, but I think they are both just morons. In fact, I don't think they actually know how many rooms/beds they have to rent, period!). As both hostel owners are Israeli Arabs/Palestinians, this has led to more than a few uncharitable (and hopefully unwarranted) comments by our disgruntled party as to the competence and efficacy of the Palestinians. The general gist is "If they can't run a freaking hostel, what hope is there for the Palestinian government?" I just hope the comparisons don't have any valid basis, or they really are screwed. Stupid hostel people. Anyway, we're on a mix of mattresses and couches in the common room and one of the dormers for lack of proper sleeping quarters. We'll live, but it sure is frustrating.