The Old City

After four hours of class and orientation this morning starting at 8, I was well and ready to get out of the doors and start exploring. We began today with a tour of the Old City in Jerusalem, looking first at the geography of the area, including the hills and valleys that shape the contours of the city.We also discussed the locations of the four quarters of the city: Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian. I found it strange that the Jewish quarter is also the smallest of the quarters. Then, we set out into the sun.

The Upper Room
Visiting this building felt very strange to me, but it is definitely an excellent introduction to the sense of the city. Christians commemorate it as the site of the Last Supper and the coming of Pentecost, though visual evidence is to the contrary: the site also served as a mosque during Islamic rule. As if that weren't enough, it also the site remembered as David's Tomb.

"Tight" or "crowded" are common adjectives, but the city feels more like something piled. Everyone is snatching at the land, and at the old buildings, pointing to their history and claiming the true heritage. Our onsite instructor, Dr. Wright, compared the merging of the three faiths to the intertwining of root systems. Removing one people from the land disrupts and changes the others.Conflicting flags and inscriptions often claim simultaneous space as sacred. I often felt like I was walking in someone else's religion - of course, these sites are as precious to Protestants as to the other faiths and traditions, but I felt very suddenly young and insignificant compared to the ancient blood which seemed to course through the veins of the stone beneath our Teva-clad feet.

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher
I'll admit, I had some preconceived notions about the location that messed with my ability to be present in the space. Before we left, Dr. Johnson had noted, "When I walked into the Holy Sepulcher, it was one of those places that I immediately felt was holy, and I just had to take off my hat." I paused on the steps, both waiting and fighting to wait for that same tidal wave of holiness. It never came - or rather, it seemed to hover just beyond my reach, perhaps beyond the continuous bobbing visors of the largely Caucasian population of tourists. It was so crowded and loud that it felt like something more of a carnival rather than a holy site.

But this was it! The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built on a site widely believed to be the site of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Numerous historical and archaelogical evidence points to this very area, although there are two other sites that also have legimitate possible claim.

The Church itself is divided into six different quarters among the Roman Catholics and the five Orthodox traditions: Greek, Armenian, Coptic, Syrian, and Ethiopian. All of them claim to be the true progenitors of the church.
I know that all of the crowding and claiming has deep religious meaning to all of them - and frankly, to all of us and to me. At many points, I found the need to be "the first" or "the true" upsetting and frustrating. Repeatedly I was often reminded of my comparative rootlessness as an American Citizen, having no continually inherited land or tradition to truly speak of. For us, movement is ceaseless. For them, movement is upheaval - movement is rupture. Movement is unthinkable, even under threat of death.

The Jewish Quarter
We walked through the Jewish quarter, which I thought was the most beautiful part of the city that I had yet seen. The architecture is something out of storybook, all limestone arches and curvaceous stairs, windows fluttering with the Israeli flag open to the clear golden light that filters through the air in the late afternoon. It felt almost like walking through someone's house, taking pictures.

From here, we stood on an overlook and saw the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall. It always feels strange to see a view so frequently emblazoned on postcards actually gleaming before you. The Dome of the Rock, one of the holiest sites of Islaim, is actually situated on what is almost certainly the site of the Temple before it was destroyed in 70 AD. And just to the South is the Mt. of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane. The three faiths, once again fighting for elbow room.
__________________________
"Remembered as" was probably the theme phrase of the day. A product of my own culture, I always felt skepticism creep in whenever I heard it. "Remembered as"? Really? So, it's likely that this isn't even the spot. That means people could be fighting over the completely wrong patch of land. People could be kissing and weeping over average stones.

Slowly, I am learning that there is more. The question that Dr. Kalantzis keeps repeating is, "What makes a space sacred?" After my first full day in Jerusalem, the question weighs heavier than before.




-- b.