Day 6 – Jerusalem: Holy City and Historical Goldmine

Spent the morning touring the Mount of Olives, the Temple Mount, and the Via Dolorosa. In the words of Harry Carry- Holy Cow! (no pun intended, we are not in India but Israel)
I do not think I can put words to the feelings and experiences that take hold when being present in the physical locations where Jesus walked. Heart beating, and eyes wide open, we quickly moved from one pivotal Biblical site to the next. I found it fairly difficult to steal away moments to take in the experience, since Avi (tour guide) was continually educating us about the history of the sites; however, the images and thoughts burned in my mind from those sites will travel with me for a lifetime.

Israel Fact #13: The Mount of Olives represents 3 (and probably more) key events recorded from Jesus’ life. Picture a midsized hill opposite of the Temple Mount; literally only a 10 min walk from the Temple. The events depict the three different sides of Jesus’ being/character. In geographically ascending order from the bottom to top of the hill: 1) Jesus as man crying out in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (bottom of hill) 2) Jesus as prophet while mourning the coming destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem (mid hill) 3) Jesus as God ascending to heaven after his resurrection (top of hill).

Walking around on the Temple Mount -you know, where the big gold dome is- was surreal. That place is a powder-keg and could basically be where World War III could start if things were not handled diplomatically. The site is directly above where Abraham was sent to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Oh ya, and it also happened to be where the Jewish temple was built twice – by Solomon and by the Jews returning from Babylonian exile.

Israel Fact #14: Since the Six Day War of 1967 in which Israel reclaimed Jerusalem for the first time in nearly 2000 years, the State of Israel has handed the Temple Mount over to the Muslim religious authority to maintain and run. However, the Israelis control the security around the perimeter of the Mount in order to maintain, well, order. Ironically, the Dome of the Rock sits directly on top of the historic Jewish Temple, built over 2700 years ago and partially destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Israel Fact #15: In the 1990s the Muslims wanted to expand their mosque underground in the southern portion of the Mount. Without permission and with extremely heated controversy, they brought in bulldozers and backhoes and began to carelessly dig up dirt under the Mount in order to build this underground extension. Here’s the problem- They dug up priceless archeological history that is illegal to touch without proper excavation. With utter disregard for ancient world history, they tossed the dirt-now churned up and out of place- into the valley below. Apparently this priceless cultural treasure of a site is just seen as a place to expand an agenda by force. Really tragic.

We spent the early afternoon shopping and eating a local lunch of humus and falafel in the market of the Arab Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. Thoroughly enjoyed getting to know a few Palestinian shop keepers whose shops have been in their families for over 300 years- that’s what I call a family business (yes, Sumner & Wallace, I found some sweet Israeli stuff to bring back- gotta show the sisters some love here, cause you know shopping can be painful for me).
As a cap on the day we walked through Hezekiah’s tunnel- which snakes under the City of David (oldest part of Jerusalem) for over a half a mile. Dudes literally carved this thing through solid bed rock and somehow came out the other side. At the end of the tunnel we came out at the remains of the pool of Siloam (where Jesus healed the blind guy). From there we walked under a Palestinian Arab neighborhood that sits on top of the original road from 2000 years ago. Ya, the road where Jesus hop, skipped, and jumped around (I wonder if Jesus ever danced?). Anyways…

Israel Fact #16: Much controversy has been made about Jewish archeologists who have excavated this area (which is way underground and doesn’t affect those living above). Some conspiracy theorists claim that all of Israel’s archeological digs are propaganda and all of the evidence is conjured up. Honestly, I straight up laughed when I heard this. Why? Because I’ve spent the last 3 days viewing, touching, reading, walking on, and exploring endless amounts of ancient ruins with Hebrew writings all the heck over them. This is a hint of a continuing theme that exists in the world media’s bent toward Israel- delegitimization. Lies are told over and over in attempts to vilify this country. Well, I feel a small sense of accomplishment for dispelling at least this one lie for now. It was easy to do- all I had to do was walk around and use the vision-providing eyes that I was created with.