Holy Land

Cumulative Miles Traveled: 26,815
Current Location: Jerusalem, Israel (or Palestine, depending on your religion & politics)
Current Mood: Moved, awed and really really hot

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A couple corrections/additions to my last post:

- Tel Aviv is not the capital of Israel, Jerusalem is. I'm really stupid.
- Another funny conversation I remembered:

(at kebab restaurant/cafe outside Grand Bazaar)
Wenchi to us (looking at menu, which had pictures of all the food): Ooh their fish looks good.
Wenchi to waiter (pointing at the picture): Do you have this?
Waiter: This is no nice. (then pointing to about half the menu) This, this, this, this, this, this is no nice. You understand?
Us: Uhh ok. What's good?
Waiter: Kebab.

***

I'm in Jerusalem, holy site to three of the world's major religions. In some ways, Jerusalem is not that different from Istanbul - narrow covered markets with vendors calling out "nihau? konichiwa? annyunghasaeyo?," "China?," "Filipino?," "Hello! Yes, please!", "I am looking for wife," etc., kebab stands, old buildings....except of course that Jerusalem is currently under Israeli control so you see the star of David everywhere, including buildings that are historically Christian or Muslim. And you see armed Israeli soldiers with their machine guns and pistols hanging idly from their sides, a sight that unnerves me everytime.

I've never before been in a place where I am so aware of the three major religions all at once. In the old city area of Jerusalem, where all the historical holy sites are, you are constantly reminded of the fact that Israel is a Jewish state by the Israeli flags flying everywhere. As you walk down David Street, one of the main thoroughfares (which connects the Christian Quarter to the Muslim Quarter) flanked on both sides by vendors selling Jewish, Christian and Muslim paraphernalia, you walk by nuns in habits, Palestinians in traditional Arab gear, Muslim women in full black burkas, Muslim women in modern but fully covered clothing with fashionable head scarves, Hasidic jews in black suits, black top hats and curls framing their faces, young Israeli soldiers (both male and female) with machine guns dangling from their sides and American tourists. And contrary to my preconceived notions about the area based on American media, everyone seems to generally tolerate each other (at least on the surface). Within the old city are four quarters - the Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Armenian Quarters. Most of the religious sites are in the Christian and Muslim Quarters (the Jewish Quarter is a fairly new area, one that was demolished previously in one of the religious battles and rebuilt). The Christian and Muslim quarters run into each other and I couldn't really tell when I had crossed over from one to the other. I wonder if there is any other place like this on earth - where Muslims, Jews and Christians live and coexist in such close quarters and share significant religious sites but for different reasons.

It's hard not to be moved emotionally in Jerusalem, which I think is different from being moved "spiritually," to use a Christian term from my past. I walked the Via Dolorosa this afternoon, the route that Jesus is believed to have walked as he carried the cross to Calvary to be crucified. There are fourteen "stations" along the path where significant moments are believed to have occurred, such as the times when Jesus fell, the moment Jesus faced his mother in the crowd, the place where Jesus told weeping women to cry for themselves and their children instead of him, and the places where Jesus was nailed to the cross, crucified and taken down and handed to Mary. As I passed one of the stations, a group of European tourists led by a Lutheran nun was re-enacting Jesus carrying the cross by carrying a wooden cross themselves, stopping at each station to pray and sing hymns. Watching this, I couldn't help but start crying - and though it would be fantastic news for my God-fearing grandmother and pastor uncle if I had started crying because I was thinking about Jesus dying for my sins, the tears were not tears of repentance and remorse. It was the group's utter faith that Jesus died for their sins and walked this exact path and the sorrow in their voices as they prayed and sang - their sorrow was so real that it made me cry. I cried again during my visit to the Western Wall, also called the Weeping Wall, where Jews go to pray - in the female section of the wall (men and women have different sections and the women's section is only about 1/4 the size of the men's section, even though there were only like 5 men at the wall and about 200 women) there were Jewish women diligently writing their prayers on little scraps of paper and sticking them into the crevices of the wall (it's said that your prayer is more likely to come true if you do this) and other women with their torahs open, reciting prayers and rocking back and forth. You can't help but be moved by their faith.

I wouldn't be me if I didn't make at least a few faux pas during my visit. I already made a couple. First, I was in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the final moments of Jesus' crucifixion are believed to have taken place. I was holding an open can of coke in one hand and totally forgot it was there. When I tried to take a picture of the stone slab where it is believed Jesus' body was laid, I accidently spilled some coke. Oops. A couple of tourists next to me looked at me as if I had crucified Jesus myself. Then when I was at the Western Wall, I didn't know that there were separate men's and women's sections and tried to walk into the men's section but was stopped by an armed Israeli soldier. Then when I was in the women's section of the Western Wall, after I was done looking at it, I turned around and started walking toward the exit and noticed that everyone else was walking backwards so that their backs would not be facing the wall. I have no idea why they were doing this, whether it's just superstitious or whether it's a gesture of respect for the wall or what, but stupid Lonely Planet did not say anything about not putting your back to the wall!