Jerusalem

Val here.

Yes - there is fire power in Jerusalem - but it is celebratory. The openings of new creative spaces or the celebration in honour of Jerusalem Day (can you believe it is 40 years since the Six-Day War!) are celebrated with colourful fireworks. The venue of the Jerusalem cultural festival or the jazz festival pop with fireworks in the evenings.In addition, it is now fashionable to include fireworks to celebrate bar mitzvahs and weddings. Fortunately the only gun powder the Jerusalemites are seeing recently is fireworks.

The Jerusalem buses and cafes are teeming with people! The ever-present security personnel, relaxed but ever watchful, remain at each entrance as the only reminder to the waves of bombings of the last few years. Let me describe this interesting city.

Ah - how to describe Jerusalem - the holy city. Is not like the holy city of Benares where pilgrims dunk themselves in the holy waters of the Ganges and give alms to honour the near nude ash-covered sadhus that line the ghats. No - Jerusalem is definitely not at all like that. Religious pilgrims come here in dignity and walk in wonder as they admire the stone buildings and the ancient parts of the city unearthed by recent archaeological digs. In Jerusalem the docent will be teary-eyed as she reads the scriptures of the Dead Sea scrolls. She will infuse indignation and wonder at the horrors as she leads her groups through Yad Vashem (the museum of the Shoah or Holocaust - see my later posting for more detail).

We (Biker Susan Zimmerman, I and Arieh) went without shoulder covering to the Kotel (the western wall of the 2500-year old Temple of Solomon - a most holy Jewish sight) and a beautiful Ethiopian Israeli guard comes up to offer a shawl intoning in perfect English with an air of practicality "We're happy to do this. That's what we're here for". We donned our shawls to walk to the wall and touch the ancient stone wall stuffed with tiny pieces of papers with wishes and prayers for Hashem.


Jerusalem - at once practical, dignified, modern, and yet holy. The deep respect for other religions and for the intellect is evident at the Holy Sepulchre - a Greek Orthodox Church from where Jesus is said to have been resurrected. Jewish and Christians alike come to admire the church and wonder at the power of history. Several groups of Israeli soldiers visit the sight with their guide. The guides describe the Christian tradition with respect and accuracy. We see groups of Israeli soldiers and school children touring many important sights - Jewish and Christian - learning about the history and country they represent and fight for. Every day we see two or three buses with the "Taglit" sign. These are young adults from North America on birthright enjoying the country, each other, the guides, and the Israeli soldiers that join them on their 10-day tour of Israel.

George, our friend the Armenian ceramicist (you've seen our wonderful ceramic tables built by Arieh) took us on a tour of the Armenian quarter including the Armenian Church, Monastery, and School. This is another quarter of the old city of Jerusalem where people live, run their businesses and thrive. Old Jerusalem is open for touring and for business. Only the Mosques are not available for visit by non-Moslems - in my view unfortunately. Our welcome into a Mosque in Dubai recently, and to a Mosque in Tunis years ago was both interesting and a strong connector to that religious community. Although tours go into the temple mount, non-Moslem tourists are not permitted to enter the Mosques. It seems to me that a more open attitude to visitors might improve the public relations of the Moslem community in this part of the world. Oh well.

Jerusalem and Israel have so much more than holy sights, excavations, and museums. It is a vibrant cultural centre. Most nights we've been to concerts - from gorgeous free classical music at the Brigham Young Centre which overlooks the city - to Yehudit Ravitz (a popular Israeli chanteuse) on Kibbutz Na'an, to a students' dance and theatre performance at a college in Tel Aviv. We also heard our friend's son, Nadav Amir-Himel (remember that name!) play a Mozart Piano Concerto brilliantly at the Music Department of Tel Aviv University. We attended an English language play, The Value of Names, at the English language theatre here. They put on 4 or 5 plays a season. Last week was the Jerusalem Festival, this week a theatre and a jazz festival.

Our favorite locale for concerts is the Institute for Middle East Studies at the gorgeous Brigham Young building at the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus. Behind the performers, the city of Jerusalem is part of the event. The vibrant young pianist Yaron Kohlberg - remember his name- performed with a cellist and a bass in front of the backdrop of the city. A concert of Israeli folk groups - our Holy Blossom Singers would have loved it - also performed here. What a joy to listen to magnificent music as the sun sets over Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is at once modern and ancient. A new modern Israeli city has been built on the city outside the walls of the old city. Much has changed in this city since I was here in 1991. It is well serviced with roads, bridges, highways, and public transport, has many hotels and restaurants, juice spots and hummous and falafel joints, and, of course, coffee houses with at least as many choices as North America. The shops are modern and yet there is the colourful Mekhane Yehuda - a market with the best fruit, vegetables, spices, and pastries in all of Israel.

The people have been polite (excluding the tourist bureau and the post office) and urbane. They don't greet you, but when you ask a question they happily give you information in Hebrew or broken English as required. Oh! And so clean! We don't seem to have to do a footwash several times a day as we've been doing in other countries. Here in Jerusalem our feet are clean no matter how much walking we do in our battered travel-worn Mephisto sandals. And the sense of humour! How easy to get a wisecrack, a wry answer, a laugh, from these people, my people.