Jerusalem Part I - Mount of Olives, Separation Barrier, Jubilant Entry, and waffles

Let’s see what I can remember. I watched Israel going by me outside the window—what a surreal thought. I’m just on the way to a friend’s house, and hey look, that’s Israel. Anyway, I saw us ascend a hill and a big welcome sign and then we were entering a bus station, but I had not yet seen any sign declaring the city’s name, though I was pretty sure it was my stop. I had to swallow my pride and ask the inane question, but thankfully I could at least say it in semi-Hebrew to my fellow passenger: “Em, here is Jerusalem?” (They say “em”, not “um”. There’s a pretty funny youtube video about accents that includes the observation, and it’s spot on.) The girl was very kind as she smiled and answered in the affirmative, so I exited the bus and called my friend for the next set of directions.

It’s funny, I am a planner, but one of my favorite things to do in Oregon was to drive around the many farm roads and get myself lost for a while. I do like knowing where I’m going, but there’s also something fun about wandering and just getting wherever you’re going whenever you eventually get to it. Part of the pleasantness to it here is also the safety. Even the parental-types here who are nervous about wild boars when I go hiking, or traffic when I go biking, or any other number of protective concerns, are comfortable with me walking alone. Even at night. The kind of concerns we have in the states just don’t really apply here. Of course I am still aware and all of that, but time and again Israeli’s tell me it’s okay. And while I’m quite an extrovert and like being with people, it is lovely to walk alone, too, without dozens of warnings flying through my mind and jumping at every movement I see or hear.

Anyway, my friend gave me such clear directions it was as if I’d been there hundreds of times, and while nothing actually looked familiar, the picture he’d painted appeared at each turn clear as if I had seen it rather than imagined. Sabbath was approaching, so we head to the shuk and picked up the fruits, veggies, etc. that they’d need for the weekend. The chronology in my mind is mixed up, but at some point they took me to a place that would have thrilled my sister—it’s a dessert place where they put all kinds of dessert toppings on waffles. Waffles and dessert toppings?! What could be better? (Apparently you get two halves--I got one half with apple cinnamon and cream cheese stuff, and the other with a coffee something or other and chocolate shavings. Plenty enough to share.)

And at some point we watched “Ice Age” in Hebrew. I am so impressed by the voice of whoever dubbed the Hebrew for Sid. It totally sounds like the one in English! The other Hebrew actors did a great job as well and it was thoroughly entertaining. And educational. :-) “Yesh lacha einaim yofaim.” (Although learning Hebrew from a sloth with a lisp may not be the best resource. ;-))

We took a long walk over to the old city and all over it. I fear I’m not a very good tourist. I remembered much of what our guide had shown us last time we were here, and while they were definitely interesting, most I did not have a real desire to see again. But my friend, now acting as my guide, had never walked up the Mount of Olives, and my time there in 2007 was tied for my favorite part of Jerusalem (the other being the upper room time with my group). So, we walked over to the mount and found a pathway into an olive grove. We walked and talked and enjoyed the park-like setting. And before we knew it, we’d hiked almost to the top of the mount on the path winding back and forth up the hill. He is getting his doctorate in Psychology, and as that subject runs in my family’s blood we have great conversations. Out on top of the hill we saw the church of the ascent just south a bit so thought we’d go see it. (That's not the one in the pic--I don't know what that is. :-p)

But we couldn’t quite figure out the way. We ended up going up and over the mount and found ourselves in an Arabic community. I put my cardigan back over my shoulders, but there was not much I could do to make my sundress more concealing of my knees and lower legs. We were just passing through, and I hoped they would recognize me as the naïve American tourist I am and not take too much offense. In Haifa, people dress in as many diverse ways as you see in the states. I had not made the mental transition to Jerusalem where the clothes are still similar fashions to the states, but a bit more conservative, so my shoulders and knees were both showing. Eek.

We were there at the time of day that the children were just getting out of school and they walked all ahead, around, and behind us with excited shouts of, “Hello, how are you? What’s your name?”. It felt just like a miniature Cairo, just a few hundred yards from where I’d been twenty minutes earlier, even complete with the call to prayer ringing out over our heads. Since we’d passed over the mount, my friend decided to take a little detour and showed me the wall that lines the border of the West Bank.

Before World War I, the land that is now known as the West Bank was under Ottoman rule. After WWI it was allocated as part of the land that Britain would be responsible for, as the British Mandate of Palestine. In 1948 when Britain withdrew from the area, the predicted war broke out, and during this war where Israel became a country, that piece of land was captured by Jordan. Being the part of the country on the western bank of the Jordan river, it took the name the West Bank. Nineteen years later, the countries around Israel had allied to attack from all directions at once. Israeli intelligence caught wind of it, and on June 5^th 1967 made a preemptive air attack on the gathered, but not yet airborne planes that had been prepared to get rid of Israel, starting the Six Day War. During this war, Israel took control of the West Bank, but Jordan did not give up ownership. All history is part objective and part subjective. And the ownership of the West Bank is still a very controversial topic. Early in the new millennium the Israeli government approved the building of the West Bank Barrier. A series of fences and trenches that make it more difficult to travel from and to the disputed land.

The barrier is of course also very controversial, and it cannot be seen as a final solution. But the number of terrorist attacks greatly decreased after the barrier was built. Is it a coincidence? I remember our 2007 guide talking about how suicide bombers (some mere children!)—used to just walk from their towns in the West Bank across farm lands or wherever, and walk into grocery stores and cafes. Wikipedia says the incidents of terrorism reduced 90% from 2002 to 2005. The barrier is far from bringing peace, but I’d rather see a defense that protects grocery shoppers and coffee shop goers from random bombs than a bunch of violent reactionary responses against innocent citizens that happen to dwell near terrorists, who blend in until their deadly missions are accomplished.

My friend and I never did make it to the church of the ascension, but we did go to an observation point that I remember from our tour in 2007, and I told my friend all about our guide using a sheep’s call to draw our group’s attention to him when we would start to spread out too much. Haha, our group picked it up and later when half a dozen of us had been shopping in the market and got separated, we “baa-ed” to find one another in the narrow corridors. That had also been one of my first times seeing a camel in Israel, and sure enough, as my friend and I walked up, there was the camel, ready to pose with any wallets, er, tourists that wished. :-)

I remembered the road our guide had shown us as a likely way Jesus would have ridden the donkey down to the city on Palm Sunday, and as we walked down it I told my friend about an idea Beth Moore mentions in one of her studies. (I’m a big Beth Moore fan.) When Jesus entered Jerusalem about a week before his crucifixion people were praising him. Some of the Pharisees told him to tell the people not to, because they were treating him like the messiah, and if he was not the messiah then that would obviously be bad. Instead of shushing the crowd, Jesus said, “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

http://www.biblestudytools.com/luke/passage.aspx?q=luke+19:28-41

So then, a few days later Jesus died, fulfilling what Christians believe to be his greatest purpose, and no one was cheering. People who loved him were crying, and others were jeering, but no one was praising him for what he was doing…and there was an earthquake! Could this have been the stones crying out because no one else was at this, his most glorious of moments? Cool thought, eh?

http://www.biblestudytools.com/matthew/passage.aspx?q=matthew+27:50-56

Incidentally, earthquakes are not uncommon in this region, and it was cool on our tour in 2007 because our guide pointed out several times God talks about the earthquakes in the bible and what effects they had on the land here. The other day I was working in the lab and the building shook slightly. I was quiet for a moment and the called to the adjacent room, “Um, was that an earthquake?” (you can imagine what else I had considered might rock a building). She sounded calm, “No.” I waited. Silence. “What was it?” I tried to keep my tone casual. “I don’t know, probably someone breaking the sound barrier or something.” A day later I was in the dorms and we felt and heard a similar something. The other American in the room froze and then we both looked to the Israeli student. “Oh, it’s the tunnels.”

Apparently there’s a big construction project going on under the mountain on which we live! They are making tunnels from one side to the other, which will cut down some people’s commute from half an hour to about eight minutes, while also lightening the traffic through the town, as all those people go under instead of around. But goodness the noise! Although, I’ve heard them working a few times since then and having a satisfactory explanation for the quakes makes all the difference.

My friend and I stopped in at the Church of All Nations next to the Garden of Gethsemane on our way back to the old city. I’m not a big fan of all the church buildings here, but I like this one and St. Anne’s. The door into this church is carved into the likeness of a beautiful old olive tree, and the whole building has the feel of a quiet star filled night. On the ceiling it has a bunch of countries represented, but you have to look carefully—and I don’t know how many there are, but don’t think there’s nearly enough to be “all”. ;-)

My friend knew of a great little café inside the courtyard of a Lutheran church so we stopped in for some hydration and rest and then…hm, I remember walking one direction and then turning another in a pointed manner, but cannot recall where we went. Apparently it was very impressive wherever we went. When we got back to his apartment, we were both surprised to see we’d only been gone four hours. It had felt like all day, it was quite a walk.

Anyway, the next day they gave me directions back to the bus station and I found a bus to Beersheva where I would meet up with some friends from Haifa for a student conference at a nearby druze village.