remnants of the past

i have visited the western wall four times now, and each time the flavor of the experience has been slightly different.  my first jaunt yielded  a somewhat anti-climatic reaction.  perhaps it was the fact of having to pass through security that made the area feel a little more like a tourist destination than a holy site.  or the fact that upon emerging from the security screening, the wall and adjoining plaza that stood before me appeared much smaller than i had imagined.  strangely, it has grown just a bit in size upon each subsequent visit.  

my first visit was on thursday, one of two days during which bar mitzvahs are celebrated.  men in the customary dress of orthodox jews gather around the torah at various tables arranged near the back of the prayer section, though also scattered throughout.  the women stand on chairs, peering over the edge of the barricade separating the men from the women, singing and chanting and, to the pleasure of the youngest boys, ceremoniously throwing candy at the bar mitzvah.

all of this action occurs only on the men's portion of the wall, which takes up 2/3 of the 

total area.  the girls, on the other hand,  hold their bat mitzvahs in their synagogues.  i haven't actually made it to the wall itself, as the women's prayer section is small and crowded, often with lines of women sitting in plastic patio chairs waiting for their moment to stand at the wall and pray.

my second visit was in the evening, when i happened upon a military ritual in which a group of new recruits were taking their oath for the IDF (israeli defense forces).  while i realize that israel is a country in which there is no distinction between church and state, this combination of a military scene in front of the western wall seemed like a contrast to the inherent tenets of judaism and what the religion stands for.  standing on the rooftop of a building at the southern end of the plaza, i couldn't find words to capture the seeming oddity of these two dichotomies layered together before me.

my next visit proved to be my favorite.  the crowds were absent and a relative calm enveloped the area as individuals moved to and from the wall in personal reverence and prayer.  the simplicity of their actions created a sense of serenity in the air.

today was visit number four, and once again bar mitzvahs created much energy and action.  the more i pass through the area, the more familiar it begins to feel.  the wall has grown a bit in size each time i pass it.  one of these days i may even make my way up to the facade to see the slips of paper containing prayers wedged and crammed in the cracks between the stones.

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the amount of history rolled into this little city is remarkable.  simply wandering the streets causes me to be pulled into the rich fabric of a colorful tapestry that has been woven over the course of thousands of years.  of course, a plethora of tourist sites and placards  litter the area to help one navigate the "important" places.  now and then i have indulged in a tourist attraction to further steep myself in this history.  on thursday, i spent the day with a woman named Zoe, another traveler from new zealand who is currently living in sydney, austrailia, and we decided to find some sights that would help us experience the age of this place.

first was the ramparts walk, which basically entails walking along the top of the wall surrounding the old city of jerusalem.  like many of the streets, the stones have been worn to a slick shine from the countless number of people who have strolled across them over time.  each signpost declares that this or that section of the wall was constructed, destroyed, rebuilt, fortified, defended, or conquered by the ottoman turks, the crusaders, the romans, the babylonians, the syrians, the british, the jordanians, the palestinians, the israelis... i couldn't help but laugh as i tried to guess which era or whose control the next section would be attributed to.  

the ramparts offer great views of the surrounding area, both the more modern sections of jerusalem, additional churches that lie outside the city walls, and the areas that lay beyond the city.  and then i saw it for the first time: the separation wall.  

a stark gray snake winding its way over the hillside between the buildings, partitioning the land into various zones and cutting off one people from another.  it didn't matter that i knew it existed, and it didn't matter that i've seen countless pictures of it.  while the wall of the old city holds a certain historical awe, the separation wall stopped me in my tracks, making me wonder what all of this jockeying for the land is really about.  i took a deep breath and continued on.

the ramparts walk dumped us out at the dung gate (so called because at one point in time the area around the gate and near the western wall was used as the dumping grounds for the city's garbage).  here, we explored the city of david -- the location of the original city of jerusalem (formerly a canaanite settlement captured by king david about 3000 years ago).  the highlight of this site was traversing hezekiah's tunnel, a 500-meter underground tunnel built in 700 bce to divert water from the gihon spring into the city in order to prevent the enemy from knowing the location of the water source and cutting it off.  (it seems that water has always been an ongoing issue here.)  i can't imagine how they managed to chisel this wonder out of solid rock.  at first we weren't going to go through because we didn't have flashlights, but a jewish tour guide wouldn't let that happen.  somehow i became the lead person at the head of his tour group and we meandered through the tunnel, through which water continues to flow (and at one section was knee deep) and which at times shrunk to about four and a half feet high.  all in all, it took us about a half an hour to make it from one end to another.  of course, i loved every second of it.