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Jerusalem: Within the Walls of the Holy City
By christon | June 22, 2010
Within these walls lies a mystical city, an ancient promise of peace, so desired that man has warred over it for thousands of years. Over the centuries, its walls have been reddened by the blood of Jebusites and Jews, Babylonians and Persians, armies of Arabs, Crusaders, Ottoman Turks and the British Empire. Sacred city of the soul for one third of the earth’s people, through the millennium, it has drawn mankind to itself like a magnet.
Jerusalem,within these walls and the tiny enclave that is the Old City, some of the greatest dramas in the history of mankind have been enacted. This is a story of that city, crucible of the world’s three great monotheistic religions, symbol of peace in an area of turmoil and dark evil. It is a story of peoples of profoundly different cultures who struggled to maintain those differences, people who have fought each other but now live side by side in sometimes uneasy coexistence.
Jews from around the world pray at the Western Wall, vestige of the second temple, object of Jewish yearning and prayer for two thousand years. Here, built on the sites where tradition says Jesus spent his last moments on earth, was crucified and entombed, is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Most holy of shrines in the Christian world, this church has attracted pilgrims since the time of Constantine the Great. Within the walls of their ancient quarter, Armenians strive to preserve the heritage of a vanished kingdom in their lives and in the hearts and minds of their younger generation. Consecrated under this dome is the Sacred Rock where tradition says Abraham prepare to sacrifice Isaac over which the ancient temples of the Jews were built from which Muslims proclaim Muhammad journeyed to heaven.
Wrapped around the venerable city like the setting for an exotic jewel are the walls, retaining traces of the eras of King Herod, the Romans and Crusaders, last rebuilt by Suleyman the Magnificent four hundred years ago. Outside the walls there is the 20th century, the new city of Jerusalem and the administrative center of the nation of Israel. Inside is a city believed by medieval man to be the center of the universe, a cit known to more people for a longer time than any other on earth. Hre the heart of historic Jerusalem still beats.
Its ethnic religious quarters cling to the sites that give them life. The Dome of the Rock, third holiest place of Islamic pilgrimage after Mecca and Medina, and focal point of the Muslim quarter. The Western Wall, known as the Wailing Wall, symbol of the Jewish quarter. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, core of the Christian quarter that is grown around it. The Cathedral of St. James, spiritual center of the Armenian quarter. Twenty-six thousand souls make their home in the Old City, packed into an area of less than one square mile.
Their story began three thousand years ago when King David bought the threshing floor on this hill as the site for the temple of the Jews one God. Having subdued the Jebusites, he transformed their city into the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel and thrust Jerusalem, center stage, in a drama that continues to this day.
Local A: Jerusalem is a place where meanings survive, where names survive. In Jerusalem, everybody has a religion. That doesn’t mean that everybody goes to synagogue, or church or the mosques. But people believe in things. The people who come here are not visitors, they are pilgrims. They come to Jerusalem because it has a special meaning for them, not like coming to another city. We try to give people a feeling they live in acity which belongs to everybody, but everybody has his particular past and his particular history. Everybody who lives in Jerusalem tries to link up with the past — Jews, Christians, Muslims.
Local B: The most important thing about Jerusalem is its people and their variety. They should remain in that variety. They should protect that variety. The people who live here, they are the factor that is most important.
Through the generations, thousands of human beings have been thrust together to live out their lives in the vibrant microcosm that is the Old City of Jerusalem. Bound by their fierce connection to the city, despite their differences, the pressures of the years, the violence and suffering, the resilience of these people and the city itself has preserved its timeless qualities. Even in our era of materialism and uncertainty, the concepts of love, rebirth, brotherhood and peace still shine forth from within the walls of Jerusalem.
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