Although our minds were elsewhere, we couldn't take care of any business on the Sabbath, so we decided to wander around and check a couple things out. As you can imagine, there isn't a ton available to do on Saturdays. However, we discovered, by accident, that things are up and running in the old city.
We originally planned on walking to David's tomb and the windmill. I didn't want to go to the old city yet, because I wanted to be focused and ready and I wanted to read more about them before going in. David's tomb is right outside the old city, so we thought that would be plenty. We also found that the room of the Lord's Supper was in the same complex as David's tomb. We thought we'd go check those out and head back to the hotel.
It was about a 20 minute walk and when we arrived some rando guy hollered for us that David's tomb was "this way". We headed that direction but he kept walking with us and telling us about everything around. He also asked two offensive questions, "are you from Texas?" and "are you brother and sister". Oh. My. Gosh. As soon as I get back to the states, the red hair goes. And it's not my fault there is CONSTANT and INTENSE sun here making my freckles darken and multiply like bunnies. And the Texas thing...what? Come on...I was only there for 5 weeks, my IQ only dropped a couple points, was it that obvious? I haven't even been using my (perfect) east Texas accent! We weren't completely sure what this guy was up to, though we both had a feeling he was some sort of money hungry weirdo. He kept talking so fast and was so forceful that it was hard to get a word in. It was all confirmed when he nearly forced us to take a picture of the statue of David. Then we told him we weren't gonna give him money so he could stop playing tour guide. He said we were dressed well so we must be rich and we could afford to pay him. Gee, thanks....? Somewhere in the world a student's income and an unemployed income is considered rich, but certainly not in the USA, and absolutely not in Jerusalem.
We finally got rid of him and made our way to the room of the Lord's supper. This is not the very room where it took place, that one was destroyed. But they are pretty sure it was on or near this exact site, and this was a replica built by the crusaders. I at first wondered what the point of it was then. It just seemed to fake to me, "this might be what it looked like, and it is probably where it was" hmmm, yay? But when we got in, you really could picture it happening there, and I was a bit humbled. I had been having a pretty bad attitude about it. And aside from whether or not it is the exact place or a replica, hundred and thousands of people go through it, many of whose purpose is just to worship God, and that in itself is pretty powerful. Sometimes we get caught up in our little worlds of going to church followed by going to lunch on Sundays, seeing our friends, and doing church activities, which is absolutely fine. But you don't always realize or think about all the people all over the world who are worshiping the same God, but have a different way of doing it. That part was pretty powerful. I guess my point is that with all the many different religions out there, it's cool to see them all come together here seeking God, which ultimately is the whole point, and the most important thing.
David's tomb. Ok, sounds awesome, right? It was sort of ruined for me for a couple of reasons. First of all, again, I question the legitimacy of this. They don't even know for sure if any bones are in there at all. But ok, say they are, and say they're David's. That's really cool! But you walk into this seemingly normal dingy office looking room with a large, long hodge podge of plastic and pipes and boards dividing the room into two UNEQUAL parts. At the Holy sites, it is traditional for the Jewish people to separate gender. So one side was women's, one side was men's. The men had to wear a hat before they could go in. But guess who's side was tiny? THE WOMEN'S. You walk in, there are about 3 chairs in front of 1/3 of the tomb/casket which is covered in red velvet, and a giant divider from the other side so you couldn't see over. I peeked in the men's, the room was large with a lot of space and chairs for people to sit and stand, and they got to see 2/3 of the tomb. I realize this is Jewish tradition. But it just made me so angry! It seemed so unfair! I understand that I probably need to read up more on my Jewish traditions and I'm sure there is way way WAY more to it than equality. But as it was with my ignorant ways, I was very annoyed at this set up. Then while I was waiting for Skye to get out of the giant men's side, the weirdo came up to me again and told me to get in there to look at the tomb. I told him I was just in there, but he apparently didn't believe me and insisted that I was lying about having already been in there. I wanted to hit him.
This didn't take nearly as long as expected. We kept wandering around and with no effort ended up in the old city! We had been on Mount Zion and left through the Zion Gate! That was pretty cool! Also ran into some Germans on the way, which hearing German now is a huge comfort. Who knew that would ever happen!
We had plenty of time left in the day still so we just kept walking. A different snaggle toothed man came up and tried to be our tour guide again, but he was at least polite and asked, and when we said no he left us alone.
I didn't originally want to venture into the old city, I felt like I wanted to mentally prepare to see these places where Jesus had walked spent time. But we sort of came upon it and couldn't stop ourselves. We quickly came to the Wailing or the Western Wall. This was really cool, and Holly had told me so much about it from when she visited so I was really excited to see it. We began going toward it, but were stopped because it was separated and we were on the woman's side so Skye had to go to the men's side. I continued on and tried to prepare my heart to see and touch the place where they say the Divine never leaves. This was a slightly difficult concept to me as I was taught in church that the God/ The Divine NEVER leaves you in the first place. Again I was moved by the many people from all over the world coming there to pray to the same God. People also wrote their prayers on little pieces of paper and stuck them into the cracks of the wall. I didn't have anything to write on, and figured I could prepare something at home another time and bring it. (hehe, that's the really cool part about living here!!!!!) I did get to touch the wall and spend a few minutes taking it all in.
As I was walking back out to find Skye, I noticed again that the men's section was more than double the size of the women's and I again felt a bit of rage. Even after the concentration and focus on God at the wall. Maybe something is wrong with me! But come on, the women's side was so PACKED you had to wait a while before you could even touch the wall, and the men each had about 5 or more feet between them.
We continued walking around and made it through almost every quarter of it. We were going to go to the Dome of the Rock, but it was closed for the day. The little streets of the Old City are really cool! There are all kinds of touristy shops set up, some had really cool authentic things to sell, others looked like they just returned from China with boxes of cheap worthless items that will go to the dollar stores in America if they don't sell here. Then we made our way through market areas with fresh food. This led us to the meat section of the market part, which nearly turned me vegetarian. Nothing in that section could have POSSIBLY been safe to eat. It smelled rotten, looked disgusting and was sooooo strong and putrid I was literally gagging. Thankfully that's not where I go for food!!!
By this time the heat was getting to us, we had been walking forever and decided to head back to the hotel. The walk home was treacherous! I mentioned in my first blog that everything is made of the same stone, right? Well, many of the sidewalks and walking paths are too. It's a beautiful stone, but it gets really shiny...so therefore it gets really slick. Even in tennis shoes it's slippery. We had to walk up a huge hill to get to the tomb where we orginally started. Walking down that was like walking down an icy hill. It was terrifying! But then this local guy was in his dress shoes and literally ran right by us. He didn't slide anywhere. So maybe you get used to it?
Anyways, it was an interesting and very productive day on the touristy front!
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| Room of the Lord's Supper |
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| David's Tomb (taken by Skye in the big men's section) |
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| Zion's Gate! |
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| in front of Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall |
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| Streets in the old city |
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| more streets |
It is still amazing to me that you are going to spend most of a year in the holy city. I am jealous! Be safe and have lots of fun! I love you!
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool!
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe it's comforting to know that even if David's bones had been in there at one point, they'd definitely be decayed to dust or nothingness now, I think! He WAS buried in Jerusalem, and he WAS a very famous king, so it would make sense that at least the location of his tomb would still be known.... except the Jews did get taken into exile for a long time... so really, who knows. But I just finished reading the Samuels and all the stuff David did there and I'm about to start reading about Soloman building the temple that YOU WENT TO!!! WOW!!