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<\/a>Along the southern wall at dusk<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Walking outside the walls is almost as interesting as walking in the Old City itself.\u00a0 Though the current walls, built by the Ottomans, are only about 5-600 years old, you can see Crusader and even earlier foundations in many places.\u00a0 The walls around the Haram al Sharif\/Temple Mount even contain large hewn stones, most probably from Herod\u2019s era, which were used to rebuild the walls.\u00a0 These large stones were likely pulled from rubble of the Roman\u2019s sack of Jerusalem in 70 AD.\u00a0 The two of us discovered paths running along the walls close enough to let us touch the historic stones and wonder what these walls have seen over the centuries.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Ancient blocks, used and re-used<\/p><\/div>\n
We pass Zion Gate, the southwest entrance into the city.\u00a0 The outside face of this 500 year old gate is pock-marked with bullet holes from the 1967 war when Jordanian troops fired from within the city and Israeli troops fired from without.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Pockmarked with the traces of war<\/p><\/div>\n
Walking along the south side of the city, we enjoy a stunning view south toward, though not of, Bethlehem.\u00a0 The white stone houses seem to line the sides of the hills from valley to peak, coating them like paint from a giant paintbrush.\u00a0 Closer up we see Arab families sitting together on their flat rooftops waiting for the end of the Ramadan fast for the day so they can eat their evening (and first) meal.\u00a0 I love seeing fathers with their children, chatting, laughing, sharing special moments together.\u00a0 We pass Dung Gate, the entrance nearest the Western Wall, the holiest place in Judaism, but we don\u2019t go in; we\u2019ve seen it before and besides, our goal today is to skirt the outside.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Stone houses lining the hills<\/p><\/div>\n
We walk to the Kidron valley which separates the Mount of Olives from the eastern wall of Jerusalem.\u00a0 The valley is lined, filled and loaded with a plethora of tombs: rows upon rows, ranks upon ranks of them.\u00a0 Since the Messiah is supposed to arrive on that side of town, (Jerusalem is His company town, right?) the people buried there will have a front row seat for the end of the world.\u00a0 The other day I met a guy in the funeral business.\u00a0 He told me a burial plot there costs $8,000.\u00a0 Looking down into the valley, we see three Arab boys riding donkeys on a path in front of tall, ancient tombs: Absalom\u2019s, Zechariah\u2019s, and the sons of Hezir\u2019s.\u00a0 Seeing the riders I rub my eyes and do a double-take.\u00a0 I\u2019m actually looking at boys riding donkeys along an ancient path next to ancient tombs, some 2,000 years old or older!<\/p>\n
<\/a>Riding donkeys among the tombs<\/p><\/div>\n
We look around, take pictures, and marvel at this lovely though stark antiquity not 30 minutes walk from our house when the chanting begins.\u00a0 As if on cue, calls to prayer from many mosques were being broadcast from many different speakers at the same moment.\u00a0 From where we were on one side of the valley we could hear the eerie, mysterious chanting above us, below us, reverberating all around us.\u00a0 The echoes of the voices of many imams calling faithful Muslims to prayer mixed together, joining, separating, and joining again, to provide a musical counterpoint to the gradually setting sun and lengthening shadows.\u00a0 The moment was magical.\u00a0 I wanted to capture it somehow, by camera or sound recorder, yet such a sensual experience defies recording.\u00a0 We walked home, once again in awe of the honor it is to be living in Jerusalem, surrounded by history, passion, faith.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Modern tombs crowding the base of the Mount of Olives<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
October, 2005 Hello from Jerusalem, During the month of October we had an unusual number of holidays including our own Columbus Day and a series of four Israeli holidays.\u00a0 We took advantage of this time to explore parts of Israel … Continue reading