In the Middle of Everything

Our first full day really set the tone for the entire trip. Ostensibly, the theme for today was the exploration of the dominant cultures and ethnicities that have historically made Jerusalem their home. By looking at them closely and examining how they have co-existed, as well as at the attendant tensions, we became more aware of how the city has absorbed these traditions in quite a unique way.

We began at Robinson’s Arch, located at the southern end of the Western Wall, where we davened, standing on excavated stones dating back to Roman times and looking up at the Wall as it appeared to passersby some two thousand years ago. Because the Kotel is considered an orthodox synagogue, we were not be able to hold egalitarian prayer services there and had to make do with the more removed, but also more private and quiet, area of the wall. From there, we made our way up to the Temple Mount and saw the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock up close, while discussing the reality of what it means for Jews not to be able to freely visit the Temple Mount and why the situation historically turned out this way. For nearly everyone in our group, this was the first time we were able to ascend up, which proved to be a deeply reflective experience.

After this immersion in the Jewish and Muslim experience of the Temple Mount, we made our way across the Jewish and Muslim quarters of the Old City to the Christian Quarter, where we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site considered by Christians to be the location of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus, which makes it among the holiest of sites of Christianity and explains a great deal of the importance of Jerusalem for those of the Christian faith. Weaving around the tight and ancient spaces of the Old City, we had a solid break for lunch and reconvened at the City of David, an archaeological site just outside the Old City that houses some of the very first remains of a Jewish presence in Jerusalem, dating back over three thousand years. Buried under ground during Jordanian rule over East Jerusalem, it was discovered shortly after 1967 and has since also become home to some 80 Jewish families who consider it to be the true heart of Jewish Jerusalem and have made it a point to live here. We were privileged to visit the home of one of these families and hear about the views of those choosing to live here and their responses to questions about what it means to live in contested territory.

After the City of David, our evening was spent listening to a speaker from a group called Ma’aglei Tzedek that specializes in licensing Israeli businesses, mostly in the food service industry, in just and humane conditions for their customers and workers. Because Israeli laws concerning handicapped access and employee rights have a difficult time being enforced, this group has taken it upon itself to get businesses to agree to its standards, thereby ensuring that justice is carried out in this way. Our day concluded with dinner on Emek Refaim street, a quaint bohemian neighborhood full of restaurants and shops.

One of the areas we are looking at closely during our trip is the intersection of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian histories, religions, and cultures and how all of them have legitimate and important stakes in Jerusalem. Some parts of this complex relationship have been worked out, such as the division of the Old City, but some parts, such as the final status of East Jerusalem, have not and remain thorny and intricate dilemmas to be resolved. By actually looking at the situation on the ground, learning about the history and the current reality, and speaking out about our views and opinions, our students are getting important real life insights into how Jerusalem operates in real time. While we are far from any conclusions, today was an energizing and tremendously thoughtful start to our journey.