Jerusalem part 3: Relics of Conflict

The Middle East.

What kind of images does that bring to your mind?

Flowers? Kittens? Happy people swimming with their families? Surfing and tattoos?

They have all of that!

But what you’re about to read still concerns religion, walls, conflict and history. The kind of things that generally come to mind when you see the words “Middle East”.

Let’s start with the topic of religion.

It’s a loaded word; religion. For many it encompasses a spiritual quest, a code of ethics to live by, and practices that show the adherence of the believer. For others it comes as a shallow routine of doing what one is told to do. For even more people it’s simply an identity. 

As humans we’ve had a long lasting problem of focusing on physical things and neglecting the spiritual. However, selling idols, ritual objects, and religious paraphernalia has been good business for thousands of years! So we can’t expect it to end any time soon. And to be fair, buying religious trinkets is no problem. Putting faith in them is.

Something that I’m always mystified by is when people get very emotional over symbols. A good example comes in the first video I’m attaching here. There are people gathering around a large slab of stone, kissing it, praying over it, and crying over it. I’ve seen people do this at the western wall, but somehow it’s different here. Maybe it’s because I have a bias against certain styles of religion? Maybe it’s because the slab of stone is nothing in and of itself, and merely a symbol of the stone the body of Christ may have lay on.

The upcoming video takes place in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. (Sepulchre = tomb.) The church was built in the 300’s, commissioned by the mother of Emperor Constantine. On a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, she came across a Roman shrine to the god Venus. She teamed up with a bishop and somehow convinced the rulers at the time to allow them to demolish the shrine and dig in the area, which she already believed to be where Christ was crucified. They found 3 crosses and declared it to be Calvary. They somehow understood the site of the crucifixion to also be is where the burial spot of Christ was. So they dug up the area, recreated a tomb, and built a church around it. It has since then been a great spot for locals to sell overpriced religious trinkets to the constant influx of pilgrims and tourists.

Before I shot the video I couldn’t remember the names of all the denominations that share space in the church. They are six in total. Roman Catholic, Armenian Apostolic, Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Ethiopian, and Coptic. Another fun fact is that they have a hard time agreeing on how to run the church. So much so, that they couldn’t agree on who’s job it is to lock the door. To fix the issue, the key to the church is now managed by Muslims!

Next up on our list of Middle Eastern topics are some walls.
For the cost of 18 shekels I was able to access the ramparts of the walls of the old city. I hunted around to find some plastic armour, like the kind that children wear and pretend to be knights, so that I could make a video dressed like a medieval soldier walking over the ramparts of the city! These things turned out to be somewhat hard to find... Nevertheless, I did walk the ramparts, and shot a short video for you.

You’ll hear in this video the sounds of church bells and a sample of the Muslim call to prayer. These sounds are what would wake me up every morning living in the old city. The bells and the calls to prayer could all last up to 5 minutes each time. Think of it: 5 calls to prayer each day, and church bells going off almost as often. Each call to prayer would begin at one mosque, then another would chime in, then another, and another, and i think it would usually end up with about 5 mosques competing with each other. 

Every day.

The first call beginning at 4:30 am.

Followed shortly after by church bells.

Everyday.

At 5:00 am.

Then again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

At the end of that video you can hopefully see the separation wall that I zoomed in on. I didn't get a very close shot, so a few days later I went a lot closer! I took a day trip to Bethlehem with another friend from my hostel (there were a lot of great people there). We began our day at the wall where there is a museum that showcases the plight of the Palestinians. It certainly doesn’t paint a pretty picture, but it’s very slanted. The quick history that they give is very pop culture, in that it works up your emotions but doesn’t get very deep or insightful.

Being very pop culture does mean that there was a lot of cool art. The infamous street artist Banksy has many pieces there, some of which you'll see in the next video (the dove and the helicopter). It's encouraged for visitors to add their own graffiti. They even sell spray paint and stencils! The other pictures of the video are from the Nativity church and the Milky Grotto. The Grotto is where they believe Mary milked baby Jesus. Hence the name Milky Grotto! 

Bethlehem itself is actually a really cool place. Rolling hills make for interesting views on interesting streets. The Arabs there were friendly and hospitable. Sure, many of them wanted to capitalize on the fact that we were clearly tourists, but there was a group of 3 guys who I came across while walking down the street. One of them spoke English and he wanted to know who I was and what life was like where I’m from. He bought me a tea and I yapped with him for about half an hour on a busy corner.

Next on our list of topics we’ll look at some conflict and history. The following pieces come from the Israel Museum, a place where one needs at least a day, maybe two, to see and digest all the history.

This picture is an artists rendition of a Yom Kippur service. What makes it crazy is that this picture depicts Jews who were enlisted in the German army during WWI. The Germans allowed their Jewish recruits to observe their most holy day of the year. Things change fast, eh?

The next piece is from Assyria. The Assyrian age gives archeologists and historians undeniable extra-biblical testament to some of the Hebrew writings. The age of Assyrian rule takes place in line with the books of Kings and the Prophet Isaiah. These are, however, the earliest undisputed extra-biblical texts that refer to Israel. There are other inscriptions that mention biblical events that take place during the days of King David, and currently archeologists are digging up what is known as the city of David. However, many still do not feel convinced that the early Israelite kings can be agreed upon as historical fact, but rather only as possibility, if even that.

I didn't manage to capture a picture of the inscription discussed in the image below, but I thought to include the write up, as it gives an example of the kind of findings that we get to consider.

Onto the piece from Assyria:

I stared at this piece for awhile. I hope that the images you are looking at impress the same sense of amazement on you. While I looked at the section above I pondered the way these two men are laying down. Are they being crucified? Dragged? Thrown? Whatever is happening it sure doesn't look pleasant.

Below I have added two pictures that are basically the same. I made a close up to show the king's face (or lack thereof) because I thought it was curious that his face is missing. Did someone deface him on purpose? I like to think it was divine judgement that his image should not be remembered! But feel free to come to your own conclusion.

Sadly, the history of conflict in the region continues. We wait and hope for the day when the land will be at rest, when Jerusalem will have peace, Bethlehem will be prosperous, the people will dwell without walls, wolves and lambs will lay down together, and Glory will return to Zion.

May it come swiftly and in our day!
Goodbye for now, Jerusalem.