A Trip to the Jewish and Christian Quarters of Jerusalem
We woke on our first day in Jerusalem at nearly 11am, a hefty 8 hour sleep in our belt but still aching everywhere from the previous day's activities. We started slowly, planning to make our way to the market for lunch before figuring out how to spend the rest of our afternoon before more friends met us from Tel Aviv. As we wandered the streets of our neighbourhood, we were struck by how quiet the city seemed, how empty the streets were. The holiday had made a ghost town of Jerusalem and as we made our way through the boarded up market stalls, unable to spot an open food vendor or coffee shop, our stomachs' growling increasing, we started to get a little worried. Through doorways we saw Orthodox Jews dancing and celebrating the end of Sukkot, a harvest festival and the celebration of the new cycle of Torah readings for the year. Surprisingly, the closer we got to the Old City, what we had presupposed to be the more religious and thereby less lively centre of town, the more activity we saw. After a quick pitstop at Aroma and a fresh pomegranate juice, we were revived and set out to explore the unbelievably complex, fascinating, historically-rich centre of all three of the world's major religions.
Our first path took us through Jaffa Gate, into the Christian quarter of the city amongst the many vendor stalls set up in the dense stone corridor system within the city walls. We made our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where three major aspects of the Christian faith are held, one being the stone Jesus was prepared for funeral rites upon, another his tomb, another being the location of his crucifixion (Cavalry). It is a site of pilgrimage for Christians all around the world and it is hugely impressive, if not for its significance to the faith, then for its grandeur.
Our next stop took us to the Jewish quarter of the city - the largest and most dense with vendors. We wove through wares of linens, and jewelry, making our way to the Western Wall, or Wailing Wall. This Wall is the only remaining piece of Jerusalem's most significant Temple. It was destroyed by the Romans, and has become another of Jerusalem's key pilgrimage sites for contemplation and prayer, this time for the Jewish community. We spent a few moments at the wall, each of us taking care to place our hands and foreheads against the wall, and saying a few words of meaning. The feeling I had here was quite indescribable. There is a real energy in this place, you can feel it through your whole body - whether it be the hundreds of years of history or the countless prayers spoken in its direction each day.
By this time it was nearly sunset and we made our way to the Mount of Olives to see the sun sink over the city and reflect on the golden light shimmering from the Dome of the Rock. The Muslim call to prayer floated from the loudspeakers affixed to the mosque.
That evening we checked out a restaurant in the Mahane Yehuda market, following a quick pitstop for a pastry to tide us over. The market was open again after sunset's end to the holiday and we ended up ordering Jachnuns - vegetarian wraps with egg, pickles, parsley, hummus, tomatoes, and various sauces. The wrap was a thick, soft, warm bread, freshly flipped in front of us as we ordered.
The rest of the evening we sat on the patio of BeerBazaar, a craft beer hall in the market, after finishing our wraps so we didn't disrupt the kosher guidelines of separating meat and dairy products. We watched army boys with braces walk by carrying their AKs - jolting at first but slowly adjusting to this Israeli norm, talking about life, friends, relationships, school, work, and how we are all navigating the uncertainty of life in our 20s. Same conversations as the best kind of night out with friends, only this time, in Israel.
Interested to read more about another of Jerusalem’s city quarters? My next post takes you to the Muslim quarter as well as the Mahane Yehuda market!
