Jerusalem Old and New: A Living Contradition

Jerusalem is a contradiction:  Old and new, ancient and modern, orthodox and profane, as well as everything in between.

No matter your religious bent, I think it’s safe to say no one could fail to be impressed by Jerusalem’s many faces and its history.

Our modern hotel sat only a mile from Old City Jerusalem. (I would have discovered this my first day in the city if I’d only turned left instead of right on my walk.)

There were only 22 of us, plus Gila, on the field trip but we were provided with a large 47-passenger coach. That meant that we could spread out if we wished. We quickly discovered that ours was only one of hundreds on Jerusalem streets that day. Traffic was a snarl of cars vs. a huge number of tour buses at all the famous sites.

Our first stop was the Mt. of Olives, which overlooked the eastern wall of the Old City. As we were there, a mass wedding took place just below us. As each couple was wed, another stepped in for their ceremony. All of that featured a backdrop of Jerusalem’s Old City, with the golden Dome of the Rock front-and-center.

Under the Chuppah - Weddings on the Mt. of Olives

From the Mount of Olives it was possible to see many other city sites below, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdelene with its golden onion domes glittering in the sunlight , the Church of All Nations  at the Garden of Gethsemane, the old train depot, which is now a modern shopping center and the excavations taking place at the City of David. Some of these sights we’d see more closely on days following.

Below:  Church of All Nations at Gethsemane
Above:  The onion domes of the Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdelene

Gila astounded us with an incredible amount of information about each site we visited. Some of us took copious notes. I wasn’t one of those; I simply noted the name of each spot as best I could in my phone to research later, thus the links that accompany this and future blogposts.

Gila explaining the scene in front of us

If I stayed here a thousand years, I don’t think I’d ever tire of seeing this view:

Jerusalem Old and New

As I write this two weeks after my return, I am amazed at how many of the details have escaped my memory despite my determination to remember them.