A City of Three Layers

On my first morning in Jerusalem I woke up at five a.m. to the Muslim call to prayer (as I have every other morning since I’ve been here). Although it is certainly an early wake up call, it’s a nice reminder that I am indeed in the Holy Land.

On Thursday after orientation we split up into groups and went on a walking tour of Jerusalem. It’s a very strange thing to walk through a city that has seen so much history. At one of our meetings one professor described Jerusalem as a city of three layers.

One layer is the city’s very rich history, a history that shaped not only the people who lived here, but Jews, Muslims and Christians throughout the entire world. The layers of history were visible as we walked through the city. We saw the walls of the Old City, which have been destroyed and rebuilt and attacked several times. We walked through streets that have still have stones from the Roman roads – streets that literally ran with blood during the Crusades. We passed the Mount of Olives, – in fact we live right next to the Mount of Olives – we passed the Garden Tomb, the Dome of the Rock and Church of the Holy Sepulchre. (Of course I plan on returning many times and visiting each of these places.)

Another layer is the present, which was also visible as we walked through a living, breathing city very much alive with people – little Palestinian kids on their way home from school and the many merchants at their stalls. Apparently the merchants are all very happy to have the BYU students back after the seven years during which the Center was closed. Many of them recognized us right away as the Mormons and wanted us to come look at their stores. I think my favourite was Shaaban who came and found us and led us through the meat market and asked us to come look at his store. We told him we couldn’t buy anything that day but he said told us to remember his Ali Baba BYU store and sure enough there above the store it actually said Ali Baba Souvenir Shop and just beneath it, it said BYU Store. Before we could go, he wanted to show us his picture with Steve Young in front of the store, which he proudly displays in the window.

The present city of Jerusalem as in the past is a city of conflict, which was also visible to us. We went to the roof of a hostel reserved for Austrian pilgrims to view the Old City and the view was indescribable. It had been overcast and rainy all morning but when we got up there the sun came out and was glinting off the domes of the various cathedrals that surrounded the hostel. Anyway, we were in an area of Jerusalem that was primarily Palestinian but from the rooftop we saw an Israeli flag flying from one of the houses. Apparently some of the Zionists will buy property in the Muslim quarter – usually for a very large sum of many – and live there in order to establish a Jewish presence in the city. To counter this, the Muslim community has been banding together offering more for the properties so save them from falling into Jewish hands. I just thought that was an interesting example right there in front of our eyes of the ongoing conflict.

The rest of the walk took us to the more modern side of Jerusalem. It is a strange juxtaposition to step out of the Old City to a modern one. Of course there are still reminders that we are not in North America.

The third layer of the city is its future, which has been prophesied about including the Second Coming of Christ.

Of course I have just barely caught a glimpse of the city really, in fact I feel a little bit guilty about sitting here at my computer when I should be taking it all in outside. But I believe one way I will make the most of my experience is by recording it and sharing it.