HISTORY IN JERUSALEM: JEWISH

This year Jerusalem celebrates 3,000 years of the City of David, when the
King entered the city and made it his capital, rather than Hebron. It was a
fortress city that David took from the local Jebusites (II Samuel 5:9) and
further built up the area. It is located south east of the current Old City
as a jetty of land between the Kidron and Tyropoeon Valleys and above the
juncture of the Hinnom Valley. 

Gehenna (Ben Hinnom) was the name of this valley in Hebrew. At one time the
city inhabitants sacrificed their children by fire to the "pagan" gods in
the valley (II Chronicles 28:3.) Later it was used as a dump that burned
day and night. Gehenna became one of the names of Hell, "where their worm
does not die, and the fire is not quenched."

Today, the "City of David" area is undergoing heavy archeological
excavation. David also brought here the Ark of the Covenant (featured in
the first Indiana Jones movie.) His son, Solomon built a temple for it the
area north and uphill from the City of David on Mount Moriah. About a
thousand years earlier, the patriarch Abraham came to this place to
sacrifice his son Isaac.

The Temple was completed in 959 BC, but destroyed by the invading
Babylonians in 586 BC. With the defeat of Babylon by Cyrus of Persia,
the Jews began to rebuild the Temple, but in 20 BC a great remodeling
campaign began under Herod the Great (from the Christmas story.)
It was not completed in his lifetime, but took several decades more.
In 70 AD, following a Jewish uprising, Titus of Rome entered Jerusalem
and destroyed the city.

All that was left standing of the Temple was the walls. The Western Wall,
or the Wailing Wall remains one of the holiest places for Jews.  Today you
can go there in any weather, day or night, and find people praying. I was
there after 11 pm under drizzling skies and there were quite a few people
there. There is a large plaza before the Wall, accessible only after going
through a guard check point. The plaza has been expanded in modern times,
and is used for military, civil, and religious ceremonies. Young boys will
have their Bar Mitzpuh here, and newlyweds will come here after their
wedding and before their honeymoon to pray.

The plaza has a men's side and a women's side separated by a partition
that you cannot see through. There is quite a spectrum of people there.
Christian tourists come, for Jesus walked here 2,000 years ago, or rather
30-40 feet lower than the current street level.  And Japanese tourists,
by the bus loads.  But especially observant Jews, conservative, reformed,
orthodox, and Hasidic Jews of several groups with different styles of
fur hats. All are to have hats to pray, and cardboard hats are available
at the entrance. I once momentarily removed my English-style cap to fix
my hair and got a finger wagged at me.

Some men rock when they pray aloud, for they pray with their whole body.
A few wear philactories, small boxes with scriptures inside tied to
their head, hands, etc. with ribbon, obeying the command to "bind the
Law upon your head...". Along the side of the wall is a covered area,
almost a cavern, used when the weather gets bad.  There are cabinets of
the Torah (Law scroll) and shelves of prayer books and books on the Law.
There are shafts, covered by plexiglass, which go down to the level of
the ancient pavement about 40 feet below.

The Wall itself is covered by a permanent oil stain, from the years of
people touching it with their hands and heads. And in the cracks of the
stones are tiny rolls of paper, with prayers written upon them. Beyond and
behind the wall is the Temple mount where once stood the Temple. Now it is
the precinct of the Islamic mosque, the Dome of the Rock. But that is
another story.

	Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian