Jerusalem
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| The Old City (from Talpiot Promenade) August 2013 |
Hebrew - Jerusalem (Yerushalayim, possibly "city of peace" or "foundation")
القدس
Arabic - Jerusalem (but often known as Al-Quds, "holy place")
This dusty little town sitting in the Judean Mountains that I called home for a little over a year, is a magical, confounding, frustrating, exhausting, shabby-dirty-rundown, majestic, spectacular place. It is all those things and more at once. Anytime I ever felt I'd had enough of Jerusalem I would head to the coast (Tel Aviv) breathe in the humid (if polluted) air of the Mediterranean and focus outward. Or a bit further north (Ha-Bonim closer to Haifa).
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| Ha Bonim Beach (September 2013) |
That's something that's hard to do in Jerusalem: look outward. Many people across the world keep a watchful eye on Jerusalem; it has the second largest press corps in the world (just behind Washington, DC). As it turns out, Jerusalem itself is a parochial town. It looks inward and is rather self-absorbed.
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| The Bunting Clover Leaf Map, 1581 |
In this famous rendering, Jerusalem sits at the centre of the then known world, at the nexus of Europe, Asia, and Africa (with America far off). The Americas are still far away, and Jerusalem has become less the centre of the world. In the 21st Century many who were raised in the yoke of an Abrahamic religion (or at least the cultural leftovers of them) don't practice religion, and have become less attached to the place where it all started. Despite that big press corps, little is actually said about Jerusalem itself. When Jerusalem is in the news it is often the place from which news about the simmering region is shared or an update on another round of peace talks. (Or it's a story of a record snowfall!) Unsurprisingly, politics and human rights dominate the current events reported from Jerusalem.
From far away it's hard to get a sense of what Jerusalem is today. It is all that religious history, plus a new city that grew up during an ongoing sovereignty dispute. All sorts of people have passed through this place and many maintain claims to certain bits of it. What will happen to Jerusalem? Will it be the capital of two states? Who knows? Meanwhile, beyond the Old City walls and the explosive political situations, people (in all three of the major communities) get on with life. Here's one list of reasons to love Jerusalem.
Life in Jerusalem can't be described as easy or certain. It's often exasperating. It's complicated. It's deeply human and connected. I love Canada; I'm happy to be here. I will always miss Jerusalem.
