Joe Yudin owns Touring Israel, a company that specializes in “Lifestyle” tours of Israel.
There
are ten measures of beauty in the world-nine in Jerusalem and one in
the rest of the world. There are ten measures of suffering in the
world-nine in Jerusalem and one in the rest of the world. There are ten
measures of wisdom in the world-nine in Jerusalem and one in the rest of
the world. There are ten measures of smooth talk in the world-nine in
Jerusalem and one in the rest of the world. There are ten measures of
Torah in the world-nine in Jerusalem and one in the rest of the world.
-Avot de Rabbi Natan, B.This late period midrash (around
the 8th century CE) explains Jerusalem perfectly even until this day.
There is no place on earth like Jerusalem, its beauty is unique and very
special, and its history and holiness are almost immeasurable. There is
also a dark side to Jerusalem: its politics, its sectarian friction,
and its history of being destroyed and rebuilt over and over again.
Walking
through Jaffa Gate in the Old City we pass the ramparts walk entrance
and bathrooms immediately to the left, then the tourist offices and the
“Tomb of the Architects.” Pass the first street on your left and then
take your next left through an arched gateway next to a kiosk, seemingly
entering a building but in actually it’s an alleyway. Check out the
ceilings under the arches and continue to a small circular opening next
to a café. You will be standing next to a lamppost, but take a closer
look at the pillar holding up the lamp. There is Latin writing engraved
on it. This pillar marks the spot of the headquarters for the Roman
governor of Judea, “Marcus Iunius Maximus…Legate of the Tenth Legion of
the Sea Straits.” The infamous Tenth Legion, previously led by Octavian
Augustus which defeated both Sextus Pompei and Mark Anthony, also
participated in the siege of Jerusalem and its destruction in the year
70 CE, first under the command of Vespasian and later his son Titus.
During
the Titus led, Tenth Legion’s siege of the Temple Mount complex, the
Temple itself caught fire and the Jewish priests threw the keys to
Jerusalem and the Temple into the burning ambers of the Temple
proclaiming “Master of the Universe! Since we have not been privileged
to become Thy faithful ministers, let these keys been entrusted to Thy
hands!” Go back through the alley the way you came. When you see
daylight, the complex across the street is the “Tower of David” or “The
Citadel”. Walk up to the moat. You can clearly see the different styles
of stones in layers, the oldest being Maccabean, the finely cut
rectangles of King Herod and later period stones including Arab,
Crusader and Mamluke, all the way up to the Ottoman turrets. Titus kept
this tower intact as a monument to his troops' success during this first
Jewish revolt, and used it as the base for his tenth Legion. One of the
causes of the Jewish War was the Roman brutality of the Jews. Florus,
1st century Roman Protectorate of Judea was known to have crucified many
Jews here as Josephus writes “The soldiers… caught many of the quiet
people, and brought them before Florus, whom he first chastised with
stripes, and then crucified. Accordingly, the whole number of those that
were destroyed that day, with their wives and children…was about
3,600.”
Continue around the bend of the main street passing the
citadel; pass the police station and some very cool Armenian shops, pubs
and restaurants. Until you get to an arch passing over the main road.
Beyond the arch to the left is the Cathedral of St. James and well worth
a visit, but we are taking a left before the arch onto St. James
Street. Wind down St. James Street and cross through an intersection and
descend down into the Jewish Quarter. Notice how the buildings change
from medieval to twentieth century. This is due to the fact that the
Jordanian army and Palestinian residents completely destroyed the Jewish
Quarter after ethnically cleansing it of Jews in 1948. Only did the
capture of the quarter in 1967 lead to the more recent construction,
albeit almost every stone and wall that was still standing was
incorporated into the new construction.
St.
James St. turns into Or HaHaim Street and to your right is the Old
Yeshuv Court Museum which is well worth a visit to see what Jewish life
was like in the Old City between the 16th and 20th centuries. The museum
is built in the house where The ARI, Rabbi Itzik Luria was born and where Rabbi Mordechai
Weingarten lived during the siege of the Jewish Quarter in 1948. On the
night of the 13th of May, the Rabbi heard a knock on his door. When he
answered it he saw a Regiment of British soldiers lined up in formation.
Their officer presented Rabbi Weingarten with the keys to the city
before withdrawing from Jerusalem forever. Could this finally be a sign
that the messianic age was upon us, thought the Rabbi? As the Battle of
Jerusalem began the rabbi said a prayer, “Blessed are You, Lord our God,
King of the universe, who has kept us alive, and sustained us, and
enabled us to reach this moment.”
Walk down to the bottom of the
street to Habad Street. Down the stair and to your right is a pit with a
row of columns. Stand on the platform over the pit. From the columns to
the right are a series of arched rooms. The columns once supported a
wooden roof that stretched to the rooms. This was the sidewalk and
shopping mall of second century CE Jerusalem called the Cardo. Only half
of the street is visible to the left of the pillars and the rest is
buried under 1800 years of rubble to which the 21th century street is
paved. Behind you are stairs going down into the Cardo. Go down,
underground and you will come out into the recently refurbished Cardo
built by Hadrian around the year 135 CE.
After the Hadrian Decrees, banning the practice of Judaism in the Roman
Empire, were enacted, the Jews again, revolt from Rome, led by Rabbi
Akiva and his general Bar Kochba who was declared Messiah. Initially,
the Jewish army expelled the Roman forces, but about three years later
Hadrian led a push against the rebels led by the Tenth Legion. Two
thirds of the Roman Army was needed to bring this revolt to its heals
and after the war Hadrian destroyed Jerusalem and rebuilt it again this
time as purely pagan city. This Cardo was his main street of the city.
The Cardo was later refurbished by the Crusaders and then by the
Israelis. Take some time to explore the shops. Exit the Cardo and make
your way to the Hurva Square and then down towards the Western Wall. Do
not enter the Western Wall Plaza but turn right, cross the road by the
traffic circle and go down the stairs to the incredible archaeological
gardens at Davidson Center. Here you can explore the ruins of the
structures in and around the Temple Mount that were destroyed by
Vespasian, Titus and the Tenth Legion. The museum and movie there are
also well worth a visit.
Joe Yudin
became a licensed tour guide in 1999. He completed his Master’s degree
at the University of Haifa in the Land of Israel Studies and is
currently studying toward a PhD.