The Jaffa Gate

Today the Jaffa Gate is never closed, but from the days of the Sultan Suleiman, in the 16th century, when it was built until the beginning of the 20th century, it was closed, to protect the citizens of Jerusalem from being plundered and murdered by vicious nomadic tribes that came from the nearby Judean Desert, a fearful place, known in the Bible as the wilderness. 

In fact Suleiman inscribed warnings to all who entered to be righteous and God fearing, in Arabic on two plaques, carved into the white limestone, of which the gate is built, at the left of the gate as one enter and above the opening. 

The Jews, placed their warning, known as the Mezuza, which is a scroll inside a box, fixed onto the right doorpost as one enters, with the Biblical warning, the Shema, “Hear o Israel the Lord is our God, the Lord is one”.

As an additional warning to those who enter the gate Suleiman also buried two of the city’s builders there, where all who enter the city can see their graves and be warned of the penalty for not being God fearing. Today the details of their crime are considered legendary, namely that they misused funds in building a smaller wall that left out Mt. Zion, than was originally planned.

Suleiman like, the great king Solomon, his namesake, is known as the law giver and the builder. One might include Herod the great as one of the builders of Jerusalem, but Herod’s existence is not mentioned in the Koran and is therefore in doubt among the Moslems, which religious persuasion Suleiman was.

Suleiman named the gate, Bab el Halil, after father Abraham, who was known as the friend (halil in Arabic, bab el Halil=the gate of the friend) because, according to both Jewish and Moslem legends, he used to welcome travelers to his tent in the desert, offer them food and rest and teach them about God.

This name, like the names of many places, must have developed naturally, because citizens of Jerusalem used to gather at Bab el Halil to make the pilgrimage to Hebron (the city of the friend) where Abraham lived and is buried, 30 km South of Jerusalem.

Naturally the Mosque at the gate is also named after Abraham.

Suleiman had made Jerusalem a safe place for people to live and many people in his empire, the Ottoman Empire, took advantage of this, especially Jews, who had always longed to return to Jerusalem, but had been fearful of living in a city unprotected by a wall.

The Jews called the gate, the Jaffa Gate because mostly they had journeyed to Jerusalem from the harbor of Jaffa, where they arrived in the Promised Land from Turkey and from Europe.

After the Crimean War of 1853 the Ottoman Empire sought more contact with Russia and Europe. Christians made pilgrimages to the holy places and their countries built churches and hostels to provide for them. 

With the increasing numbers of Jews, Christians and Moslems visiting Jerusalem the Jaffa Gate became the main entrance to Jerusalem. It also became the main point of departure for Journeys throughout the Middle East and Egypt.

There was always a hustle and bustle of carriages, horses and travelers coming and going to and from the Jaffa Gate.

Famous people entered Jerusalem here with great pomp and ceremony; in 1867 the Emperor Franz Joseph entered here, Kaizer Willhelm of Germany entered here in 1898, Theodore Herzl stood here, hoping to meet the Kaizer, General Allenby marched through the Jaffa Gate in 1917 to declare the end of Ottoman rule over Jerusalem and the beginning of the British Mandate.

Leon Gork Israel Tour Guide.
http://www.jerusalemwalks.com

The Western Wall Tunnel

This archaeological excavation is under the houses of the Arab neighborhood of the Old City and makes it possible for the visitor to walk along a part of the Western Wall that had been hidden for nearly 2000 years.

A small part of the Western Wall, known as the Wailing Wall, has always been visible, since the time of the destruction. Jews have been going to pray there from time immemorial. But this tunnel, dug laboriously for 20 years from 1967 to 1987, provides one with a clear glimpse of the significance of the temple  that once was.

Stones buried deep underground kept their newness and look as if the temple was built only yesterday. The narrowness of the tunnel and the strong reinforcing prevent the Arab neighborhood above from being damaged. Above the tunnel the Arab population continues their lives undisturbed. In fact the exit of the tunnel is in that neighborhood and we walk back to the Western Wall that way.

Mt. Zion: The Upper Room.

The Upper Room is the name of the place selected by Jesus to celebrate the Passover meal.

In the times of Jesus the word “Upper” referred to the neighborhood of Jerusalem we call today Mt. Zion. It was a suburb of Jerusalem, inside the walls (The walls of today are from the 16th century, not from the time of Jesus).

In the days of Jesus an “upper room” could mean one or all of several places; an upstairs room of a building, an elegant room or a room in an elite neighborhood of Jerusalem

From history and archaeological excavations we know that the priests lived on Mt. Zion in quite luxurious dwellings, and they supplemented their income by renting rooms to pilgrims coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the three pilgrim festivals; Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles.

Jesus and His disciples, also came to Jerusalem to celebrate the festivals, however, stayed on the Mt. of Olives, possibly, being people of moderate means, they couldn’t afford the rent to stay on Mt. Zion for the whole duration of the feast, which was 8 days.

They could, however, afford to rent a luxury room for a few hours to celebrate the Passover meal in fitting elegance. This is, possibly, the reason why they return to Mt. of Olives after the meal and Jesus is betrayed there and not in the Upper Room.

The building in which we see the Upper Room today was built by the Crusaders(12th century.) over the tomb of David, and was used as a dining room of their Monastery of Mt. Zion.

The Crusaders believed that three events took place here: The burial of King David, The Last Supper and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

This belief is based on a verse in the Gospels where Peter, on the occasion of the Pentecost, says; “And David’s tomb is with us here to this day”. This places David’s Tomb and the Pentecost at the same site.

Pentecost is in turn connected to Passover because on Passover the Jews became a free people and, as free people they could accept G-d’s law, which they received on Mt. Sinai on the 50th day after Passover.

An additional factor uniting the three events is the Jewish tradition that David was born and died on Pentecost.

The prophet Isaiah says that “Torah”(knowledge of G-d) will go out from Zion and the word of the L-rd from Jerusalem.

The Wailing Wall

For 2000 years Jews have overcome all obstacles to visit the Wailing Wall. I had dreamed of coming here since I was very young and finally managed it in 1959.

Our tour guide pointed out the place of “Wall” from the rooftop of David’s tomb on Mt. Zion and I thought I could see it.

We couldn’t go there because it was in the Jordanian part of Jerusalem and Jews weren’t permitted.

I didn’t realize the pent up feelings I had for the “Wall” or the Jewish People until I finally visited the “Wall” in 1967, just after the 6 days war, I stood at the “Wall” and wept bitterly and uncontrollably because suddenly I realized the loss we suffered 2000 years ago wasn’t just a building called the “Temple”. It was much more than that:

It was as if I was standing up to my knees in the blood of my people just slaughtered by Titus’ Roman soldiers.

I felt as if I and all the Jewish people had just become homeless orphans wandering through a world seeking love and mercy from the nations for 2000 years.

The Jews became strangers in the world and the Bible had a law to protect strangers:

“And you shall do no wrong to a stranger or oppress him…..” “And you shall not afflict any widow or orphan.” Ex.22.

Unfortunately Christians didn’t observe this law and for 2000 years the nations of the world refused hospitality to the Jews. One could say that they had an opportunity to practice the law of caring for the stranger in their gates and did not take it. Instead they chased the Jews from pillar to post, persecuting them all those long 2000 years:

2000 years of wandering in vain.

In every nation they sought shelter and instead were cruelly persecuted by anti-Semitism.

Cruelty still abides in the world, the principles of love and mercy, denied to the Jews for 2000 years are still not applied and people and nations are still cruel to each other.

This is why we “Wail” at the “Wailing Wall”.

The Broad Wall

Jerusalem has many walls from many different periods. Today the most visible wall is the Turkish wall, built by Sultan Suleiman in the 16th cen.

The walls of the Biblical periods have been hidden under 2000 yrs of rubble.

The oldest and most famous wall, the Broad wall, mentioned by Nehemia(1), was hidden under 3000 yrs of rubble. Nobody, excepting the Jews, had any interest in removing the rubble to discover the ancient walls. They didn’t want the world to see that Jerusalem was a Jewish city. They thought it could always remain hidden, like the Jewish people it remained hidden for nearly 2000 yrs.

The Jewish People have a good reason for discovering ancient walls of Jerusalem. The walls are symbols of Jewish sovereignty and G-d’s protection over them.

Even though man, physically, builds walls to protect himself, the Bible gives the credit to G-d. G-d is the builder of Jerusalem. The physical existence of Jerusalem is only a symbol of the true protector of the Jewish people.(2),

When king Hezekia built the broad wall in 700 BCE (3) it was to protect the city against the Assyrian army of Senacherib. Hezekia, however didn’t rely on the wall, he prayed to G-d to protect the city(4). The plague that G-d sent on the Assyrians is saved the city not the wall.

We have returned to Jerusalem and are rebuilding it. We should always be aware, however, like Hezekia, that our act is only symbolical, however real and successful it may appear. The true builder is God.

You can see the Broad Wall today in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. It was revealed by Israeli archaeologists in 1974. The amazing thing is that they found it almost accidentally. They were really called in by the builders who were busy rebuilding the destroyed Jewish Quarter.

They were preparing the Jewish Quarter for modern day Jews wanting to return to Jerusalem of ancient times.

The discovery of the wall was a sensation. It showed that the place where the Jews were going to live was the exact place where Jerusalem had stood in the days of the Jewish kingdom of Hezekia and Nehemia.

Nearby this wall they also found the wall of the later Maccabean kingdom of Jerusalem.

Together with the Bible these discoveries clearly document the Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem for more than 1000 yrs. This is made up of the 500 yrs. From the time of David in 1000 BCE to the time of the Babylonian destruction in 586 BCE and another 500 yrs from the time of the return of the exiles, under Nehemia, in 535 BCE to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 CE.

In the 2000 years that Jerusalem has lain in ruins many conquerors have come and tried to hide the historical evidence of the walls. Each conqueror built his own walls on top of the ruins of the Jewish walls.

They thought the city was theirs and that the wall they built proved this. They thought that G-d was building the city with them, showing that He was now their protector, not the protector of the Jews.

One of the first of these builders was Hadrian in the 2nd cen CE. He built his city partly on the site of original Jerusalem and partly extended it to the North. His God was Jupiter, also known as Aelia, and he called his city Aelia Capitolina.

Jerusalem was forgotten. Some Jews who wanted to live in her were allowed to live on her ruins, outside the walls of the new city of Aelia. These ruins were on the hill known today as Mt. Zion. This in fact, is the site of original Jerusalem.

Every conqueror after Hadrian built the city on the site of Aelia Capitolina. The Byzantine Christians of the days of Constantine deliberately left the Temple and the place of the original city of Jerusalem in ruins for the same reason as Hadrian, namely to show that the Temple lay in ruins, as had been prophesied by Jesus, so proving to all the world, for all generations, that Jesus was truly a prophet.

They called Aelia Capitolina Jerusalem and built the church of the Holy Sepulcher there.

Since then the Christian world saw that as Jerusalem.

The Moslem conquerors of Jerusalem in the 7th cen didn’t want to preserve the Christian holiness of the city so they adopted the Roman name, with slight alterations. They called the city Il Kuds. This is a translation of the Latin. Aelia has been changed into Il. Instead of meaning Jupiter, it is now the word “the”. Capitolina is Latin for holy and the Arabic translation of that is Kuds. Hence the Arabic name of Jerusalem Il Kuds. To this day Moslems refer to Jerusalem as Il Kuds.

Jerusalem is a city that existed in history at a particular geographic location. No semantics in the world can charge historical fact.

Thank goodness today, for the first time in 2000 yrs an administration of Jerusalem has begun searching for the truth. The discovery of the Broad Wall is only the beginning of the search..


  Neh. 2:8
2 Ps 102:16, 127:1
3 2K 18:26,27, 2Ch 32:5,18. IS 22:9-10. IS 36:11
4 2K 19:15