Machine Guns, Messiahs and Mohamed

DAY: 127 CITY:23 Country:6

March 23, 2006

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - יְרוּשָׁלַיִם

I was overwhelmed by Jerusalem. The beauty was surprising, the spirit overwhelming and the history was...well, biblical.

Having recently spent more than a month in the Islamic Kingdom of Morocco and the predominately Sunni Republic of Egypt, Israel was both familiar and new.  It definitely feels and looks like an Arab nation, but it mixes the most fervent followers of Christ, Moses and Mohamed in a small space that forces an uneasy intimacy. Walking though the souk (market) you can cross through the Jewish, Muslim and Christian quarters all in less than five minutes.  In my first quick walk around the area of my hotel I found myself on the purported path that Jesus walked as he carried his cross to his crucifixion, then turned a corner and saw the entrance to the Dome of the Rock مسجد قبة الصخرة, the third most holy site for Muslims after Mecca and Medina. This same place is considered the Holy of Holies for Jews, their second most sacred spot where Abraham was tested by G d, placed his son on the altar and was prepared to stab him to death.  For Jews it's called the Temple Mount. The Muslims say this is the spot were Mohamed flew to heaven on a winged horse.

Tales of a G-d testing blind obedience or of  horses flying to heaven aside - the Mount is powerful and awe-inspiring.  Finally, a few minutes later, I arrived at the Western Wall, or The Wailing Wall, the most scared place for Jews in all the world. This entire walk took ten minutes.The Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall both have security, with Jews guarding and controlling the Wall and Muslims in charge of the Dome.  At every turn is some phenomenal mark of history, and at every turn, a soldier or guard with a machine gun.

I called it an early night as I heard the now familiar call to prayer emanating from the nearby mosques. This was the day's third "call", and my cue to place my head not of the ground, but on my pillow. Tomorrow I visit the Western Wall and get up close, then Yad Veshem יד ושם - the Holocaust Museum.


Shalom, Assalamu alaikum, Peace be with you, and ALOHA!
-Wyatt

Almost Wailing at the Western Wall

DAY: 128 CITY:23 COUNTRY: 6

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL

Today I visited the Western Wall.  The Wall is all that remains from the Temple of Solomon.  After being driven out, murdered, treated like animals and all other assorted persecutions, the Jewish people also had their most holy Temple destroyed over and over again.  The first Solomon's Temple was built in the 10th century BCE.  It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, it was rebuilt then was destroyed again in the year 70 CE by the Roman Empire. Each Temple stood for a period of about four centuries.  Now, all that remains, or perhaps a better word is "survives", is this one retaining wall.

I've been to Notré Dame, The Cathedral at Chartres, Sagrada Familia and Cairo's Mosque of Mohamed Ali (The Citadel), and have not been as overwhelmed as I was by this leftover crumbling retaining wall.  This wall stands as a testament of survival and beyond any symbology, the palpable mana emanating from it is strong.

This is the place where pilgrims stick prayers into the crevices and stand for hours and pray.  I was overwhelmed to be there, and I actually went to the wall (I had to get and wear a kippah on my head) and said a prayer for Hawai'i, my journey, my friends and my family.  I just stood at the wall.  Then I felt this desire to try to understand what the hell is going on in the Middle East - all the fighting and violence.  A strong and clear image emerged and it made me feel like I understood, at least a bit.  It is the fighting - the desperate, crazy, impossible situation that exists - that serves as a symbol, that in the midst of the "worst of life"- one can choose to find G-d, love G-d, to connect with the divine, the "best of life".  Finding hope in tragedy, living in a found moment of love, even when surrounded by hate and fear 24/7.  It was so overwhelming - this devotion to finding a space of love in the midst of, and despite all the pain and conflict.

The thing that completely threw me for a loop emotionally was seeing a group of young soldiers. Boys and girls age 18,19,20 serving their compulsory military terms - each with their own backpack and machine gun. Kids with machine guns.

This group of teen soldiers just stopped in front of me, plopped down their backpacks, slung their machine guns over their shoulders and walked to the wall to say their evening prayers.  My heart gasped. In the midst of knowing you could die at any moment, the conflict, the fear, the bloody heart-wrenching history... all that HAD to be pushed to the side for a moment. The machine gun had to stay with them even when they walked to the wall, but everything else vanished in that moment except their time with G-d. Standing in the midst of hell, with a gun slung across their chest, they anchored a moment of heaven in that space. The witnessing here for me was not to see the hell mankind can unleash on each other, but rather to see how each individual can choose, in the midst of hell, to survive in love.  Below is the video I attempted to make just then.