I strongly think that starting in Jerusalem is such a good anchor for peacebuilding and so the middle of our first day was a proper tour of the Old City.
As student Olivia Corn wrote, a key message of the Old City is the coexistence of the world’s three major religions. The Muslim Quarter, Jewish Quarter, and Christian Quarter are all a stone’s throw away from each other and are some of the most fought-over real estate in the entire world. The Old City is a great example of coexistence: a place where Jewish men in kippahs walk next to Palestinian Muslims in the Muslim Quarter, and it reinforces that peace and co-existence are possible in the tensest acre of land on earth.
Student Jacob Segal used three words to describe the city: coexistence, spirituality, and struggle:
These three tenants and their interplay with one another was my key takeaway from the visit.
Coexistence. This core tenant is highlighted by the four quarters of the city: Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian. Each with its own distinct feel, culture, history, and importance. Each quarter complements one another – working together to create a whole. Like four pieces of a puzzle, one cannot exist without the other. This is the fundamental truth about the city – it is a shared one. Signs in Hebrew, Arabic, and English litter the streets, and merchants of Jewish and Muslim backgrounds line the store fronts. Peoples of all faiths – living, eating, doing business together and coexisting. These were my impressions as we walked through all quarters of the city.
Spirituality. Visits to the Kotel and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The sounds of the call to prayer. Religious pilgrims of all three faiths. The tour of the old city was characterized by deeply spiritual experiences. Personally, I felt an immense spiritual energy in both holy sites that we visited. Perhaps it was the overwhelming feeling that tens of millions of people yearn to visit these places – and the sense that millions more feel a strong connection to them. In my experience, although our time at the sites was short, my visit was a time for self-reflection and trying to connect with the spirituality and importance behind these sites.
Struggle. Crusades from centuries past to bullet holes from modern day conflicts, the city is one of a constant power struggle. One of war and conflict. This time, another struggle grasped the city as it is empty of tourists. Now, the struggle is to survive and make ends meet. In previous visits to Jerusalem, it was littered with thousands of people, either on tours or religious pilgrimages. On our tour of the old city, it was not met with the same spirit and energy as before.
