JERUSALEM FROM THE 20TH C.E. TO TODAY
Introduction
Founded by the years 1,900 BCE
Capital city of the Jewish kingdom circa 1,000 BCE; led by kings David then Solomon.
CANAANITES / JEWS / ROMANS / CRUSADERS / MUSLIMSURUSHALEM / JERUSALEM
ZION / AELIA CAPITOLINA / JERUSALEM / AL-QUDS “the Holy”
ILIYA “Aelia”
BAIT AL-MAQDIS
“The Sanctuary”
Etymology states the importance of religion and spirituality:
- “shalem” / “shalimu” ; the infinity of Life, its endless story
- “yeru”= city, dwelling (residence) + “ShLM” (shalom, salaam = peace, completion, achievement)
The dwelling of peace, the place of the achievement (or end) of Time
What makes JM today the dwelling of both peace and war?
What role does it play at the turning point of the 21st c.?
GLOSSARY
PEOPLEJerusalemites (adj. Jerusalemite) : inhabitants or residents of JM
RELIGION
Islam = “submission (to God)”
Old Testament (Tanakh: Torah, )
New Testament Book of Acts
Jihad = self-struggle; by extension, a military effort so as faith may be respected and enforced / PLACES / VERBS / OTHER WORDS
Jewish:
MountTemple
Western Wall (or Laments’ Wall)
Solomon’s Temple
Holy of Holies / To predate = dater d’avant telle période (the Western Wall predates the Muslim Mount temple)
To revere, to worship
Deeply rooted in (très enraciné dans), attached to…
To identify oneself to…
To crucify = to put to death on a cross
To resurrect = to bring back to life
Anarchaeology site
To dig (creuser), to excavate (fouiller)
To unearth, to disinter, to exhume = dead bodies, corpses, relics
To prophesy (to predict); a prophecy (a prediction)
Compound = enceinte
Christian:
Gethsemane
Mount of Olives
Golgotha
Muslim:
Haram al-Sharif
The Rock (the Foundation Stone)
Waqf
The Dome
Al-Aqsa Mosque
OPT = Occupied PalestinianTerritories
West JM =
East JM = East Jerusalem is the proclaimed capital of the proposed Palestinian state - although Ramallah serves as the administrative capital.
Israel has declared all of Jerusalem, both East and West sections, as its “undivided eternal capital”.
Silwan =
- An ultra-holy city, fit for sacrifices
A three-time holy place… A city of 3 Unique Gods.
- JUDAISM AND JERUSALEM
The Jews definitely identify themselves to JM, its Mount Temple and the Holy of Holies
Jerusalem is central and vital to the Jewish religion.
Mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures
The Foundation Stone / Rock = the original Judaic temple; today administered by the waqf principle (a donation for Muslims; it is inalienable from Islam = it cannot be removed from the Uma).
Waqf literally means "confinement and prohibition"
From 930 to 586 BCE, JM was dedicated to Yahweh.
Solomon’s first temple(150,000 workers); 10th century BCE; destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II in 587 BCE.
An inner room called “Holy of Holies” “Ark of the Covenant” (arche d’alliance). Covenant = contract; (religion) alliance. Contained the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed + the first Torah scroll as written by Moses.TheArk was built at the command of God to Moses on Mount Sinai. God YHWH was said to live his terrestrial life in there (“the "mercy seat" for the Divine Presence”).
Herod’s 2nd temple:
TheArk was no longer present in the Holy of Holies.
Mount of Olives’ cemetery:
Jewish cemetery for over 3,000 years. Estimated 150,000 graves (15th century till now).
Mount Zion:
A hill, south to the OldCity, on which King David is supposed to be buried. Gave its name to Zionism.
- CHRISTIANITY AND JERUSALEM:
The Christian spirituality is deeply rooted in JM too.
Jesus Christ chose JM to preach his Gospel
Jesus was brought as a child, to be presented at the Temple (Luke 2:22) and to attend festivals (Luke 2:41). Jesus preached and healed in Jerusalem, especially in the Temple Courts. The events of Pentacost also took place at this location. Jesus' cleansing of the Temple at the Temple Court, chasing various traders out of the “sacred precincts”.
Jesus ended his life in JM… and for believers started his divine life in the Trinity
Jesus' Last Supper in an "upper room" in Jerusalem. The communion / the Cène.
Gethsemane: garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives = Jesus and his disciples are said to have prayed the night before crucifixion. According to the Eastern Orthodox Church tradition, Gethsemane is the garden where the Virgin Mary was buried and was assumed into heaven after her dormition on MountZion.
The Via Dolorosa: "Way of Grief" or "Way of Suffering"= a street within the OldCity = the path that Jesus walked along, carrying his cross, on the way to his crucifixion. Marked by a series of stations (Pilate’s decision, the 3 falls of JC, etc.) until he reached MountGolgotha.
The Holy Sepulcher: original site of crucifixion and resurrection; turned into an Aphrodite Temple in the 2nd c CE (= Hadrian’s hatred of Christianity). Roman emperor Constantine directed his mother, Helena, to build churches upon sites which commemorated the life of Jesus Christ; she was present in 326 at the constructionof the church. Inside, the Church of the Anastasis (resurrection). Impress Helena said she witnessed the discovery of the True Cross (she alleged to have seen it)
JM = again the place of the “original covenant” (alliance), stating God's relationship with His chosen people
Jesus’ followers chose JM too
The Acts of the Apostles show James the Just (half-brother of Jesus for Catholics), leader of the early Jerusalem church. JM bishops were appointed under the authority of the Metropolitans of Caesarea and the Patriarchs of Antioch.
Emperor Constantine I and his mother, Helena, endowed Jerusalem with churches and shrines, making it the foremost centre of Christian pilgrimage. Crusaders and pilgrims primarily fought for the city holiness
Today as before, Christians still believe in the holiness of the city
- ISLAM AND JERUSALEM
Muslims consider that…
-“The first direction of prayer” (qibla) in Islam (for 16 months long), before Mecca was chosen (Mecca was not the original site because it was the center of the pagan religions for Arab tribes and was dominated by stone idols)
- Islam acknowledges the Biblical prophets David, Solomon, Elijah and Jesus = thus JM’s holiness
- Al-Aqsais the third holiest site in Sunni Islam after al-Haram in Mecca and al-Nabawi in Medina
-The prayersinJerusalem’s Al-Aqsa to be equivalent to 500 prayers in any other mosque
- The seat of Muhammad's nocturnal journey:Muhammad’s flight from Mecca to JM in a single night (on the steed al-Buraq), then his ascension to heaven in the year 632. Known as Isra wal Mi'raj
Verse 17:1 of the Qur'an:"Glory be to Him Who made His servant to go on a night from the Sacred Mosque to the Further Mosque of which We have blessed the precincts, so that We may show to him some of Our signs; surely He is the Hearing, the Seeing" = JM is supposed to be this “further mosque”.
The centrality of JM for Islamic theology is somehow more recent than what some scholars state:
The “further mosque”:Jerusalem fell to the Arabs under Caliph Omar in 638 ACE. Al Aqsa mosque was not built before 712 (and Mohammad died in 632 CE).
The city was not under Muslim control under Mohammad. The name of JM is not even quoted in the Kuran.
The importance of JM is testified inthe Hadiths, the sayings and approvals of the Prophet, written after his death.
In fact, JM is not that central but tended and tends to be it, according to faith and geopolitics…
“Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem”
- Politically, JM was not a central city to Muslims: when Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, the Umayyad caliph, constructed the magnificent Dome of the Rock (begun 688 - completed 691), Jerusalem's status rose in Muslim eyes. Yet, Muslim rulers did not convert Jerusalem into a seat of government. Indeed, Arab “Palestinians” first based their administrationin Lod (Lyddah) then transferred it to the city of Ramla.
- In fact, the holiness of Jerusalem was related to the rise and expansion of a certain type of literary genre, known as al-Fadhail or history of cities (Bagdad, Damascus, Madinah… and Jerusalem).
- Muslims today regard Jerusalem as a waqf (a religious foundation), “which cannot change ownership” = no Israeli-Jewish occupation or presence should be allowed.
- Finally, to focus on JM allows some radicalsto deny the legitimate existence of Israel. They like quoting this:
“The most holy spot [al-quds] on earth is Syria; the most holy spot in Syria is Palestine; the most holy spot in Palestine is Jerusalem [Bayt al-maqdis]; the most holy spot in Jerusalem is the Mountain; the most holy spot in Jerusalem is the place of worship [al-masjid], and the most holy spot in the place of worship is the Dome ”, Thawr ibn Yazid, c.770
- The religious competition is still active in the city today
The tragedy of JM started and developed for ideological and religious reasons.
How did religions divide (and sometimes still do)?
How were Christianity and Islam perceived by Jews?
Christians worshiped a fake Messiah; Jesus was not acknowledged as a prophet. According to Arab historians, when Muslims first entered the city of Jerusalem, the ruins of the Temple were being used as a rubbish dump by the Christian inhabitants, in order to humiliate the Jews and fulfill Jesus' prophecy that “not a stone would be left standing on another there”.
Muslims were responsible for inferiorizing Jews as non-Muslims (status of dhimmis: discriminatory Islamic treatment)
How were Judaism and Islam perceived by Christians?
Christians used to consider Jews as members of a deicidal people (until 1945 – Vatican ecumenical agreements 1961)
Muslims were perceived as “infidels” and “evil fighters” (Crusades). To lower the Christian site of the Holy Sepulcher, the Mosque of Omar was built in front of it. It has a 15-meter high minaret that surpasses the Christian holy site.
How were Judaism and Christianity perceived by Muslims?
Abraham was not a Jewish prophet; he was the father of the monotheistic idea. Abraham was presented as neither a Jew nor a Christian, but as the precursor of the one true religion.
Some Muslim rulers aimed to destroy or deny Jewish and Christian connection to their holiest city.
Today, two religious groups are still competing for proclaiming their ownership of the city…
Traditions and ethnic groups still assert their possessions or priorities on the lands.
Muslims are angered by exclusive Jewish claims to Jerusalem ownership.
Jews are angered by Arab coalitions against the right of Israel to life and existence
Still four districts in the old city
Since the 17th c., the separation of the Old city was made clear to its inhabitants Sketch.
Wall of Laments vs. Al-Aqsa. The sacred-rock area is abone of contention for civilians, scholars and prayers.
The compound (enceinte) of the Rock contains many holy sites:
* Al Aqsa Mosque (712 CE)
* Solomon's Stables - underground chambers
* El Kas - a fountain where Muslims perform ablutions before entering the mosque
* Dome of the Rock (691 AD):
- the rock from which Muhammad is believed to have ascended into heaven on his Night Journey (Qur'an 17)
- believed to be the site of Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22)
Culture is intermingled with propaganda:
The “Islamic Museum” in East JM - focuses on Islamic architecture on the TempleMount – denies the Jewish sites
Jews and Muslims contest each other the right of ownership on TempleMount. They act as the irascible guardians of every square meter.
The fights for the Holy Sepulcher: when Christians fight… among themselves.
The choice of the Holy Sepulcher dates back to Impress Helena (326)
The Church of the Resurrection is a complicated set of rooms, disposed onto the ending sites of Jesus Christ.Sketch.
The Immovable Ladder (in Hebrew, lit.The status quo ladder) “is a wooden ladder located above the facade, under the window of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the OldCity of Jerusalem. Made of cedar wood, possibly from Lebanon, it was first mentioned in 1757 and has remained in the same exact location since the 18th century. The ladder is referred to as immovable due to an understanding that no cleric of the six ecumenical Christian orders may move, rearrange, or alter any property without the consent of all six orders”. The ladder is more of a symbolical memory rather than a key point of agreement and consensus between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox believers.
Furthermore, various key differences in rituals, liturgy, dogma and theology points divide the two churches, rather than the wooden ladder and its dispute over the ownership and use of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Neither church holds the ladder as a scriptural basis which conform its believers towards Christian ecumenism (interfaith understanding, promoting Christian unity or cooperation between Christian denominations and ChristianChurches, separated by doctrine, history, and practice.
Archaeology reveals the competitions for the space control
In Mount Zion in particular, the coexistence of all religious movements is dramatic. MountZion is the location of four historic places: King David’s burial (1 Kings 2), the Last Supper (Matthew 26 and Luke 22), Jesus’ 2nd post-resurrection appearance (John 20), Pentecost (Acts 2)
The door of Jaffa is less a museum than a fresco on the city’s history:…
Excavations under the Haram-al-Sharif are claimed by Israeli authorities but refused by Muslim ones.
- The end of all times: jm in the monotheist eschatologies
Eschatology = the study of the ultimate days, the last days of Human History, of the final events, the ultimate destiny of humanity — commonly referred to as the "end of the world" or "end time".
JM stands as the advent place of the final revelation, the turning point between human lives and divine rule. The spot and the dead end of History.
The KidronValley is the final place of Human Destiny for Jews:
The Bible calls the End Time in the Valley "Valley of Jehoshaphat " meaning "The valley where God will judge". It appears in Jewish eschatological prophecies, which tell the return of Elijah, followed by the arrival of the Messiah and the war of Gog and Magog; Yahweh would gather all nations there for Judgment day.
Jehoshaphat = the 4th king of the kingdom of Judah (9th c. BCE); his name means “Jehovah has judged”.
Elijah = (or Elias) name of a famous prophet of the 9th c BCE (Northern Jewish kingdom); “Elijah defended the worship of Yahweh over that of the Phoenician god Baal; he raised the dead, brought fire down from the sky, and was taken up in a whirlwind (either accompanied by a chariot and horses of flame or riding in it)”. In the Book of Malachi, Elijah's return is prophesied "before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord”…
Gog and Magog refer to as two ancient tribes who dispute and challenge the land of Gog; they would come back during the End Time and their conflict would be the last one which God represses before universal peace.
JM is the actual place of the Jewish End Time.
! In the prelude to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac that biblical prophecies were being fulfilled there and that “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East." Bush said Gog and Magog would come from modern-day Iraq, and it was important to try and stop that!
Christian eschatology focuses on JM too:
To sum up, the events in Christian eschatology are “death and the afterlife, Heaven and Hell, the Second Coming of Jesus, the Resurrection of the Dead, the Rapture, the Tribulation, Millennialism, the end of the world, the Last Judgment, and the New Heaven and New Earth of the World to Come”.
Satan would be released, then the Judgment Day would come (Jesus’ second resurrection) and He would set Satan (“Death and Hades” = Hadès, les Enfers) to a lake of fire. Like all of those who would not be written in the Book of Lives…
Then the New Jerusalem would come: “the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” The 12 original gates of JM would reopen; onto each gate, an angle would hold a single pearl; upon each gate, an apostle would rise again. The Tree of Life which dwelt in the original Garden of Heaven (from which Adam and Eve had been driven out by God - Genesis) would reappear and “there will be no more curse”.
JM is not the actual place of the Christian End Time; the “New Jerusalem” is a metaphor of the future of Humanity after its vanishing from the Earth.
The Islamic Day of Judgment / Hour of Judgment doesn’t really concern JM:
Muhammad’s sayings to recap: 'It will not be called until ten signs have appeared: Smoke, Dajjal [the Antichrist], the creature (that will wound the people), the rising of the sun in the West, the Second Coming of Jesus, the emergence of Gog and Magog, and three sinkings (or cavings in of the earth): one in the East, another in the West and a third in the Arabian Peninsula.'"