Jerusalem – What Is It

The word Jerusalem invokes feelings and images in most of us. What may your feelings be? What images?

Jerusalem Overview

Is the image mostly associated with Jerusalem, of the overview from the Mt. of Olives, looking down on Temple Mount with the Shrine of Dome of the Rock?
Is it the crowded bazars inside the walls of the Old City?
Or is it one of Jerusalem’s best known sites, The Western Wall?
Or is it the grave within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher or the road leading there, the Via Dolorosa?

The images that the word Jerusalem conjures up in our minds will very much depend on our background, our religious orientation (whether there is one or not), on stories we may have heard as a child, or even as an adult. It will also be dependent on whether we have visited the city.

One thing is for certain. Jerusalem is one of the worlds most famous cities, and rightfully so. It is famous for its 3000 year recorded history. It is famous for the events that took place here and imprinted themselves into the minds of millions of people throughout the centuries.

It is famous for being the holiest place for two religions (Judaism and Christianity) and the third holiest place for a third religion (Islam).
It is famous for the love and hatred that it has inspired. For the wars that have been fought over her and for her. It is famous for being the capital of the modern state of Israel.

But Jerusalem is more than this. It is a meeting place and a melting pot. A meeting place for the three religions with all their various off shoots. It is a meeting place for cultures from all over the world. It is a place where old meets new, the east meets the west, religions meet the secular world.

Jerusalem is a place of opposites. From the Old City with its holy places to the totally modern secular city outside. From religious fanatics of all shades, shapes and sizes to the modern people of all shapes, shades and sizes. For the most all live peacably together, but occasionally this peace is disrupted with Jews clashing with Moslems, Christians of one denomination clashing with Christians from another denomination, modern Israelis clashing with ultra-orthodox Hassidic Jews or other issues.

And still amid all this turmoil and hustle and bustle, 99% of the time the city lives peacefully and with extraordinary mingling of all these various populations and life styles.

Jerusalem, lying some 850 meters up in the Judean Mountains, has the best climate in all of Israel in the summer. In the winter, this is a place where you need a warm coat. Living in Jerusalem affords residents access to either the Dead Sea or the Mediterranean, the Dead Sea being a little closer.

Sprawling over 125 square kilometers and with a population of more than 750.000 (East Jerusalem included), Jerusalem has the largest municipal area of all the cities in Israel. Of this great area, one measly square kilometer holds most of the city’s attractions (The Old City).

Anyone visiting Jerusalem will and must experience Jerusalem Inside and Outside the Walls, its historical and religious sites, its modern shopping areas and the old markets.

Stay tuned for more updates on what to see both inside the old and outside in the modern.