It was found with a Jewish family in Amsterdam. It is not clear if the head of the family filmed it himself or assembled it from various pieces.
It was uploaded by Yaacov Gross presumably for Hebrew speaking audience.
I apologize to my English readers that all titles are in Hebrew, but I hope you will enjoy it anyway. I wish I knew how to add English
subtitles.

The film shows Jerusalem inside the walls – Temple Mount, The Western Wall or as it was known then – the Wailing Wall. You will see the Arab market and Damascus Gate, as well as street scenes from just inside Jaffa Gate. There are shots of the Tomb of David on Mt. Zion, of “David’s Well” – better known as the Gihon Spring today; of Rachel’s Tomb and the Tomb of Absalom in the Kidron Valley.
There are also a few shots of Jaffa Road, main street of Jerusalem outside the Walls, then and now.

The film is shows Jerusalem after the collapse of Ottoman (Turkish) rule. But before the British rule has really taken affect.

It seems that the intention of the film was to encourage Jewish tourism to Jerusalem.

Crowds at the Western Wall

My tourists go crazy with me sometimes. Here I have traveled the country, crisscrossed the country, been up and down more times than I can remember and for so many years, and I still carry a camera, and take pictures almost to the same extent that they do.

But there’s a reason I keep taking pictures. Every time I go somewhere I see something new, or something different. The light may be different, a different season. Sometimes it is just catching that special moment or that special something.

That’s what happened the other day, when once again I had some spare time at the Western Wall, while my tourists were visiting the Wall, maybe putting their note into one of the cracks in the Wall, maybe a moment of quiet contemplation. I never know, and I don’t ask.

As I was standing there looking at the activity and the bustle, I saw something and I was able to catch it on camera. I decided I wanted to share it with you here.

Join me for your own special moment at a very special place.

Join me

The part of the wall that is exposed is what is by most is referred to as The Western Wall. However, what we today can see is only a small section of a much larger wall that stretches for some 488 meters total. This larger wall is really the Western retaining wall to the Temple Mount, built by Herod  the Great, beginning 19 BCE.

What is commonly referred to as The Western Wall is 57 meter long and 19 meters high. There are a total of 45 courses of stone, 28 above present ground level, 17 below. These 17 courses plus 7 visible courses are the original stones from Herods retaining wall. The next four courses were added in the early Arab period (636-1099), the next 14 from the Ottoman period, and the last three were added in the 20th century.

Until the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans in the year 70 CE, it was the Temple, standing on the Temple Mount platform, that was the holy place for Jews, and where they would come three times a year to worship.

In the years following this destruction, Jews were banned from living in Jerusalem, and only allowed in at certain times of the year for devotion and prayers. At this early stage, Jews still harbored dreams of being allowed to rebuild the Temple, a dream that was finally thwarted in the 2nd century folloing the Bar Kochba Rebellion.

It is not clear when Jews began coming to this section to pray. We do know that Jews in 425 were granted permission to settle again in Jerusalem by the Empress Aelia Eudocia. There are some sources that indicate that at this stage Jews were beginning to pray at the Wall. We have many more sources from early Middle Ages that show that this was the place where Jews congregated for prayers and devotional purposes.

With the Arab conquest in 636, and the building of the Dome of the Rock and The Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount itself, all non-Moslems are now banned from entering this area.

Postcard, early 20th C

The large plaza in front of the Wall today was not always there. Following the Arar conquest of the land and Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1193, the land in front of the Wall was built up and settled by Arabs from Morocco, and therefore became known as the Mograbi Quarter (Mograbi = Morocco).

In the centuries following is the time when the tradition of the holiness of the Wall becomes permanent. At the same time, Muslim traditions around the Wall grow up, and give rise to the Arab name for the Wall – Al Buraq. Al Buraq was the name of Mohammad’s horse, and the tradition is that this is where it was tethered while Mohammad himself went up on the mountain (Mohammad’s Night Journey).

Contention between Arab and Jews over the rights to the place intensified. Numerous attempts were made by various Jews and Jewish groups to purchase the right to the place, as well as the neighboring Mograbi Quarter, all without success.

In the first days immediately following the conquest of Jerusalem’s Old City during the Six-Day War in 1967, the Israel Army took upon itself to demolish the Mograbi Quarter. The reason for this were the many Israelis who began coming to Jerusalem, for the first time in 19 years, as well as the approaching holiday of Shavuot, one of the holidays Jews have to celebrate in Jerusalem.

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.