The wedding and a legend about Jerusalem

Shalom visitors from inSPIREd Sunday.  This is a vintage post for you in honor of yesterday's April 23rd  St. George's Day.  For more about St. George's Cathedral in Jerusalem see more posts.

Mazal tov to the newlyweds Prince William and Kate!
Yes, I watched the ceremony and loved it.
Nothing like a church wedding, especially if it is in Westminster Cathedral!
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St. George's (Anglican) Cathedral may be the closest thing we have to an old English church in Jerusalem.

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Enlarge the photo above to read how this British coat of arms ended up on the church wall.

The ancient Madaba map of Jerusalem on a kneeling cushion.

Under the lion at the end of a pew,  the Hebrew says "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem."
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Today I saw the almost 2,000 guests in Westminster Cathedral really getting into the singing of "Jerusalem" with words by William Blake. Apparently it is the "unofficial anthem" of England.
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Hear it played and see the words on YouTube.
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I learned this from Wikipedia:

"The poem ['And did those feet in ancient time'] was inspired by the apocryphal story that a young Jesus, accompanied by his uncle Joseph of Arimathea, travelled to the area that is now England and visited Glastonbury.
The legend is linked to an idea in the Book of Revelation (3:12 and 21:2) describing a Second Coming, wherein Jesus establishes a new Jerusalem.
The Christian church in general, and the English Church in particular, used Jerusalem as a metaphor for Heaven, a place of universal love and peace.
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In the most common interpretation of the poem, Blake implies that a visit of Jesus would briefly create heaven in England, in contrast to the 'dark Satanic Mills' of the Industrial Revolution. Analysts note that Blake asks four questions rather than stating a visit to be true.
According to this view, the poem says that there may, or may not, have been a divine visit, when there was briefly heaven in England.
But that was then; now, we are faced with the challenge of creating such a country once again."
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It's all a facade

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The shadow-producing spikey things in the concrete of this new yeshiva are, I presume, what the cladding will be fastened to the wall with.
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For sure they are good for Hey Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday.
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Since the 1920s, when the British (Mandate) made it mandatory, all new buildings in Jerusalem must be cladded with Jerusalem stone.
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But as we can see with this 19th century house in the old Jerusalem neighborhood of Nachlaot, "It's all a facade."
What faces the street is handsome new Jerusalem stone, but in the shadows lurk the original thick and strong building stones.
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P is for pillbox

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P is for pillbox in this contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Jerusalem still has about four old pillboxes. The one above is on Hebron Road.
They are remnants of the British Mandate Period, and someday Jerusalem may turn them into mini-museums.
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The British built pillboxes throughout Eretz Israel during the Arab riots of 1936-39.
These guardposts were meant to protect the main roads.
They were made of concrete and had a steel door, a slit from which to fire, and a flat roof.
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This modern structure outside the Menachem Begin Heritage Center is meant to recall the old pillboxes and the struggle.

This more recent pillbox in near the Jerusalem neighborhood Gilo, overlooking the West Bank village of Beit Jalla.

It is no longer in use.
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This pillbox stands on the Israeli side of the checkpost beyond which begins the section of the West Bank administered by the Palestinian Authority.

Israelis may not pass through.

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For a little more on our pillboxes you can see 21c Israelity Blog and a Ynet article.

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Know hope

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The main streets of Jerusalem are all torn up (see Jaffa Road here), having track laid for the new light rail.
Sometimes even part of the sidewalk gets dug up.
Today I saw these latest victims next to Safra Square.

The cast-iron pillar boxes are reminders of Israel's British Mandate past.
There are quite a few still in service in Jerusalem.

These two uprooted mailboxes let me notice for the first time what is written on the bottom:

McDowall, Steven & Co. Ltd.

London and Falkirk

I see from the Web that this was a firm of Glasgow-based iron founders.
The company's roots extend back to the early 19th century.

Oh, and can you see the nice graffiti next to the heart? -- KNOW HOPE
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The keys to the city--take them already!

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December 9 is the anniversary of a major event in Jerusalem's modern history, but I doubt if anyone will think of it. The only reason I know is because of my explorations this week.
I found a tall office building and from a top (10th) floor window was lucky to get this view to the west. The huge building with the long blue windows is the new Central Bus Station.
But what was that little circular park in back of it??

I went down and discovered this little playground, but no name.
But across the street was a tiny sign on an old wall that said Kikar Allenby, meaning Allenby Square. Aha!

And an old monument! Its inscription reads:

"NEAR THIS SPOT THE HOLY CITY WAS SURRENDERED TO THE 60th LONDON DIVISION 9th DECEMBER 1917.   ERECTED BY THEIR COMRADES TO THOSE OFFICERS, N.C.O.'s AND MEN WHO FELL IN FIGHTING FOR JERUSALEM."

If you click to enlarge this photo and contemplate the figures etched in stone, you may see hooded Crusader knights with shield and sword!! Like these British soldiers they, too, conquered Jerusalem (in 1099).
But wait . . . I always heard that General Allenby accepted the Turks' surrender at the Citadel, just inside the Jaffa Gate, in the Old City. So, back home, I asked the Google god to help in my quest for answers.

Here, written by Aviva Bar-Am in her Jerusalem Post article "Authentic Romema," is (one version of) the amazing story:

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"In the wee hours of December 9, 1917, two British army cooks from the 60th London Division left their Jerusalem base in search of fresh eggs and vegetables for their commander. Less than six weeks had passed since Commonwealth troops had breached the Turkish lines in Israel for the first time and conquered Beersheba; earlier that very morning the British had captured Jerusalem from the Turks, as well.
As the cooks walked through a deserted field on an exposed hill, they were accosted by a number of residents anxious to surrender the city. Among them were four policemen, several youths, the Jerusalem mayor Hussein Selim el-Husseini and a photographer from the American Colony.
Upon sighting British soldiers, the Jerusalemites lifted their arms. They held a white sheet that had been hastily torn off one of the beds at the American Colony’s hospital. Attached to a broom handle, the sheet was the Jerusalemites’ makeshift flag of truce. The mayor then handed the cook and his aide a tender of capitulation, explaining that the Turks had fled the city.

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When the soldiers returned to base, they told their commander what had happened. He was so upset that the ’ceremony’ had taken place without him, that he ordered the mayor to return to the hill, and conducted a second surrender. However, that officer’s commander was furious that he hadn’t been present at either surrender, so he held a third ceremony on the same spot.

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But General Sir Edmund Allenby, commander in chief of the British-Anzac Egyptian Expeditionary Force, was unimpressed by the three surrenders. On December 11, 1917, he entered the Old City of Jerusalem and conducted yet another capitulation ceremony. Unfortunately, the mayor was unable to attend — he is said to have contracted pneumonia after standing on the exposed hill for the three previous ceremonies and to have died soon afterward.

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Ignoring the location and circumstances of the fourth and final surrender, soldiers of the 60th London Division decided to erect a three-meter-high monument near the original site in 1920."

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For more photos and stories from around the world visit the friendly blogger-tour guides at our new That's My World Tuesday. Free tours! No tipping, except maybe to leave a comment. :)
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UPDATE Sept. 2014:  A photograph of the surrender to the two British soldiers is now here!
UPDATE July 2019: More about the famous surrender photo --see here. 
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