The city of God

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Psalm 87

1. Of the Korachites. A psalm. 
A song, its foundation on the holy mountains.

2. The LORD loves the gates of Zion, more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

3. Of you glorious things are spoken, O city of God.   Selah.

4. I recall Rahab and Babylon to those who acknowledge Me; behold: Philistia and Tyre, with Nubia―“This one was born there.”

5. But of Zion, it is said, “Every single person was born in it.” He, the Most High, establishes it.

6. The LORD records in the census of peoples: “This one was born there.”   Selah.

7. And they, singing as they dance: “All my roots are in you.”

Translation: Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal.

PHOTOS (all are enlargeable): 

1. Zion Gate
2. Heinrich Bünting's map of 1581 with Jerusalem (Zion) as  center of the world.
Please enlarge the photo to appreciate the ceramic map.
More about this work in a previous post.
3-4. Singers/drummers/shofar blowers lead the joyful procession through the Jewish Quarter of the Old City down to the Western Wall where the boy will become a bar mitsvah.
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This post is for Robert Geiss' weekly PsalmChallenge at daily athens photo.
You are welcome to join in illustrating the Book of Psalms.
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(Also linking to Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors meme.)

Surveillance cameras in the shadows

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Shadows of security cameras

The 16th century Zion Gate, an entrance into the Old City for pedestrians and (small) cars, was a few years ago treated to an intensive 6-month restoration.

The 800,000 shekel  (then over a quarter million dollars) cleaning, fixing, and strengthening  was courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority with financial support from the Jerusalem Development Authority and the Jerusalem Municipality.

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The dedicatory plaque installed by the great builder Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman sultan who commissioned the walls of Jerusalem, was painstakingly restored.

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The hundreds of bullet and shell marks were preserved, a lesson for posterity of what can happen in war.

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Old Zion Gate photos: A  very touching photo from 1948 and a historic photo from 1865 can be viewed here.

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(The night shadows are for Shadow Shot Sunday meme.)

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Larger than life Zion Gate

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So much to see! I went back for a second night of the 2nd annual Festival of Light in Jerusalem's Old City and still didn't see everything.

Please enlarge this one to enjoy the details.

Guards had to hold back the pedestrian traffic for a minute to let this golf cart squeeze through the angled, narrow Zion Gate.

But what light artists Malchi Shem Tov, Asaf Shem Tov, and Amit Fisher were projecting onto the gate transformed it into something much bigger.

They describe it like this:
"Jerusalem is the gate to the whole world. The ultimate terminal in which every passenger feels at home."

Here is the Zion Gate in normal times, with a car maneuvering out of the Old City and into Mt. Zion.

The gate just recently had a cleaning and a restoration. But the shell and bullet holes from the wars were left as a reminder.

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Zion Gate by night

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On a cold and rainy night last week we walked out of the Old City of Jerusalem through the Zion Gate.
But not until this little car exited. There is no room for both pedestrians and a car.
The bigger cars have to maneuver, with at least one backing-up, through the angled gate.
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They can blame the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. He built the city wall (on top of a much older one) in 1540.
He made the Zion Gate, as well as the Jaffa and Damascus Gates, angled in order to prevent invaders from charging straight through.

Archers could shoot arrows from the top of the wall.
Through the opening just above the arch the defenders could pour boiling tar or oil on an attacking enemy.
Iron rods could be pushed out from the long slits on the left and right of the gate to stop enemy chariots.
The sharp turn to the right made it hard for horsemen holding a sword or javelin in their right hand to overcome defenders on the inside attacking them from their left.
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Even in modern times the Zion Gate has suffered, as the many bullet holes from the 1948 War of Independence testify.


The pavement around the gate, when wet, is only slightly less slippery than it looks.
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Zion Gate underwent six months of restoration in 2008. A good photo of the work on the Sultan's dedicatory plaque is here.
Wikipedia has a brief history of the gate.
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Hope you enjoyed your night journey to the Holy City.
For more tours around the blog world, check in to That's My World Tuesday tonight.
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