we spent most of today in the old city of jerusalem, which is also where we are staying. the old city feels a lot like other cities in the middle east. if it weren't for all the hebrew signs i could easily imagine some of these streets being in damascus.
but to a whole lot of other people jerusalem is completely different from other cities, which is why i often feel a bit out of place here. the feeling started at the wailing wall. to me, it was a big ancient wall with historical significance. i've seen a bunch of really old walls and building parts in my travels. and so even though i realize this particular wall is unique, it's basically in the same category as those other structures i've seen.
but to the throngs of people around me (in the male-only side of the plaza in front of the wall), just being there was a major emotional experience. you could see it on their faces as they dovened before it. it was really strange to stand next to them and realize we were in the same location but our experiences of the place were about as different as they could be.
i got more of that strange disconnected feeling when i was in the church of the holy sepulcher. the church was interesting, the building is a patchwork of different shrines and chambers, each controlled by a different sect of christianity. but for most of the other visitors this visit had much more meaning that that. they wandered around, often oblivious to the other people around them. i watched people kiss a stone slab and bow down before a wall in one of the cave-like antechambers. what looked like a dark musty room must have glowed with divinity for them. i am very interested in historic places, but they still are just places to me.
i've experienced this alienation in other sites i've visited in other countries (and i probably would have had a similar feeling at the al-aksa mosque and the dome of the rock if they had let me in), but the entire old city of jerusalem is like that for many people. this isn't just a city to them, even if that's all it is to me. and it reminds me, once again, that religious people often look like they are completely crazy when viewed from the outside.
