Jerusalem Postcard IIMaimon Schwarzschild

If you’re looking for intense and unbridgeable differences in a very small space, Jerusalem might be the place for you.  I spent this morning at what was – 2000 years ago – the Second Temple: today the Western Wall, world’s holiest site for Jews.  And the “Haram esh-Sharif”, or “Noble Enclosure”: the great Islamic esplanade atop the Herodian Walls (including the Western Wall), with Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

The Haram is a triumph of Islamic architecture: especially the Dome of the Rock, stunning in bright blue tile and golden dome; but also many smaller and jewel-like buildings, and the subtle park-like landscaping of the esplanade.  (Pictures here.)  A visit to the Haram is a reminder of the grandeur that Islamic civilization has achieved.  It’s a beautiful place.  It’s also palpably tense.  Visiting hours for non-Muslims are short and somewhat unpredictable; there aren’t very many non-Muslim visitors.  There were, today, several big groups of young girls, almost all in full Islamic dress – clothes that at least strongly imply Islamist affinity.

It was a minor fast day on the Jewish calendar, so I visited the Western Wall as well: three minutes walk from the Haram, and of course a very different – and very Jewish – crowd.

Then in the afternoon, a short bus ride to the Israel Museum, and a big – and first-rate – Surrealist show.  Magritte, Duchamp, Arp, Dali.  It seemed appropriate, somehow.

A friend who has visited Jerusalem writes:

Jerusalem is indeed divided, in ways even beyond religion and ethnicity.  Yet there are amazing moments in which somehow the city figures out how to live with the juxstaposed contradictions – moments of connection among individuals across the divide, moments when the mundane and crass blend in with the sacred without actually ruining it, moments when layers of the past and the demands of the present find a way to coexist in the same spot.

That’s an optimistic view.  More apocalyptic possibilities also come readily to mind here: a prospect of all-out conflict, not excluding the possibility of setting off the next World War.

But lots to see and do in an almost ridiculously small space in the meantime.