Interior of Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
(via fuckyeahjewish)
Inside our train, where more trilingual displays tell you the upcoming stop, there is an amazing cross-section of Jerusalem society: Arab men and women with children, Haredim, Jewish immigrants speaking half a dozen different languages and assorted clerics from the various churches. For many passengers, it is something of a spiritual journey — Haredi women sit reciting psalms as they are accustomed to doing while traveling, and Muslim men mutter the names of God and count them off on their prayer beads.
——-To pessimists, by building over the Green Line through settlements and Palestinian areas, Israel is tightening its hold on areas conquered after 1967 and lowering the chances of withdrawal and a peace agreement. To optimists, the carriages could one day form a peace train, facilitating freedom of movement through the shared capital of two friendly states.
Read more: http://forward.com/articles/144190/#ixzz1attf3qLb
I NEED TO GO BACK TO JERUSALEM. Religion, politics, trains - yes, please! Having a meeting with my adviser today where she spent the whole time telling me how much I needed to study abroad in Israel, and a previous meeting with my other committee member where he told me how much I needed to study in Israel, has convinced me that I need to STUDY IN ISRAEL.
Jerusalem may suffer from bitter divisions, but where trains, engines and new technology are concerned, boys will be boys. And so, the Arab man and the yeshiva bochers boarded Jerusalem’s light railway together, sharing excitement for the line, which opened in August and is offering free rides until further notice.
The railway was approved 15 years ago and was intended to start running more than 5 years ago; it became a standing joke in Jerusalem to ask which would arrive in the city first, the Messiah or the railway. Of course, it’s possible that the Messiah was waiting for a train and gave up.
Read more: http://forward.com/articles/144190/#ixzz1atV3kMP2
Jerusalem’s King
GeorgeKong Street.
