Nonbeliever

This weekend I went on a self-guided walking tour around East Jerusalem with some friends from ulpan. I went through the most amazing markets, saw slaughtered animals that still had their tails (so glad I'm a vegetarian), and some hard-core monks along the path Jesus supposedly walked before crucifixion. Once we were through the Damascus Gate and averted being ran over by several cars, buses and people, we found ourselves at a garden once deemed the burial site of Jesus' body. So the four Jews, one "non-practicing" Christian, and one atheist quelled our curiosity by touring the place that some people think is where the son of god was buried; no big deal. The issue with this landmark, the Garden Tomb, is that from the mid 19th century people thought it to be the burial site, but has since been debunked by archeologists, as not the actual tomb of Jesus. As our Jerusalem travel book says, "The claims for it as the burial place of Jesus Christ have been dismissed by archeologists, but that does not seem to deter the coachloads of Christian pilgrims who flick here each day..." Clearly, it didn't deter us either.

We were lucky enough to be given a tour by a British volunteer, who was sure to mention that Jesus Christ is his lord and savior. Thanks Roy, thanks a lot. Upon finding out that we were "nonbelievers" (non-Christians), Roy became excited to show us the illegitimate birthplace of his messiah and hope that we would "feel" something upon entering the tomb. From then on, the tour was punctuated with remarks of religious intolerance and ignorance from our tour guide, making me nearly vomit in tomb of Roy's "lord and savior." This experience reminded me that I was in fact in Jerusalem, one of the most holy places in the entire world, that also comes with the most insane people. As to be expected, the tiny stone tomb that has been delegitimized as the tomb of Jesus Christ, our lord and savior, did nothing for me and I'm still an atheist. Phew.

From there, we visited a beautiful cathedral, another church where we accidentally witnessed someone's funeral, and then the former headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, which is now being used by the United Nations. We have yet to complete the walking tour, so hopefully next weekend we can pick up where we left off, sans proselytizatoin.


Damascus Gate


Damascus Gate



Israeli Wal-Mart

Excuse the lack of personal pictures. I should be able to start putting more up soon, once I get a new battery charger for my camera that I seemed to have left in DC.