Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Dung Gate Plus a Few Extra Photos

Posted by Colleen specifically for her sister, Kathleen

See, you can special order blogs. Cool, uh? The Dung Gate is so named because this is the gate through which the refuse would be thrown. It would then flow down into the Kidron Valley and meet up with the Hinnom Valley, yes the very valley we climb down into then up again every time we go to JUC. You might remember from an earlier post that Jesus would use this valley as a reference to Hell mainly because of the bad association it came to have.

The Dung Gate is one of the gates that cars travel through but another gate just a few feet away has been reopened to allow pedestrians through.

So here you go Kathleen, I hope it is all you imagined it being! By the way, this is the gate that most will enter and exit on their way to the Western Wall or the non-Moslem tourists to the Dome of the Rock —life has a way of arranging things in a way that was never intended.

Dung Gate or Bathroom or Both? Here is a sign pointing you to the Dung Gate and the restrooms. Hopefully, people understand that (for the last few hundred years at least) they are 2 different places.
Dung Gate The Dung Gate from inside Old City. You can see a Jewish couple leaving after praying at the Western Wall. If you click on it and see it larger, you can see the large round hat on the young Jewish man. Eric’s favorite hat … he keeps threatening to buy one for himself.
IMG_0140 Another view of the Dung Gate as Jewish families enter to go to the Western Wall.
IMG_0026 The Dome of the Rock with the Western Wall in the foreground. If I were to pan to the right you would see the Dung Gate.
IMG_0077 This is bread that we buy at the Dung Gate (they sell it all over Arab parts of Jerusalem). They also give you a bag with “spice” in it to dip the bread in. Lillian LOVES this bread. She often asks, “Can we get bread with spice?”
The bread is covered in sesame seeds. Why she picks them off of hamburger buns but not this bread is beyond me.
IMG_0012 Eric and the girls playing on the columns that were part of the main road (“Cardo”, i.e. “heart”)  through Old City built by the Romans in the Byzantine period (300s).
IMG_0013 A Roman period map, discussed in an earlier blog. This shows the road that Eric and the girls are playing on in the above picture.
IMG_0073 At the entrance of restaurants, shops and homes these Mezuzas (boxes containing scripture) are hung. This one is iron and located on the Zion Gate. What I have observed is a Jewish person will touch the Mezuza then kiss that hand.
Both apartments we have lived in have them at every door with the exception of the bathroom door. They range from very basic to very ornate. They aren’t all as big as the one shown here.
IMG_0007 This is specifically for the Dean boys. They were kind enough to blow their shofars for us as we skyped. While we enjoyed it very much and appreciated their effort, we thought they might want to see the shofars here in Israel. Sorry guys, don’t want  you to have shofar envy.
DSC_0008 This is just a cool picture. The Israeli soldiers are given a tour of Jerusalem as part of their training. It is important they know what and why they are defending this land rich with history.
IMG_0075 Don’t miss the ladies with their firearms. I always wonder if they are loaded.

Shalom!

7 comments:

Kathleen said...

Thank you! The gate is a lot cleaner than I imagined...LOL!

The hat on that guy looked really big and square to me...was there something behind him? Is it the yarmulke's Eric wants? Ya'll mentioned that in an earlier post they are called Kippah's there, right?

Saw on the History channel that the dome sits right where evidence of King David would be. Important b/c it's held by the Muslims and that there isn't much historical non-Biblical records of King David - at least not much considering his importance in the Bible. Is that true or not?

I would have a little problem eating bread bought at the Dung Gate...guessing it's not still being used for refuse? lol

Thanks for my special order blog!

Nanny said...

Okay, the bread from Dung Gate is just too close for comfort right now. And how about some pictues of those soldiers faces, instead of..... the other side of them?? You know how I love a man in uniform.

Do you get snail mail? And if you do, to what address?

My request is for a blog on Israeli music and dancing. Last night saw an Israeli couple ice skating. How about that?

Tina said...

Tell Eric he must buy the hat! As always, I loved the pics and the commentary. Keep up the great work!

caroline said...

Wow, I never realized that Mezuzas were so common, thanks for posting that picture!

midspoint said...

Loved this, as always! I never knew mezuzas were on anything but homes...sooo cool!! Although, it does cause one to wonder about spreading germs, LOL. But then, when you are out in public...
Great pictures!

Colleen said...

The hat in the first picture is very big and round. They sit on the very top of the head and are really silly looking. They are furry which is hard to see in the picture. It is like they have a large black, fuzzy hat box on their head, seriously.

Nanny said...

Could you add a lot more words to the Vacabulary List...like Mezuzas? I want to print those off and then use those words to impress my Jewish friends. Heck, that will REALLY impress my Non-Jewish friends. Right?