Rome

            We weave our way through cramped underground tunnels hundreds of feet below the Muslim quarter. These tunnels follow the perimeter of the Western Wall that extends underneath the ground towards the Dome of the Rock. This is the closest Jews can get to the foundation stone, the stone where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son Isaac. The wall is soft and dimpled with age. It is made up of gigantic stones with the largest being forty-five feet long and weighing more than fifty-eight elephants. Somehow, they were all pushed and lifted to form one great partition around the Second Temple. We continue through a series of branching caves until we reach an ancient aqueduct. There the tour guide explains that King Herod built the Second Temple as an international holy space. Jerusalem, you see, was meant to be a true city of peace. Unfortunately, the Romans sacked the temple seventy years after it was built. “Today, we hope Jerusalem will become a city of peace again. Rome is no more,” he says, “You will not see any Roman soldiers when we go back out. On another note, we will be exiting through the Muslim quarter and will be escorted by two armed security personnel, this is no joke.”

Our group leaves the ancient ruins far below and walks out into the crisp night air. The cobblestones are slick with lamplight and there are few people on the street. All the Muslim minarets are lit up with glowing tubes of green neon lights. The walls are lined with Arabic graffiti and signs advertising Biblical treasures. The security guard walks in front of me in jeans and a sweatshirt.  I can see a hand gun peeking out between his belt and boxers. He swaggers and turns his head back and forth.  Old Arab women weighed down by plastic shopping bags limp past merchants closing up their shops. A few Hasidic men with long side-locks and dark coats rush past. And I realize that the guns are not really for my protection for I know that we must be ok, if these religious men can pass through unharmed. The guns are to send a warning.  A man drops a load of heavy boxes behind us and the woman in front of me quickly turns around with eyes strained and scared. I want to shake her and say snap out of it, I want to stop this guard and tell him to leave, but instead we all move in closer to one another and I cannot tell if we are sheep or a shield wall.