Congregation Ohav Sholom

Travel in Israel - Jerusalem.

Off the Beaten Track in Israel-Jerusalem

by Michael Rosenbloom(spidermr@aol.com)

Is there a city, which compares to Jerusalem in beauty and splendor? What other city combines history and earth-shaking current events as does Jerusalem? Jerusalem is the main attraction for most visitors to Israel. So, how can any site in Jerusalem be considered off the beaten track?

Well, here are three not so well known sites, which are off the beaten track, but are jewels regardless. One of the sites is an ex-prison, one a former Roman fortress and one an ex-border outpost between Israel and Jordan.

Mutzav Hapa’amon

The pre-1967 border between Israel and Jordan was situated a few hundred meters from Kibbutz Ramat Rachel, the only kibbutz located within a city(Jerusalem). If you pass the entrance to Kibbutz Ramat Rachel, but continue east on a narrow one-lane road, you reach a monument off the road on your right. The monument was built atop an ex-Jordanian army bunker, which was used to threaten the kibbutz before 1967. It was built in memory of the Israeli soldiers who lost their lives overtaking the outpost.

The bunker paths below ground level are still intact, offering a realistic sense of how dangerous pre-1967 Israel was. But the site offers more. The view from the hill, mostly south and east is magnificent. Southward you can see Bethlehem several miles away. Eastward is the Judean desert in all its stark beauty. And if you’re lucky and the air is clear you can see across to Jordan. In the Southeast is Herodium a former desert retreat or giant family burial plot, built by King Herod, which almost beckons to you to load up with backpack and water and hike to it. Northeast in the distance is Mt. Scopus and the Hebrew University. An Arab village is but a stone’s throw away, as is the kibbutz but in the opposite direction.

As you spend more and more time in Jerusalem, you’ll realize that Jerusalem is a city of views. This view may well end up being one of your favorites.

Hechal Hagevurah – The Hall of Heroism

The Hall of Heroism is a museum tucked into a corner of the Russian Compound, in the heart of downtown Jerusalem. During the British Mandate, the building functioned as a prison, where members of the Jewish underground resistance groups (The LHI, Haganah and IZL) were imprisoned before being transferred to the main prison in Acco.

The eeriest cell in the prison is the one, which functioned as the gallows. The gallows look all too real, with rope and trap doors still in full view. The cells recreate to an extent the every day life of those imprisoned there. When it functioned as a prison, two prisoners who were members of the underground and condemned to die, committed suicide by blowing themselves up with a hand grenade which had been smuggled into the prison, inside of an orange. They preferred this fate rather than be hung by the British.

This site is best suited for seeing as part of a walking tour. Since parking spaces are a rare commodity in Jerusalem, the Russian Compound is overflowing with the cars of Israelis, who work downtown. Accordingly, walk to the Hall of Heroism, or take a bus. Do not go by car.

The Sisters of Zion Convent/Antonia Fortress

The Sisters of Zion convent is situated in the Old City, just west of the Lion’s Gate. The land on which the convent is built, was purchased in the mid 19^th century. What was uncovered on the grounds of the convent is nothing short of remarkable: remains of the Antonia Fortress built by King Herod in honor of his friend Mark Anthony, in 36 BCE. You can read a description of The Antonia Fortress in the writings of Josephus Flavius. The paved courtyard of the fortress can be seen today by descending below current street level. You can see the striated pavement (to keep horses from slipping) of a Roman road leading into the fortress. Also fascinating is a portion of the Roman pavement with markings of a game engraved in it. It is thought that Roman legionaires would play such games to help pass the time.

On the main floor of the convent is another sight to behold: a portion of a large arch descending from outside the building with another smaller one adjacent to it. These are the remains of a triple triumphal arch, the entrance gate to Hadrian’s Jerusalem, built in the year 135 CE, when Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitol, after the Romans turned Jerusalem into a pagan city. The triple arch was the Emperor Hadrian’s signature, and can be seen throughout the Middle East where Hadrian journeyed.

Oh yes! Remember the portion of the large arch? If you leave the convent and look up and around you, you’ll see the continuation of the large arch above the Via Dolorosa, blended into the cityscape. People are walking under it, oblivious to its historical significance, demonstrating how Jerusalem is a living museum. It’s also instructive to look east toward the Lion’s Gate and note where the eastern entrance to the Old City is today compared to 2000 years ago.

 One can spend years in Jerusalem and not see all that the golden city has to offer. Yet these three out-of-the-way sites which span 2000 years of history, offer you a thrilling look back into two stages of history; when we were losing our homeland, and when we were in the process of fighting to gain it back and keep it, 2000 years later.

October 1999

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