There's No Such Thing
As A Small Disaster.
A Mount
Of Discord
MICHELLE MAZEL SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
A
/-'
plan recently submitted to
the subcommittee for plan-
ning and construction of
the Jerusalem municipal-
ity, is raising a storm of contro-
versy. If approved, the plan,
calling for the reclassification of
extensive tracts of church land on
the Mount of Olives, would per-
mit construction and expansion
to provide more facilities for the
pilgrims and tourists who flock
there in ever greater numbers.
Though there is no question
that such facilities are badly
needed, opponents of the plan ar-
gue that the Mount of Olives,
which runs parallel to the Tem-
ple Mount to the east, beyond the
Kidron Valley, is the last green
zone ofJerusalem. Its summit is
800 meters above sea level and
its fabulous skyline is very much
a part of the city's image.
But as is very often the case in
Jerusalem, there is more to the
controversy than meets the eye.
Biblical associations with the
Mount of Olives make it sacred
to Jews, and its role during the
last days of Jesus makes it sacred
to Christians.
Nobody knows when of how
the Mount of Olives came by its
name, since in biblical times most
of the hills and mounts sur-
rounding Jerusalem were covered
with olive trees. Perhaps the trees
of that area were finer than oth-
ers. Certainly some of the
gnarled, centuries-old specimens
are impressive.
As the oldest Jewish cemetery
in the world, dating back nearly
2,500 years, is situated there, and
according to Halachah burial is
not permitted inside cities, the
mount of Olives must have been
well outside city limits during bib-
lical times.
Jewish tradition has it that the
olive branch brought Noah by the
dove to show him the flood was
over, came from the Mount of
Olives; here too that centuries lat-
er King David, fleeing his son Ab-
salom, had stopped to kneel and
pray. After the destruction of the
Temple and ofJerusalem by the
Romans, the "Schehina", the Di-
vine presence, was reported to
have fled to the Mount of Olives,
there to await the Day of Judg-
ment: "And in that day his feet
will stand on the Mount of
Olives..." (Zechariah)
And it was here that for a
number of centuries after that de-
struction, Jews would assemble
for the traditional procession of
Hoshana Rabba on the seventh
and last day of the Sukkot festi-
val, for they were forbidden — at
times under pain of death — to
enter the Temple Mount.
Being troubled times, it was no
longer possible to observe all
three yearly pilgrimages. Sukkot
was the only one to be widely
kept — perhaps because the
booths set up in observance of the
law at Sukkot provided accomo-
dation for pilgrims from all over
the world. Conquerors came and
went and still the annual pil-
grimage took place, becoming, by
the end of the ninth century, the
most important event of the Jew-
ish year.
A festive procession made its
way to the summit of the Mount
of Olives and circled it seven
times, in memory of the seven
hakafot (circling with the Torah)
that were made around the altar
in the great Temple.
This was a day of great rejoic-
ing and celebration when an-
nouncements of special interest
to the Jewish world was made.
On July 15, 1099, the Cru-
saders stormed the walls of
Jerusalem. The massacre that
followed remains unparalleled in
the long and bloody history of the
city. Muslims and Jews, for once
living together in peace, were
slaughtered indiscriminately.
There was no Sukkot celebration
of the Mount of Olives that year,
or the next. Only memories and
a few songs and prayers special-
ly written for the occasion, re-
mained.
The Mount is sacred to Chris-
tians as well. According to the
New testament, Jesus entered
Jerusalem on Palm Sunday from
Betphage on the Mount of Olives;
it was in the garden of Gethse-
mane (from the Hebrew Gat
Shmanim, the Olive Press) at the
foot of the Mount, that he was ar-
rested by Roman soldiers; and it
was from the summit of the
Mount that he ascended to heav-
en.
In the fourth century, a num-
ber if splendid churches were
built to commemorate these
events, notably the magnificent
Basilica of the Ascension. But
they were all destroyed in the late
12th century by the Islamic rulers
of the city.
The Mount remained desolate
for centuries. In the second part
of the nineteenth century, re-
newed building of churches took
place, the most conspicuous be-
ing the Russian church of Mary
agdalene, completed in 1888 and
dedicated in the presence of
Alexander III and his wife,
Duchess Elisabeth. She was
murdered in 1918..
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