IN OLD JERUSALEM

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 37, 27 February 1937, Page 10

IN OLD JERUSALEM

Jerusalem caunot be compared wiih any of the world ;s gre'at capitais. j.t stands apart. There is its iong i^ncL checquered history; its ilnique si'iiaation, surrounded on three sides by , mountains amid the Judean hills; a po V" all, it is a holy city, sacred alikfe to jew, Christian, and Afosiein. ( «t 4i " * Outeide the old walls theri; ha? sprung up a magnificent city o^f spacious uoulevards and fine public / buildings. It is within the ramparts /of ,the old city, however, -where we fin^l thos? sites which pilgrims come to aee — the Temple Area wnere Solomon 's, Templo stood; the Church of the Holy Sepul.'.•hre, hiarkmg the alleged sitje of the Crucifixion; and the Via Dohirosa, the thoroughfare along which Cl irist wenf bearing His Cross. But the ljeal charm of the old city lies in its narrow, winding streets, the cosmopolit&n crowds you meet in them, the q naint littlo shops and the native craftsjsnen toiling at trades as old as time. Indeed, as you stroll about the streets io'f Old Jerusalem you are ever encoun tering scenes and witnessing incidents/ that recall in a vivid way the sacred ( narrative. Nationality and ^ Sect. Every race and every creed and 6ect would appear to be repr jesented — Arabs, Jews, Gentilos, Negroesi priests, :nonks and nuns in every concfeivable costume. An expert can tell fr(>m the headge'ar or dress the nationality and sect of the wearer. A frien d of mlne spent two, hour3 standing Ijy the Jaffa Gate one morning and ma^ie a note of tlie different types of he;^dgear that passed. declaring that the , number exceeded forty. The only hai he did not notice was the bowler. 'Jlhey were of every style, shape, size a nd colour — from the elongated brown ti.rb.oosh. of the Dervish and the Planitagenet period conical headgear of tete women from Betblehem, to the sku il-cap of the Francisean monk and thc* kaifleh and goat-hair aggal of the Arai?. There were Jev^s in fur-encircled hats with curls on either 6ide of the face in ob.edi.ence to th'e.' law: ' ' Thou shalt not mar the cornersr./of thy beard"; Arme- ' nians in black£ pointed top-hats supposed to symboifi.se Mount Ararat, Persian and Georgl/an Jews in woolly headgear, nuns in aJaborate white caps, together with akoiost every known shape ;ind fashion of Western headgear. Nsjttow Streets. Not only aj -e the streets narrow and winding, uutj they rise and fall in a series of step s denotmg the liiils upon which Jerus^f Jem is built. They ara little wider: than an ordinary city pavenient, a.nd are lined with shops crammed wii.h ali kifi.ua of mercliandise. The shops are iittle more than recesses in the wall/ 1, "but the number and variety of th»j articles .displayed is amazing. ' i , • The shoj )-keepers of .the Holy City do not, generaily speaking, specialise, but are stijong believers in varxety. "You can geneiyxlly fin.d .what you want in the Uld (J.ity* if you dig for it. In a shop meaj.uring nine by tweive fect, a friend ofj mine rescued some sardxnes from a uounter cluttered with soap, shoe-laces, biscuits and writing paper. Tucked af way on a high shelf were tnvee hats of tjhe latest Ih-ench modeL The pj incipal retaii yegetable maTket is housed in a vauited ediiice dating jcrom, the Crusa.des. It is situate.d ijn the Muristan, the ancient home oi the Hnights of fclt. John, aand probabljf constructed by them. This Duildin|; was formerly tiie stable of a lshan, as in the .walls one can still see where jbhe stone has been cut to form rings tjo which the animals were tied. :The cbuntry women, in their picturesque ciostumes, sit upon the floor amid pUes oi: vegetables. The varied greens of cabf'uage, lettuce, beans, peas, arcichokea, parsley and vine leaves naturaliy jjredominate; but there are also glimpEj&s of purple egg-plant, .white marroJw, yellow: apricots, dark beetroot, and jirimrose-coloured lemons. Eittle portens with baskets on their backs dodgq about, looking wistfully for custom. ' There is a ple&sant hum of " conversai;ion as buyer and seller wraugle quietl.y over the last milli.eme. i Old Bestaurants^ A j feature of the old city are the restsmrants where Arabs sit on little stoolts sipping coifee, talking or smoking the hubble-bubble .water pipe. TfieiU'e is no need to buy a pipe, for onejccan be rented for an indeiinite periodl at any coifee-shop for 2Jd. Ea«stid5 ous smokers, however, carry their owin mouthpieces of jade, aniber, or ivd ry, tastefully carved or decorated wii.h .silver iiligree work. Then there ara the vendors of all kinds of drinks. The lemonade seller wends his way altrag the crowded streets, extolling the vijrtue of his soft .drink by clanking baraies saucers.. The lemonade is carried in. a large glass or earthenware vessel, adorned with brass, with a chunk of ico tlirust into its mouth. The coffee seller cw.rries two brass pots, one filled with /s^rong, dark coifee, and the other holdijhg water, used for rinslng the little qups. Quite a recent innovation is the ilce-cream man. He announces his ware/by calling out one word, which all seem |to know — "Eskimol " ' | Then .there are the craftsmen who jtoil in little workshops in covered alleyways, the light entering in Bharp slants from holes cut in the roof. Here may be seen the potters turning . out clay vessels of every shape and kina, from tiny lamps to big jars. holding' many gallons; the silverspiiths and flligree workers, most Yemenite Jews who have come from Arabia, and declare. they are descendants of the tribe of Gad, • IWith the most primitive tooln they produce delicately chased silver work. * Coppersmith's Art, There are coppergmith sittlng on their haunclws around little fires, creatinc a fearful din beating copper and brass sbeets into all. kinds of useful articles — cooking-pots, trays and water vessels. The leather-workers ' shops are always a picture, their creations — shoes, boots; . leather watei*bottles, camel .trappings and " suchlike, articles — Being, in the

brxghtest of coloufs. One notices tlie long, red riding-boots with iron-tipped heels only worn by men of some importance, whose servants will follow on foot carrying the ordinary shoes for their masters. Hence comes the allusion of John the Baptist: "Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.r'