New Views From Jerusalem's Old City

When we lived in Jerusalem's Old City, over forty years ago, it didn't look like this at all.

We were there pretty soon after Israel liberated it during the 1967 Six Days War.  As I've blogged a number of times on Shiloh Musings, Israel didn't actually have a working plan to liberate Judea, Samaria or even the Old City.  There were always rumblings and mumblings about how they dreamt of praying at the Kotel, which was referred to as the "Wailing Wall,"

So, if there weren't any plans to liberate the land that Jordan was occupying, then the Israeli Government certainly didn't have any plans on how they were going to deal with the Jewish homes and Arab squatters who had been there illegally for almost twenty years.  OK, probably longer considering that many of the Jewish population had been forced out before independence.

Today there are many Jews living in the Old City and many, many more study, pray and visit.  I always take tons of pictures when I'm there.  It's like visiting a dear relative who was once poor and neglected and now has improved his/her life.

One of the signs of Jewish sovereignty in the Old City is the mezzuzah on Jaffa Gate.

The Jewish Quarter is decorated with Israeli and Jerusalem flags.  Before the pre-state violence against Jews in the walled city of Jerusalem, aka the Old City, Jews lived in all of the neighborhoods.

Look carefully at the patterns of the bricks and you can see that the second floor is newer than the first.

During the year, 1970-71, we had lived there, it was a very different place.  Whenever I pass our old home, which is almost unrecognizable, I'm amazed.  There was no Jewish community at the time.  Maybe if it had been different, meaning more like today, we would have applied to buy an apartment there instead of buying one in Bayit V'Gan, which we later sold to build our house in Shiloh.