TODAY’S BLOG
9:00 am Israel time, Saturday, July 11 2015
Yesterday, your humble servant blogged how he and his wife spent a wonderful day in Jerusalem on Thursday as part of a conference organized by Megalim. As you may not know, the Megalim Institute was established by the Ir David (City of David) Foundation in 2001 and is devoted to expanding our knowledge of Jerusalem in the fields of history, archaeology and the Bible.
Ir David is the original Jerusalem, the place where King David built his palace. It is located on the southern hill reaching out of what is today “the old City” of Jerusalem. Following the lectures that were described yesterday, we spent the remainder of our day at Ir David itself. But not exactly.
As I mentioned yesterday, we have been to Ir David many times. It is fascinating place full of archaeological treasures. On Thursday, the bus dropped us off at the Gate where we met our guide, Michael, who took us down to the Pool of Siloam–a pool that was at one time fed by two aqueducts from the Gihon Spring.
During the time of the Second Temple, the Pool was a natural starting point for Jewish pilgrims who had made long journeys to reach Jerusalem because it was the only freshwater reservoir in the city. After cleansing themselves in the pool, the pilgrims headed up “Pilgrims’ Road” to the Temple Mount.
Notice the Pilgrims’ Road that runs from the Siloam Pool uphill to the Temple Mount.
The important thing to note is that the Pilgrims’ Road no longer exists–above ground. Over the centuries, houses and other structures were built there. However, we know exactly where it was because the drainage tunnel that was built under it is still there, in exquisite detail. But it is only in the last decade, since the renovations at Ir David, that the tunnel has been “revealed.”
And it was through this dark and dank tunnel that we “walked” late Thursday afternoon.
Actually it was more like we “climbed”. The tunnel runs about 700 meters uphill to the Temple Mount.
It is not an adventure for the weak of heart, or those suffering from claustrophobia, or those who are physically challenged. The tunnel width and height varies slightly from point to point but averages about 1 meter wide and 1.8 meters high.
The picture below shows the beginning of the tunnel beside the Siloam Pool–it is behind the wall to the left. Note how comfortably wide and high the tunnel looks for the first 15 steps:
This size quickly changes:
And becomes narrower and mustier still:
What you cannot sense from the photographs is the fact that you are constantly ascending. Nor can you see the occasional stone-crafted drainholes on the sides of the walls nor the occasional manholes overhead.
As you walk along, however, the history of the tunnel overwhelms you. For we all know from various accounts that it was in this tunnel and others that the heroic Jewish defenders of Jerusalem hid during the Roman attack on the city in 70 CE and from which they staged their attacks against the Romans.
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Josephus, in particular, describes how the Simon, one of the Jewish generals who led the defense, finally was forced to surrender and came out of one the tunnels dressed in a flowing purple robe. The Roman soldiers, not knowing that a tunnel existed there quickly went down and slaughtered whomever they could find. Josephus says that hundreds of bodies were eventually pulled out.
Look back at the picture above. Can you imagine the narrow drainage way awash in and flowing with Jewish blood?
Along the narrow passageway, we actually encountered an end of the Old City Wall:
At this point, I’d like for you to watch the following video made by Galyn Wiemers. It is the best one that I have seen that describes the experience of tunnel. Click on this link for his tunnel video.
Unfortunately for Galyn, the remainder of the tunnel was closed to the public at the time (note the wire barrier at the “exit”), and he had to ascend through an egress point near the Dung Gate. It was also closed when we arrived there on Thursday, but our guide was able to have the security person open the tunnel gate.
After 15 more minutes in the tunnel, we reached the end and climbed a stairway out.
And where were we exactly?
At the southern end of the Kotel, the Western Wall, in a place rarely visited by the public. The structure in the background is the Mughrabi ramp and gate. The Wall of course is to the right. And what is the rubble in the foreground? If you know your Wall geography, you know that the answer is . . .
Robinson’s arch.
Your humble servant must say that in all of his years of traipsing about Jerusalem and beholding wonders at every turn, few things have had the impact of this particular trip along the tunnel from the Siloam Pool to the Western Wall.
If you ever have the chance to take the trip . . . be sure to do it!
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.