The Highway which Leads to Jerusalem

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIV, Issue 6102, 15 September 1947, Page 2

The Highway which Leads to Jerusalem

THE JAFFA ROAD

The Jaffa road is the main highway into Jerusalem, and at its end is the Jaffa Gate, most famous entrance into the ancient Holy City. A lot of people—and a lot of armies—have used the Jaffa road, and in all their minds was the thought, “This road will lead me to Jerusalem.”

The Jaffa Road enters Jesuralem from the south-west. In olden days it led straight to the Jaffa Gate. Today iz almost loses itself in a. maize of cafes and modem shops before it finally arrives at its destination. But first, something about this new city which has built itself around the old one. It consists of many and various peoples; little bits of Europe and of Asia, transplanted into a variegated garden around an old tree. 1 I People have come from all comers of the earth to settle in the new city. Many of them brought little in the way of material possessions. In some cases there was little to bring; in others the urgency of leaving their homelands was too great to permit the encumbrance of material things. But without fail,they all brought perhaps the most priceless of personal possessions—their individuality and their accustomed way of life. Austrians, Slavs, Germans, odd peoples from Asia,- arrived to find many of their countrymen already settled there. National Communities Little by little, small, yet distinctive national communities gathered themselves together. Being, for the most part, people with marked communal tendencies, they soon had their own meeting' places, generally little cafes or coffee shops. The garden cafe of Rariv, at Beit Hakerem, is typical. It is the meeting place of Russians, Czechs and, occasionallp Poles. “Vienna,” on the Jaffa road, near Ben Yehuda-strect, implies by its name the nationality of its clientele. Ben Yehuda-street, incidentally, is the main shopping centre of the new city; hence it is of necessity, polyglot.

A Czech shoemaker (his countrymen make the best footwear in the world) has his shop next to an Austrian watchmaker. In the same street is a small pastry cook’s shop. His wares are the same as those which helped to make Vienna famous. Close by is a sports store, whose.proprietor is a Russian. • In New Jerusalem there is a fine university. In time, it may become one of the centres of the world’s learning. Already it has one of the finest libraries. Another of tfie cultural achievements of these migrant people is the

magnificent Palestine Symphony Orchestra. The bulk of this new population is music loving. That they should have brought their music with them is not surprising, but that they should have contributed to the building of one of the world’s finest symphony orchestras is to their everlasting credit. Many members of the orchestra once took their places with the greatest orchestras of Europe and America.

In another way, too, America is well represented in Jerusalem. On the hill road to Tal Piot is the Y.M.C.A. It cost an American dpnor £250,000. It is, without doubt, one of the finest modern structures in the Middle East. / !

Further along the Tal Piot road is another fine Christian establishment —the Terra Santa College, run by the Franciscan Order. From here one can see right into the heart of the Old City. Sharp Contrasts

Entering the old city of Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate for the first time is quite a remarkable experience. The sudden sharp contrast bebetween the modern and the very ancient has caused many a gasp of astonishment from a first visitor.

Coming through the Gate, the Jaffa road turns sharply left, and then—it just ends. It disappears into many little arched alleys and odd courtyards. Here are famous names—the Via Dolorea, the Street of Queen Anne of the Greeks, and St. David’s Way. Along any one of these narrow cob-ble-stoned streets, is the way to the teeming life of the markets, and to the heart of the old city. /

Life here is all hurry and bustle, yet essentially Oriental. In the Place of the Tradesmen are dozens of little open-fronted shops, hardly worthy of the name, for they are only single rooms, where are practised the ancient trades of the East. Sandal makers and quilt makers, spinners, and bronze and silver workers all practise their trades as did their forebears hundreds of years ago. Clang of Tools

The ring and clang of their tools, the cries of the money changers, and the shouts of merchants and buyers, all meet and reverberate through the narrow arched streets, like the Tower of Babel.

Parts of the church ar» bfeautiful, particularly the Greek Chapel, but many a visitor has been disappointed by an impression of tawdriness; that it was all a little commercialised, and perhaps cheap. Some, no doubt, would ihave had their faith severely shaken were it not for other obviously real and sincere evidences in different parts of the Holy Land.