CULINARY TRADITIONS ROOTED IN FAITH

Unbridledly enjoying entertaining us with digressions to her and her husband’s life stories was Shanina Touson, a kind and amusing gabber of a woman. In answering the spiritual call of her Jewish faith, she moved to Israel from her birth country of Uruguay, and she demonstrated to us the finer points of making Jewish challah. From her bowl of dough made from water, flour, yeast, salt, oil and lots of eggs, Shanina pinched off a piece, explaining how this little ritual refers back to ancient Jewish traditions whereby the first bit of dough is set aside for the Temple priests as an offering to God.

Judaism, as I have come to learn, is a religion which permeates throughout the entire fabric of Jewish life. It is deeply rooted in the land from which it originated, ever reminding its faithful of God’s call and covenant to Abraham and his descendants: “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household, to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.’” (Genesis 12:1-3).

Within the Old City of Jerusalem, conserved and restored remnants of the city’s history now feature as popular tourist draws, if not more importantly as holy pilgrimage sites. Navigating the labyrinthine alleyways of the market, where Muslim, Jewish and Christian merchants ply their trades within their respective quarters, one may visit the Western Wall, the holiest site in the world for all Jews. It is a remainder of the Second Temple of Jerusalem which was built by King Herod the Great in 20 BCE and destroyed by the Romans during the quashing of the Jewish revolt less than a century later. Here at the Western Wall, where slips of paper scribbled with written prayers are wedged into the cracks between the stones, pious Jews mourn the destruction of the Temple, thus earning for the site the synonymous title “The Wailing Wall.” Just beyond the Western Wall is Temple Mount, upon which sits the Dome of the Rock, which at present is restricted only for Islamic veneration.

Meanwhile in the Christian quarters of the Old City, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher stands as Christendom’s holiest shrine, occupied and revered by various coexisting, and sometimes feuding, Christian denominations. Here, the site where Jesus Christ is believed to have been crucified and buried, the faithful, alongside the curious, flock to behold and venerate the holy relics of Christ’s passion: the Stone of Anointing where Jesus’s body was laid down in preparation for burial after it was taken down from the cross; Christ’s tomb itself housed within the Aedicule in the middle of the Rotunda; a piece of the Column of Flagellation, believed to be on which Jesus was flogged and beaten, kept within the Franciscan Chapel of the Apparition; and the Rock of Golgotha, upon which it is held that the very cross of Christ stood, during his death. At the Rotunda, amidst a thick gathering of people waiting in line for a chance to touch the holy tomb of Christ, I took stock of the moment that lay before me, reflecting for once on my own spirituality. For me who has lost touch with the practice of his religion, to stand in the presence of all that is considered most holy in my faith was in all ends a profoundly overwhelming and even moving experience.

AN EYE FOR PROGRESS

Within the courtyard of the Tower of David, an ancient citadel located near the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City, a seated audience waiting in the cold open air of an autumn evening fell into a hush, as the surrounding ruins of the citadel illuminated against a clear black sky. On the archeological walls of the entire courtyard, the story of Jerusalem played out in a spectacular lights-and-sound show of virtual reality images, projected on a movie screen of stones and rocks. The Night Spectacular traced how, through the millennia, Jerusalem and the entire land of Judea went through various eras of habitation, destruction and rebuilding – from the ancient middle eastern civilizations of the Canaanites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians and the Persians; to the Roman and Byzantine empires; to the rules of Islamic caliphates; to the Crusades and the Ottoman conquests; all the way to present times.

As much as Jerusalem is a place of grand antiquity, it is in equal regard a progressive and enlightened city. From our plush accommodation at the David Citadel Hotel, to our glitzy avant-garde party inside Zedekiah’s Cave for the launch of the OpenRestaurants Festival, to our heady late night pub crawl in downtown Mahane Yehuda, our stay in Israel’s capital was by no means lacking of modern-day excitements.

At the Mahane Yehuda Market, often referred to as “The Shuk” (meaning “market” in Hebrew), our food tour guide, Shuki narrated how the surrounding neighborhood was once a depressed and crime-infested borough of rundown tenements, and was cleaned and spruced up in the mid-2000’s to bring in renewed vigor and uplift the area’s commerce, tourism and culture. Such pronounced gentrifications were seen: major infrastructure renovations, the burgeoning of trendier cafés and boutique shops, the colorful urban artworks done on buildings and market stall shutters, the outcropping of bars and hip hangouts that drove the emergence of an energetic nightlife scene, the installation of public Wi-Fi on the streets. The Shuk has indeed become a thriving attraction in Jerusalem.

MELTING POT OF HERITAGE

Since ancient times, the people of Israel have struggled and fought for their divine birthright. While the country may still have its struggles at the present, Israel nonetheless shines as a highly developed nation, brimming with rich heritage and bright prospects.

Israel today is a country wrought from various cultural influences and origins, as Jews who were once dispersed throughout the entire world during their diaspora eventually made their way back to the land of their forefathers. This was when Israel became an independent nation after World War II, and the people brought back with them traces of their heritage. Such were the stirrings that have brought forth the diversity in the flavors of the country.

Israel stands as a land of creation, a land of promise. My journey through its history and culture, courtesy of the OpenRestaurants Festival, has been nothing short of wondrous. It has been a journey that is sumptuously filling, not only gastronomically, but moreover emotionally and spiritually.