For many religious people, the most important city in the world is Jerusalem. In the early days of the city, after King David purchased the Temple Mount and the First Temple was built by his son King Solomon the city of Jerusalem was not where the “Old City” is today. It was on the opposite side of the Temple Mount. The “Old City” is a much newer city probably around 500 years old. It’s possible that people inhabited the area currently known as the Old City as early as the late Second Temple period, but it wasn’t formally fortified with the walls in their current position until about 500 years ago.
The Old City is rich in religious significance and religion. The Western Wall, the holiest site for Jews, is in the Old City as are the Dome of Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque, two of the most important holy places for Muslims. Additionally, Christians place special significance on several places in the Old City including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The Old City is divided into “Quarters”. The Quarters are not a quarter a piece. They are randomly shaped and sized. The smallest quarter is the Armenian and the second smallest quarter is the Jewish Quarter. The largest quarter is the Arab Quarter. Very few Jews live in the Arab Quarter. (Now, there are more than there had been for quite some time.) One of the more well known Jewish residents of the Arab Quarter is a family named Zilberman. They are also famous for their famed (and perhaps slightly controversial) Torah academy for boys.
It happens that a cousin of my wife married a Zilberman. But not one of the children of the residents of the Arab Quarter. That is his uncle.
He offered to take us to his uncle’s house and show us around. We immediately took him up on the offer.
The Zilbermans live pretty deep into the Arab Quarter. We walked through the Arab Shuk (market) and then up and around a few streets that I had never been on before despite my many trips to Jerusalem. I had never been through the main thoroughfares of the Arab Quarter before.
We arrived at their home.
Their home is neighbored on one side by a Muslim family and on the other by a Christian family. The three of them get along well. They share a cup of coffee (literal, not figurative) every so often.
The first thing that was pointed out to us as we entered the home was something in the threshold. It was a nook for a mezuza. The nook is carved out of the wall so that a mezuza can be placed near the door. It is nearly impossible to affix a mezuza to stone so the nook is necessary. Interestingly enough, the nook was there when the Zilbermans bought the home about 10 years ago. This means that is was either built for Jewish inhabitants when it was first constructed or sometime along the way a Jewish family lived there. That was very interesting to me.
We went through the doorway and saw the entrance-way to the home. It is a very narrow house with at least 3 stories. The bottom level is the dining room. The room was full of garbage when they bought the home. They cleared it out and removed all the rubble and created a beautiful new space. The Zilbermans host a huge Shabbos meal (just about) every week. Their entertaining room is used as a place to welcome hundreds and hundreds of guests into their home every Shabbos. The room is beautiful.
The real treat of the home is the balcony. The Zilbermans have several balconies. The uppermost balcony has a view that most Jewish people don’t get to experience. The Zilberman’s home is much further north than any other Jewish homes so that the view of the Temple Mount is more straight away as opposed to on an angle. From the balcony there is a clear view of the Temple Mount square. The stone tiling on the floor of the Temple Mount is a rare sight for Jews seeing as we are prohibited from approaching the Temple Mount by Jewish law and the views from the Jewish Quarter don’t quite get the right angle. Here is the view looking a bit south from the Zilberman’s balcony. If you look carefully to the left of the photo you can make out some of the Temple Mount floor.
After we took some photos from the balcony we went back down to the dining room for some group photos and to ask a few more questions. Down there we also saw a very old cistern in the dining room bathroom. They also have an album of the construction of their home while they were living there. It was a very ambitious project and it turned out really well. I also got to take a photo with my wife’s cousin’s husband (a Zilberman) and just writing that, makes me realize how fortunate I am to have such wonderful family to share experiences and learn from.
Before we left I just had to ask how their relationship was with their non-Jewish neighbors. The answer was that they got along really well. As I mentioned above, they have coffee together every now and again. They consider their non-Jewish neighbors their friends. I asked what happens between them when there is tension or even terror attacks. I was told that their relationship is unaffected by the actions and rhetoric of others. They have mutual respect for one another and what happens politically or militarily is not of very important consequence between friends. I have to say, I was impressed with that approach and it mirrors my personal experiences as well.
The Zilbermans believe that they are doing good work by making a kiddush Hashem in an area that is generally devoid of Jewish influence and spirituality. They are doing a great job at that. I believe that they are a wonderful example of devotion to religion and tolerance.
We all can learn from them.
