Julian Barnett
More Hidden Jerusalem

Julian Barnett - More Hidden Jerusalem

- So, Julian, thank you very much. So we’re looking forward to part two.

• Thank you, Wendy, and good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are in the world. Welcome to indeed “Hidden Jerusalem” part two. Part one was way back in October. This is now part two. And I just want to give an explanation as to why I’m actually painting this picture of “Hidden Jerusalem.” And it is in a way, to give you the background to the topography, the history, the architecture of Jerusalem. And I’m sticking in the main to the physical aspects of those things today, as I did on last month when I had part one. Why am I doing this? Because once we get into the new year, into 2022, all those hooks and shelves, so to speak, that I’ve built up in “Hidden Jerusalem” parts one and two, I’m going to populate with the sects of the city of Jerusalem. So once I’ve familiarised you with all of these parts of physical Jerusalem, which I’m going to complete today, on the 21st of February, I’m going to really bring you in to introduce you to some of the Jewish sect of that city. And then on the 14th of March, the Islamic sects of the city, and in April, the Christian sects of the city. So they are going to be hang on all the hooks I’m going to complete for you today. So let me just go to the first slide or the first picture, and that is one that you might remember from “Hidden Jerusalem” part one. And that is of me sitting in my home in Musrara, just a neighbourhood, just outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. Musrara is Arabic for small stones, because the neighbourhood was full of pebbly small stones when the Crusaders took the city in 1099, and they decided not to build in the area.

So it remained quite a blank area until it was built upon and populated in the 19th century. My home was a wonderful old house with high ceilings, freezing in Jerusalem winters, absolutely perishing, but magnificent in Jerusalem summers, because there was a fan and there was real air. There wasn’t air con, it was real air coming through the windows, and it was a very, very beautiful place to live for half of the year. Let no one deceive you. Jerusalem winters are not a pleasant thing if you’re not prepared. So if I can take you onto the next slide and it is a satellite picture of Jerusalem, a pretty dramatic image. And there, if we can just, just to give you bearings, top left corner, that satellite picture is the Armenian, and also leading into the Jewish quarter. Just beneath that top left corner, you can see is the continuation of the Jewish corner. And bottom left is the Temple Mount itself, know as Haram al-Sharif in Arabic, the Temple Mount in English. And it occupies 20% or just under 20% of the total air of the Old City of Jerusalem. Now look to top right corner of the walled city, just in a little bit to the left with the cursor, and the top right corner, a little bit further to the left. And the top right corner is the Christian Quarter, and then the central part of the walled city, right in the middle of that satellite image is the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, the largest quarter, the most populous quarter. And the next slide, please. You can see there the four quarters, Christian, Armenian, Jewish, Muslim quarter with the Temple Mount, that rectangular bit right on the right of that section there. And I’ll be looking at each of these quarters straight away. The next slide, please.

Jerusalem has many gates, but there are now seven working gates to the Old City of Jerusalem and a number of sealed gates as well. I’m going to just list them before showing you them. Starting at Jaffa Gates, moving around to New Gates, then to Damascus Gates, then down to Herod’s Gate, round to Lions’ Gate, round to Dung Gate, and then all the way around to Zion Gate. I’m going to say a little bit about each of these, but I’d like to preface it by something really important, and I mentioned this in “Hidden Jerusalem” part one. And it is this, that Jerusalem is a very unusual city in it, the various populations, plural of that city, have completely different terms of reference as to how they view the city. I think I drew the analogy last time. Imagine if you were a New Yorker, living in New York, and you had a different name for Times Square. Well, of course, everybody knows Times Square is Times Square. In London, everybody knows Trafalgar Square is Trafalgar Square. Nobody in London says, “I’m going to meet you at Trafalgar Square.” Then somebody says, “Oh.”

Now we don’t call it Trafalgar Square, we refer to it as et cetera, et cetera. It’s simply would be inconceivable that the populations of New York or Jerusalem to take two examples would have different terms of reference to iconic central points within their capital city. Not so in Jerusalem, because in Jerusalem, you might have iconic and key areas of the city, but they are referred to entirely differently, depending upon which ethnic group, which religious group, which historical group you come from. So every single gate within the Old City of Jerusalem, each one of those seven gates has an Arabic name, an English name, a Hebrew name, and sometimes more of each one, sometimes it’s more. So here is the first gate. I’m taking not in any particular order, but it’s the gate that many of you might be most familiar with if you visited Jerusalem. And if you have not ever visited Jerusalem, but one day do, it’s more than likely, not necessarily the case, more than likely, your introduction to the city will be through this gate, Jaffa Gate. Why is it called Jaffa Gate? Because it is the gate to the ancient road of Jaffa. The sort of northwestern corner of the Old City of Jerusalem. It’s known in Arabic as Bab el-Khalil, Gate of the Friend, because, Ibrahim, the prophet of God, was sometimes known in the Qur'an as Khalil, “The friend of God.” And that is the gate that would lead to the town of Hebron. Hebron, where Abraham is buried, according to Islamic and Jewish tradition. It’s also known as Sha'ar Yafo in Hebrew, Jaffa Gate.

Architecturally, it is fascinating. If you look at the central row of stones in the gates, these enormous ashlar stones from the Herodian period, the period of King Herod. This is one of the remaining towers from the time of King Herod. He built this tower in honour of Phasael, his brother. So this has really ancient connotations. Now above those huge stones are another set of stones, not as large, but still impressive, from the Crusader period. And at the very top, those castellations at the top, they are from the Ottoman and British mandate period. So in a way, you have the layers of the, some of the periods in Jerusalem’s history all in one building. And that Jaffa Gate is one of the ways in. To the next slide, please. This is the only gated Jerusalem. Now to contradict myself, that shares one name from all the various cultures in the city. Bab ij-Jdid, the New Gate. It’s literally a punch in the hall of the walls of the Old City. It was put in 1898, as a, so that it would facilitate easy and safe journeys from the Christian Roman Catholic communities in that part of Jerusalem into the Old City so that they don’t have to go through the Muslim quarter and maybe receive attacks from some of the locals, because they wanted to get into that part of the city in the Northwestern sector that would take them into the church of the Holy Sepulchre. More on that later. The next slide, please.

Now the grandest of all the gates, Damascus Gate, known in English as Damascus Gate, known in Hebrew, Sha'ar Shkhem, the gate towards Shkhem, the ancient town of Shkhem, Nablus. And in Arabic, as Bab al-Amud, the Gate of the Column, because it was said that a column stood in front of that gate in Roman times, upon which was a statue of the emperor Hadrian. Think about that. Three different names for this arguably most iconic and certainly most beautiful of Jerusalem’s gate. Still, as you can see there, a height of activity as it has been for 2,000 years. Now I want to draw your attention to the left of the great arch of the gate to a much smaller arch just down below. So there’s the great arch, just beneath that is a little archway that is the Roman archway from the Roman period of Damascus Gate. So you can really get a sense in this northern wall of the Old City, how ancient this gate is. It’s a fascinating area. Damascus Gate goes straight into the Muslim quarter, and straight onto the Tyropoeon Valley. Remember, there are three key valleys, a bit of topography for Jerusalem. Three key valleys in Jerusalem, the Tyropoeon Valley, which is Greek for cheesemakers, where all the cheesemakers used to sit and sell their cheeses during the Second Temple period and even before. The Tyropoeon Valley goes from south to north and then peters out to the north of the Old City. The Hinnom Valley, the Valley of Hell, is to the south and southwest of the city, and the Kidron Valley is to the east of the city. Now each of those valleys were crucial in the times of the First and Second Temple periods and they are just as important now for laying down the unseen barriers and the unseen borders within Jerusalem.

You can also see in Damascus Gate, Bab al-Amud, Sha'ar Shkhem, the very bottom structure is huge Roman stones again, rather like the stones in the Jaffa Gate. And then built upon those, Crusader period stones, and built upon those, the stones in 1552, when Sultan Suleiman from Istanbul, ordered, in Constantinople, ordered the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, which is the walls we now see today. To the next picture, please. The next gate down in the Roman wall, just onto the next slide, is this little gate, diminutive Herod’s Gate, named after King Herod, in English, Bab al-Zahra in Arabic, Gate of the Spirits, because it’s close to a cemetery just outside those walls. And also, Sha'ar HaPrakhim, in Hebrew, Gate of the Flowers. It’s called Gate of the Flowers for two reasons. Number one, we know that in Second Temple period times, if not earlier, flowers were sold at this gate for people to take to the temple. Also, just above that arch in the middle you can just see a little rosette of a flower just below the window, a sort of flower shape just faintly in the stone. So for various reasons, it’s known as the “Flowers Gate.” It’s a very local gate, a very intimate gate, and a gate which most, not many outsiders actually get to because it’s sort of off the beaten track. But, of course, in cities like Jerusalem, getting off the beaten track is what you need to do. And now down further, please, and we go to the next gate. The Lions’ Gate. Now you can see on either side of the gate, two pairs of lions. They are in fact not lions, they’re thought to be leopards.

But when the conquerors came to Jerusalem, they saw these figures of large cats, they mistakenly called them lions, but there it is, it’s known as Lions’ Gate in English. So the Christian world, it’s St. Stephen’s Gate. And, Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Martyred by the Romans, taken out of this eastern wall of the city of Jerusalem at that time, and was beheaded there just outside the gate. It’s also very importantly known as Bab al-Hutta, The Gate of Sins in Arabic, and Sha'ar Heth, The Gate of Sins in Hebrew, a reference to what would go on, on Yom Kippur day, the Day of Atonements in Second Temple period times when the scapegoat will be sent out from the walls of Jerusalem into the desert. And it was said that the scapegoat, the goat was sent out on Yom Kippur day from that eastern gate on the eastern walls of the city. So here we see, reference going all the way back to the temple and also references to the Crusader period and references to Baybar, were the leopard being the symbol of Baybar in the house of Baybar. So you have so many historical and cultural references coming together in one gate, only in Jerusalem would you have something like that. And now down to the next gate. Now this gate is one of the sealed gates of Jerusalem. This is the Golden Gate. It has enormous importance in Islamic, and Jewish, and Christian traditions.

It is said to be the gate where the Messiah will eventually come from the Mount of Olives through this sealed gate. And it was sealed as a way to stop any Jewish yearnings for new messianic periods coming to fruition. It was sealed in mediaeval times. It’s a very beautiful gate. And within that gate, if you went through those sealed gates, you would find wonderful halls behind them that still exist, extremely difficult to get access to them from the Temple Mount side. But it is still possible, if you know the right people and are able to charm your way in to seeing the structures on the inside. A very beautiful structure, known in Arabic as Bab Rahmah, Gate of Mercy, the Golden Gate, in English, Sha'ar Zahab, the Gate of Gold in Hebrew. And now round again to what is known as the triple gates. Next slide, please. It is again a sealed gate. The really amazing thing about this is that if you were able to break down those stones, what is beyond each of those three sealed stone archways are completely perfectly preserved, Herodian periods corridors, leading on a slight tangent up onto the Temple Mount. They are stunningly beautiful and you can get access to them through the waft, through the Temple Mount authorities that brings you up through the darkened corridors with still domed painted ceilings within them, and they take you right up onto the Temple Mount. Very beautiful structures. They’re also sometimes known as the Gates of Huldah.

Well, Huldah, the prophetess, sat. And you can see just to the left of the most left hand arch, those huge stones again, from the Second Temple period. These gates date back to the period of Jesus and that Second Temple. And the stonework in front of the gates that looks very rough, is, in fact, hand hewn stones from the bedrock, leading up to those gates. So we are seeing a snapshot here of the Second Temple period. And now, to the Dung Gate. The Dung Gate is literally that. It was, the name Dung Gate is very, very old. And it goes back all the way to, when wastage was taken during the Second Temple period and thrown out over the side of the Kidron Valley, which is beyond Dung Gate. And that name stuck, so I should say it’s stuck in English. But the Dung Gate itself was Sha'ar Ha'ashpot, The Gate of Rubbish and Dung, known in Arabic as Bab al-Maghariba, the Gates of the Mughrabis, because it led into a fifth quarter, which is now gone since 1967, which was a quarter where people from the Mughrabi, the Maghreb, Moroccans in the main, Moroccan Muslims lived in what is now the area in front of the Western Wall. It’s also known as Bab al-Silwan, The Gate of Silwan, because it leads out to the Arab village of Silwan. And the next picture.

The final one of the working gates, the seventh of the seventh working gates, it’s Bab al-Nabi Da'ud, in Arabic, The Gate of David the Prophet. I said King David, of course, in Islamic tradition, he’s the Prophet David, Nabi Da'ud. In Hebrew, Sha'ar Zion, Zion Gate. And you have this lovely view taken, looking over into the Armenian commons, straight into the Armenian quarter. And you can also see in the far distance just on the skyline, a needle-like tower just sticking up into the sky, that’s the Roman Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem. So what you have here is a lovely little snapshot of the Roman Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem, more of those later. And the Greek, sorry, and the Armenian Patriarchate just above the gate and the gate itself. A nice little snapshot right across those rooftops of Jerusalem. Okay, let’s now, go into one of the neighbourhoods of Jerusalem and that neighbourhood is Me'a She'arim. And I just want to say about where that name comes from, because it’s quite interesting. Me'a She'arim literally means a hundred gates. Me'a She'arim. And it goes back to chapter 26 of Genesis, the Torah reading for the week that Me'a She'arim was founded in the 1800s. It was the Torah reading of HaYashar. And in that chapter 26 of Genesis, it says the following, and I’m going to read the sentence to you. “And Isaac sowed the land, in that year, and he reaped a hundredfolds. God had blessed him.” So Me'a She'arim, which was founded on the weekly reading of that, it was thought that that was a wonderful way, wonderful name to call their neighbourhood, because they hoped for the numbers of the Orthodox to increase a hundredfold just as Isaac’s harvest had.

So, Me'a She'arim as a sort of play on words, also, meaning a hundred gates, it was said that the original plan of Me'a She'arim is that it will be an enclosed area with a hundred gates within it. Let’s go to the next slide, please. Because here you can see those familiar, those that have visited Jerusalem, those signs that are very familiar to us all, imploring visitors to Me'a She'arim, to the ultra Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of Jerusalem to dress modestly, particularly for women to dress modestly. But men also, as you can see there, closed blouse, long sleeves, long skirt, no trousers, no tight-fitting clothes, that would accentuate the body line for women. But there are also instructions for how men should dress as well in other signage around, as you go into Me'a She'arim itself. In the lectures that I give in the new year, I’m going to be spending our whole single lecture talking about Me'a She'arim and the different sects within it. And the next slide, please. “Jews are not Zionists,” in Arabic, in English, and in Hebrew. And again, you’ll see lots of these sides around Me'a She'arim. More on that in the new year. And next, please. Now going down some of those narrow streets in the streets around Me'a She'arim itself. And you can see pashkevilin, all these signs, pashkevilin on the walls, because often the only way that people in Me'a She'arim, even in this internet age, many people in Me'a She'arim, not all anymore, but many people in Me'a She'arim, their only access to the news is seeing what is on the walls, pasted onto the walls of around the quarter. And the next picture.

Because within Me'a She'arim itself you have crossroads. Here’s the crossroads called Kikar Shabbat that takes you into another neighbourhood called , also of ultra-Orthodox, and another neighbourhood beyond that called Kiryat Belz, and many other areas, but Me'a She'arim itself subdivides. The next photograph, please. And this is an entrance into the truly old part of Me'a She'arim. Look at the left of that entrance. You can see a George the Fifth letter box in the wall. I should hasten to add, because I’m a bit panicky on these things. This is a letter box, not a pillar box. I’m a member of the National Pillar Box Society of England. Pillar boxes stand proud on the pavement in the shape of a pillar. They’re all made in Focas in Scotland. Letter boxes sit within a wall, that is a letter box from George the Fifth’s time, no longer in use, there’s a few of them dotted around still. But this is an entrance going straight into that original walled enclave of Me'a She'arim, deep within Me'a She'arim itself. It’s a quarter within a quarter and I’ll be breaking that down in future talks. Let me show you another in the next slide, another subquarter. Look how immaculate it is. This is Batei Ungarin, the Hungarian compounds. People often think, “Well, Me'a She'arim is not too hygienic, and not too comfortable to live in.” But there are certain parts of Me'a She'arim that are immaculately kept. Look at the streets there. The local people refuse to accept Israeli Zionist state street cleaners into their quarter, and they instead bleach and clean their own streets as you can see. Next slide, please.

Another shot of Batei Ungarin. Look at the shared washing lines. This is true communal living with families living together, sharing shared ovens, shared washing facilities. Many, many things are shared within that. And Batei Ungarin subdivides into a number of triangular shaped squares, each with a quite beautiful synagogue. Look at top left corner, there is the synagogue approached by walking up steps, and the residences all around the synagogues. And the next picture, please. Again, these staircases, almost like flying buttresses that go from ground level to up level, and to very tiny residences where whole families live. Look at the streets again, old but immaculate. And the next picture. You can see a girl here hanging washing out. Notice the washing is all men’s clothes, no lady’s clothes hanging out in public, immodest. And the girl there has a single ponytail, rather than a double. Again, more of that in the future, as to the codes, and rules, and regulations of how the people in that area live. And the next. From Me'a She'arim to a completely different community. This is the Christ Church compound just inside Jaffa Gates. Now a stained glass window as you can see, with a Magen David at the very, almost at the very top, yet no image of Jesus in any of the windows. But Jesus is represented. If you look at the very middle window of those three, down a little bit with the cursor, there is a cross, but Jesus is represented by lily flowers on the cross.

No image of Jesus. Now why is that? This is the community, next slide, please, of Christ Church in Jerusalem. And Christ Church was founded, it was one of the oldest, it is one of the oldest Protestant churches in the Middle East, and it was founded in the mid 19th century. It was the Anglican outpost within Jerusalem, and you can see at the very top it says, “Immanuel,” because Christ Church is the home to Jewish believers. Believers as they call themselves. , Jewish believers that Jesus was the Messiah. And one of their early founders was Bishop Alexander, who was born a Jew, I believe in Lithuania. And he eventually ended up in Jerusalem in 1799, followed by Bishop Gobat in 1849. And this community is a very unusual community, and I’ll be saying more about this at a future date. If we can go to the next picture you can see the inside of the church. And again, no images of Jesus at all, but lots of references to Jewish and Christian things. Closer up again, please. Next slide.

You can see those three words, . the words of Jesus at the Last Supper. “And this will be my memory.” When Jesus broke bread and drank wine with His disciples, prior to Him being arrested by the Romans. It’s a fascinating little group within Jerusalem, ever growing, I should add, and I’ll say more about that in due course. But from there to the next slide, because this is Canonbury in London, N1, NW1, yes, N1 London postcode. It’s the Canonbury Tower. It is a rare shooter survivor architecturally. And for those that aren’t familiar with English history, the Tudors ruled from 1485 to 1603. Five Tudor monarchs, Henry the Seventh and the Eight, Edward the Sixth, Mary the First, and Elizabeth the First. This is the Canonbury Tower. It’s a fascinating area of London. But within the Canonbury Tower, was once the headquarters of freemasonry in Britain and worldwide, and I talked about freemasonry in “Hidden Jerusalem” part one. Now I’d just like to mention I talked about it in relation to Zedekiah’s caves. Now I’d like to take freemasonry and link it back to another part of Jerusalem in the next slide. And that is St. George’s Anglican Cathedral in East Jerusalem. If that palm tree wasn’t there, that could be a parish church in Somerset. That is a Somerset Parish church tower if there ever was one. And indeed, the architect for that church, was a direct descendant of some of the mediaeval architects who designed many dozens of wonderful parish churches on the Somerset levels. Maybe one day a lecture on the parish churches of rural England, but that’s a world away from Jerusalem. There is some George’s Anglican Church. Let me take you onto the Anglican community in Jerusalem and here is a wonderful example.

On the next slide, of there they are, an Anglican Scouts bag-piping bands, piping away at the QBP, the Queen’s Birthday Party, which is held normally on the second Tuesday of June in every single British embassy or British consulates around the world. And there they are, a hangover from the British colonial period, the Anglican Scouts playing with the scout master, keeping an beady eagle eye on how they’re playing. The next slide, please. Dominus Flevit. I mentioned this in my last talk and I’d like to now link it up with the next thing. Dominus Flevit is the very shortest line in the gospel. Dominus Flevit means the Lord wept. And Dominus Flevit is meant, is a little church, this one built in 1923, built on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the Kidron Valley, looking straight onto the church of the Holy Sepulchre. And this very beautiful little church you’ll notice is in the shape of an inverted teardrop. It was said that Jesus stood on this very spot during His ministry and He wept with happiness at the sight of the beauty of the Second Temple. And then He wept in despair, because He’s foresaw what would then happen to that temple. Now we go to the next slide. You step into the church, and look at that. It’s magic. It’s perfectly aligned with the Dome of the Rock. The third holiest site in Islam, perfectly aligned. There’s a strong political statement here, which I’ll come to shortly. Above the cross is a reference to the wine and the bread of Jesus at the Last Supper and the forms of the crown of thorns beneath that, but magnificently aligned. I should add, that I once spent in a wonderfully, wonderful summer, three whole weeks, living on the Mount of Olives amongst the Christian, and Islamic, and Jewish sects within that area.

The Mount of Olives is amazingly important to the spiritual life of that city to this day. And it is a running panoply of fantastic theatre, and fantastic party and dedication to what is going on in the city with sects coming in and out, and in and out of that area. There it is directly align. Now you can see the golden dome of the Dome of the Rock. If you are really observant you can see two tiny grey domes to their right, to the right. There they are. Thank you. That is the double domes of the Holy Sepulchre church, and that’s where I’m now going to take you. So if, on the next slide, we have a look, and there is the two domes of the Holy Sepulchre church. It’s main tower in scaffolding, but the two domes there, the larger of the two domes is built over the traditional site of the burial site of Jesus, according to most Christian traditions. I have to choose my word carefully here, ‘cause there are some Christian groups that do not recognise that as the traditional burial sites of Jesus. Most groups do. Certainly, the whole Orthodox Christian world does, the Lutheran Church does, the Roman Catholic Church does, the Coptic Church does, but there are certain groups that do not. The Anglicans being one of them and I’ll come to that another time. But you can see there the church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Holiest Shrine in Christendom. There it is. Packed in within the Old City of Jerusalem, surrounded by the Christian and the Jewish, the Christian and the Muslim quarters. Now let’s have a look at the next photograph, please.

Because there you can see that same church but from a different view. To the left of the dome, you can see a minaret of the Mosque of Omar. There are two Mosque of Omars in Jerusalem. One on the Temple Mount, one near the Holy Sepulchre church. Umar, the second caliph of Islam, took Jerusalem in 638 AD, six years after the death of Muhammad. And, Archbishop Patriarch Sophronius, the Christium. surrendered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to him. He had no option. Umar was relatively enlightened and he did not destroy the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. But he said that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre could continue to exist with Christians worshipping at it, under the sufferance of Islamic rule as long as they understood that the Muslims were in charge. And he built a minaret, right outside the door of the Holy Sepulchre to remind them. Now if we look just to the right of the dome, in other words, between the two domes, you can see the top of another minaret. That is the minaret of the Hankar mosque, The Mosque of Strangulation. So nicknamed, because these two mosques built on either side of the dome of the Holy Sepulchre, strangled that burial site of Jesus. That’s one explanation why it’s called The Mosque of Strangulation. The other is that there were said to have been crusaders that were strangled within that mosques. It’s a crusader period mosque and there were some pretty grizzly events that happened there. Now what’s really interesting about these two minaret is numerology, because if we go to the next slide, you can see a close-up of the minaret of the Mosque of Omar. Now if that minaret of the Mosque of Omar was tipped on its side. Next slide, please. And if that minaret of the Hankar, was tipped on its side, next side, please.

They are 128th of the distance. In other words, 28 times the measurements, of those two minarets, would take you to here, where there are 28 steps beneath these arches that lead up to the Dome of the Rock. And at the top of the Mamluk period arches built around about 1230, during Mamluk rule of Jerusalem, there are 28 square holes above the arches. The number 28 being significant, because according to some traditions, not all, there are 28 satanic verses that tempted Muhammad when he took the night flight from Mecca to Jerusalem on the winged creature, al-Buraq, again, I’m choosing my words carefully. Sometimes translated as the winged horse, but that’s a mistranslation. It was simply called the winged creature that was then identified as a horse later, perhaps. By Islamic tradition, he flew from Mecca to Jerusalem, landed at where these steps are, which are Second Temple period steps in the main. And then he ascended to heaven from that point. Thus, the Dome of the Rock was built later on in 691 AD, to commemorate that seismic cosmic event in Islamic tradition of the rise of Muhammad from Jerusalem to heaven. But once again, think about it, the two minarets around the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the holiest site in Christendom, are directly linked to the key events in Islam that occurred more or less, many, many centuries, or 6, 800 years after the Holy Sepulchre had been built later on down the line. And the next slide, please. Now we look through those arches eastwards to the Kidron Valley, looking at some Mary Magdalene, the Monastery of Mary Magdalene, where by the way, the mother of the late Prince Philip, the consort to the current Queen Elizabeth the Second, is buried.

The mother of Prince Philip is buried there. She died a nun, and her body was later on moved to Jerusalem, where she lies in a coffin above ground where you can go and see it. If you so wish to. And the next slide, please. The next slide, please. Now back to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In through those great doors of the Sepulchre. Next, please. And the moment you would enter those doors, you would take these steps up, because they go up what is in effect to health and they go up to the site of Calvary, in Latin, Golgotha, in Greek. Golgotha meaning, the hill of the skull. Next slide, please. Now it’s called the Hill of the Skull, because the hill was, where Jesus died was said to have been shaped like a skull. It’s also called the Hill of the Skull because there was a tradition, going back to very ancient times, pre-Christian times, that the skull of Adam was buried there. It was also known as the Hill of the Skull because on that hill, the Romans would crucify people, and as a final humiliation to those that they had crucified the Romans will behead some of those that they would crucify and throw the skull to the hill, forbidding the family to take the skull and reclaim the entire body of their departed. So when you enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, although now it’s a building, it’s built over a slight hill, which is said to have been the site of Jesus’ crucifixion. And then beneath those steps is this remarkable rock, which is called the “Stone of Unction.” The stone where Jesus was said to have been anointed. After He had died, and He was anointed according to the Jewish tradition to prepare Him for burial. Next slide, please.

There is a not very old, it’s an early 20th century mosaic high up on the wall in the Holy Sepulchre, showing the anointing of Jesus, surrounded by the three Marys, Mary Martha, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and others anointing His body and preparing Him for burial. And the next slide, please. On the other side of the church is the actual burial chamber itself. What you’re looking at here is a, in fact, is a Russian Orthodox completed structure, completed in 1808, still held up by scaffolding around it. Can you see the scaffolding there that was put there by the British? If you’re really observant and you went along, you’ll be able to actually see marks on the girdle saying, “Bombay Company, India.” This scaffolding was put there to hold up the Edicule, the burial structure of Jesus, was put there during British rule, 1917 to 1948, because the various Christian sects argued, and argue still so much between themselves, they couldn’t agree on how to hold up the structure. So territorial of all of these sects. Again, I’ll be looking into the territorial aspect of the Christian sects in Jerusalem during the lecture in March. And the next slide, please. The actual tomb of Jesus itself, a huge stone slab that is, it’s in fact it’s a sepulchre rather than the tomb. It marks the spot. The tomb is way, way below. Now what we do know is, no actual body of Jesus has been found, but we do know for sure that the whole area beneath the Holy Sepulchre church is honeycombed with ancient Roman period and older tombs. The next slide, please.

There is an example of those tombs. The shafts. Martin Biddle from the University of Oxford in the early 90s, inserted endoscopes within the cracks, cracks of the building, all the way down underground. There are many dozens of tombs within the church of the Holy Sepulchre underneath, but it’s too sensitive to excavate and dig, because the Christian sects are so territorial about their areas. Maybe one day, we’ll be able to investigate further. Next slide, please. Now the key Christian groups within Jerusalem. Theopilus the Sixth, the patriarch of Jerusalem, Greek. Key power holders in Jerusalem. More on those next year. And the next. Theophilus the Second, Theophilus the Sixth, again, within service. And the next slide, The second big stakeholders in Christian Jerusalem, the Armenian patriarch. And the next slide. And the Armenians again. And the next slide, please. The Armenian Cathedral of Saint James, magnificent Place. More on that another time. And the next, please. And the Armenians again within their chapel, deep underground in their Holy Sepulchre church were in effect looking at a cavern beneath a cavern, beneath a cavern. And the next slide, please. The Roman Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, surrounded by his guards, and the allotted status quo servants of the Holy Sepulchre church in fez and full Ottoman gear as he walks towards the mass on a Saturday, on Palm Sunday in Jerusalem some years ago. And the next slide, please. And the Roman Catholic patriarch in prayer in the Franciscan chapel within the Holy Sepulchre church. And the next, please. And there we have Baba Shenouda, the late Coptic Patriarch of Egypt. He’s Patriarch of all the Copts, sometimes known as the Pope of the Coptic Church. The Copts are an indigenous group within Egypt.

They number 10 to 12 million of the Egyptian population. One of if not the oldest Christian sects in the world, perhaps only beaten in seniority by the Armenians, but there is much discussion about that. There are fascinating subgroup and ethnicity, a language, a culture represented in Jerusalem. This is Baba Shenouda, the Coptic Popes visit to Jerusalem on a very rare trip to Jerusalem some years back. And the next slide, please. And on the roof of the Holy Sepulchre church. The Ethiopians, who don’t have a stakeholder within the building, but live in a convent and a monastery, and have schools up on the roof of the Holy Sepulchre Church. And the next slide, please. And with outside of just outside of the walls, you have the Monastery of St. Onuphrius. St. Onuphrius was one of the very early desert fathers, so-called, one of the early Coptic leaders. And there is the Monastery of St. Onuphrius. And if I can just show an example on the next slide of one of the residents or a little bit later. Sorry, a slide that will come a bit later. But now I’m taking you very briefly to Islam. There is the Kaaba in Mecca, the holiest site in the Islamic world. And the next slide. Close-up of the Kaaba. And the next slide, please.

The huge plain of Arafat just outside of Mecca that takes pilgrims to the Kaaba for the Hajj once a year. And remember that Mecca and Madina, the first and second holiest cities in Islam and Jerusalem, the subject matter today, is the third holiest city of Islam. But as I have mentioned before, only Jerusalem significantly is known as Al-Quds, The Holy. Only Jerusalem has that honorific title, which says a tremendous amount about how important Jerusalem was, although it’s never specifically named in the Qur'an. It shows how important Jerusalem was right from the outset to the Islamic psyche, politically, culturally, and religiously. And the next slide. Now I take you to another key site in Islam. After Mecca and Madina, to Azhar in Cairo, a city I know and love. And one day, I hope to talk about hidden Cairo. And this is Azhar University, the most important Islamic university in the world. And the next slide, please. An aerial view of Al-Azhar University. And the next slide, please. Back into Jerusalem. Because Jerusalem has to be seen in context of Al-Azhar in Cairo, and Mecca, Madina in south, current day Saudi Arabia. Because although Jerusalem is number three in that packing order of holy cities, from the point of view of the pulsating heart of Islam, nothing beats Jerusalem. Because Jerusalem was where Muhammad took that night flight to heaven, from Mecca to Jerusalem to heaven, and Jerusalem will be the place where, according to Islamic tradition, the return of some form, it’s more vague than the Jewish idea of a Messianic era.

But some form of new era will come in through Jerusalem. And the next slide, please. Close-ups of the Dome of the Rock. And look at the flagstones, that huge area of stone. I took this picture, because the stones are so interesting. Here you have the Dome of the Rock, but there you have a massive area of flagstones from the Second Temple period. Isn’t that just remarkable? There they are, where they have been for 2000 years, with the Dome of the Rock built on top. And the next slide, please. And those steps again. And now the next slide shows the bottom of the steps. Look at those steps. The bottom two steps are Second Temple period steps. Once again, two or three flights of steps. The very steps that would’ve been walked upon by pilgrims, to Jerusalem, during the Second Temple period. More modern stone work to the right of those steps. And the next slide, please. A close-up of the tiles, and that Arabic calligraphy is all about that night flight that Muhammad took to Jerusalem. And the next slide. And the interior of the Dome of the Rock. And the next, please. And that stone itself, the very summit of Mount Moriah, where it is thought that the Holy of Holies, the temple once was, very difficult, near impossible to do any modern day archaeological digs now, so fraught and pressured is that area. But it’s thought to have been the site where the temple stood, the shaved off top to Mount Moriah, the traditional site for the akeida, where Abraham was said to almost sacrifice Isaac, according to Islamic tradition, where Abraham was almost came close to sacrificing Ishmael.

So, different traditions, but the same spot within here, within the Dome of the Rock. And the next slide. And some of the interiors of some of the buildings on the Haram al-Sharif, the Temple Mount itself. Next slide, please. Some of the beautiful structures. And the next one, please. Gives you the idea of this glorious space and glorious stone work. And the next, please. And now looking at Al-Aqsa, means, the most remote, the furthest. One of the names given to Jerusalem, Aqsa. So that’s looking from the south at the elevation of Aqsa. And the next one, please. And an overall view of the northern face of Aqsa. And now the final few pictures. To give you a little tease, I’m going to ask a series of whys. Why are these people standing in a building with completely veiled faces? , men. And the next picture, please, why are these people burning the Israeli flag, and why are they wearing gold coats to the left, rather than the traditional black coats? I’ll be talking about those gold Yerushalmi coats next time. And the next picture. Why is this man wearing sack cloth? And the next picture. Why is this man sitting in this particular blue in this particular spot, a Christian? And the next picture.

Why are these people lighting candles coming out of a miracle for Easter Saturday? Look at those faces, just look at the concentration there. Christians again. And the next picture. Why is this man so wild looking? Why did he come to Jerusalem decades ago, and why does he live as a hermit in a cave, just outside of the Old City? And the final couple of pictures. Why are these ladies leading their own prayers? There is a female Sheikh leading prayers in a female school, in a female madrasa in Jerusalem. And the next picture. Why are these three ladies standing there veiled? Seemingly Islamic. But the final picture, please. There is their husband. Nothing is as it seems in Jerusalem. Thank you.

• [Judi] Thank you, Julian. You want to have take a look at the questions?

• Yes, indeed. I’m just going to put my glasses on and I will go there. So starting with, I’m just going to go to the top there. There we go.

Q&A and Comments:

Yes, quite right, Hilary. Since Stephen was stoned to death, quite right, I stand corrected. Correct.

Q: Caroline, “Do you have tunnels from the triple gates?”

A: I do, indeed. I did take some photographs. It was the lead of the waft that took me up there at that time. Adnan Husseini, who took me up. And I do have some photos, I’d have to dig them out, but I’m going to use those in some future talks. So the answer is yes, they are really quite beautiful, and wonderfully preserved.

Vivian and David Harris. Yes, is it told us rather . Thank you very much.

Q: And, Selwin Miller, “Who were the founders of Me'a She'arim? Where did they come from?”

A: They were, well, firstly, the builder of Me'a She'arim, one of the builders of Me'a She'arim, I should add. Rather ironically, was a man called Conrad Schick, who was a German architect, and designer, and a Christian, who actually designed part of that quarter himself, which often the current day residents of Me'a She'arim don’t realise is the case, Conrad Schick was one of the designers amongst others. The founders were a complete mixture of people who had-

• [Judi] Are you using your phone?

• Yep, can you hear me?

• It didn’t come on my-

• Who had come to the-

• [Judi] Red ink on my sofa and I’m really upset about that.

• Oh, I think someone needs to mute. I’m not sure. Ah, thank you. So it was a whole group of Orthodox Jews of all types, Hasidic, non-Hasidic, who came together to found their quarter.

Okay, now it says here that there were 37 Q and A, but I can only scroll down to those first up. Now I’ve got them, thank you.

Thank you, Jennifer. I’m looking forward to it, too. I’m looking forward to those future presentations.

Q: Arlene, “Why is the Queen’s birthday celebrated in June, her birthday’s April 21st?”

A: Quite correct. The Queen has two birthdays, her official birth birthday, which is the second Saturday in June, and her real birthday, which is April the 21st. Her official birthday was, it was decided to make her official birthday in June, because statistically speaking, the second Saturday in June is the driest Saturday in the English calendar. Might be a contradiction in terms, and that is a day when there’s the full birthday parade, known as the Trooping the Colour officially. And it’s better to have it in dry weather. So since the Queen’s, so it is her official birthday is on that dry Saturday.

Oh, there we go. Thank you, by Jove, whoever that is, has given the answer there.

Jennifer Malvin. So we, thank you, I’m looking forward to that future presentation too. Thank you. Arlene. There’s the Queen’s birthday questions there. Thank you, Jennifer.

Q: Ruth, “Do you give tours in Jerusalem?”

A: I don’t, I used to live in Jerusalem. I no longer. I did when I lived there. Sadly, not anymore.

Kirk. Thank you, thank you. Thank you for letting know you’re leaving and glad you enjoyed it.

Joan, “Please centre the photos and reduce the speaker.” Ah, I’ve read that too late about reducing the speaker. Sorry about that.

Anita. Oh, right, there’s some advice there. Thank you, Ronna, for your comments. I’m glad you enjoyed it, and glad you enjoyed it, Vivian and David. And, Ian Liszt. “ is the end verse.” Thank you. Genesis 12:22, Cedre told us. Thank you. Stanton Newman. Thank you very much, Stanton, I’m glad you enjoyed the talk. And Susan Weinberg, thank you very much, Susan I’m glad you enjoyed it. And thank you, Rosemary as well. Glad you enjoyed it.

Lynn Julius, “The final slide shows Yemenite women.” Absolutely. Some of the most recent arrivals to this are fascinating, fascinating. They are indeed Yemenite.

Q: Susan Wakers, “Why was Jesus cleaned for burial by women?”

A: Extremely good question. I don’t know the answer to that, and I’m not sure whether that picture could be taken as accurate. Maybe He wasn’t clean for burial by women. But, you know, and this of course is a post Judaic Christian interpretation of Jesus’s preparation for burial. So maybe not to be taken too literally, but it’s a good question you pose.

Q: Elliot, “Was the last picture of a Yemenite man and his wife?”

A: Yes.

Q: Abigail Hirsch, “Can you speak about the difference between the Aqsa mosque and the mosque of Umar?”

A: Yes, the Mosque of Umar is a small mosque to the, what would it be? It would be to the west of Aqsa. It’s a very small mosque built again by Umar in 638 or thereabouts AD, so it predates Al-Aqsa mosque. So there are at least two mosques of Umar’s in Jerusalem.

Q: Heather, “Jaffa Gate’s in Kaiser Wilhelm.” Yes. Can you say a few words?

A: It was, Jaffa Gate was slight, was not slightly, it was greatly demolished, so that the procession of Kaiser Wilhelm could get through. So they completely opened up the gate, because the original Jaffa Gate was this double L-shaped, L and L, so as to stop impending invaders getting through. It was just turned into one L, the whole area was demolished. So Kaiser Wilhelm, I think it was 1896 was it? I’m going from memory here. Maybe 1898. So the Kaiser Wilhelm could have a very, very beautiful possession, very grand. Also, there was a subquarter within the Christian quarter called the the Muristan, and there was a very wide street in the Muristan, so that Kaiser Wilhelm could go through that as well. That widened area of Jaffa Gate was also used and exploited very much during Allenby’s visit to Jerusalem, where the Balfour Declaration was read on the inner steps of Jaffa Gate, just around the corner near the Kishle, near what is now the Israeli police station.

What was before that? The Ottoman Police station. I hope that’s answered Heather partly of what you were raising. You are an alpha, 28 equals the day of the days in the Lunar Month. Absolutely correct. Alison, thank you so much. Thank you very much for joining. Ron Big, glad you enjoyed it.

Oh, how lovely. “I met my wife, introduced me 1977, lived there for six weeks at that time. I’ve been back many times.” And while I’m delighted to have been able to share with you some of the stuff you didn’t know, and no doubt you’d be able to share with me lots of stuff that you know that I don’t know. So look forward, Ron, to getting some stuff from you about what you know about Jerusalem that I don’t.

Sharon Fingleson, delighted that you found it interesting. Thank you. Rooftops Canada. “I’m an architect and just love your talks.” Thank you very much, Rooftops. And that is a compliment indeed from an architect. If I had six hours spare, I’d be able to take you through every brick and every mortar of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Maybe that’s another time, Rooftops Canada. Thank you.

Q: Nina, “Why is it the Armenians have their own section of the Old City?”

A: They’re one of the oldest because they were the first Christian sect within the city. The Armenia itself claims to be the first sovereign Christian state. They claim that land, they put a stake in that land very, very early on. So they have that that their own area there.

Q: John and Yadi Daponga, “Where geographic in Jerusalem outside the walls is that Coptic monastery you showed?”

A: St. Onuphrius is at the very bottom of the Hinnom valley. In other words, it’s the naval of the Hinnom Valley. The Kidron Valley and the Tyropoeon valleys, the naval of three. I should make myself clear, St. Onuphrius monastery is named after the Coptic Saint Onuphrius, but the monastery itself is Greek Orthodox. So just to stop any confusion sipping in there, it is a Greek Orthodox monastery, named after a Coptic Saint.

Thalia Bejoano, “Excellent.” Oh, thank you very much. “I’m Israeli, but never heard of.” Oh, how nice. That’s most kind, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thank you, Thalia. I live in London, central London, but I lived in Jerusalem for four years, and I was coming, going in and out for 20, 30 years.

Robert Steinberg, I look forward to your lecture for weeks. Thank you so much, Robert. And I look forward to having you back next year. Carol, Jason, “Thank you for the talk.” And glad you liked the photos as well. I’m glad you gained a lot. Monica Goodwin, thank you. My pleasure, Miriam. Oh, thank you very much. Miriam, that’s very kind. Edwin and Clive Feingold, thank you. Oh my goodness, that’s most kind, that you’ve really enjoyed the lecture, and I also can’t wait to have you back. Marlina Eleni, delighted you enjoyed it. Gal Lipzitz, glad you enjoyed it too.

Thank you, Ronna, the first picture. Shmiras Einayim, guardian of the eyes. I’m trying to think back to what, when you refer to the first, I’m not quite sure what you’re going back to. I have to have a look back at the picture.

Roma mink. I do do in-person tours but don’t that often get back to do. So I do lots of in-person London tours because, and I’m hopefully going to be doing tours on Lockdown University about hidden London, hidden Istanbul, hidden Cairo, hidden Rome. So there’s lots more to come.

Q: Sarita, in your very last picture, was that a religious Jewish man?

A: Yes, no, he’s a religious Jewish man, with his three Jewish wives. And more on that in a future lecture.

Eli Strauss, glad you enjoyed it. Comment on Islam learned in college. “Muslims always look over sight and traditions of other religions.” Absolutely, “and especially Judaism. Muhammad had expected the Jews to all convert.” Absolutely right. Eli, is it Eli or Eli, excuse me, that I’ve got your name wrong. Absolutely right.

Q: Barry Epstein. “Why are Jews of Jews are not considered as an indigenous people of that area?”

A: Well, who says that they’re not considered? I wouldn’t necessarily agree that they’re not considered. That depends who you are, of course. As with everything in Jews, it depends who you ask and it depends which Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardi Jews. There are so many different Jewish groups. It’s a fascinating question you raise.

Q: Arini Naphtalin. “Is it the holder gates that has steps leading up from the mikveh at the bottom of the valley?”

A: I know exactly what you mean. Not exactly. There are steps leading up to the holder gates, but the mikveh are slightly further around, near where the women of the wall do their services. And I showed a picture of the women in the wall in my previous lecture, and I’ll be talking a bit more about those, Arini, in a future talk. So the holder gate does have steps, but the mikveh are slightly round. We’re talking just metres away. But you’re in the right area.

Q: Francine. “Do they pay taxes in Me'a She'arim?”

A: Great question. Can I save that for the next lecture? The answer is yes and no. I’ll save that. And Francine, if I fail to answer your question at the next lecture, remind me again then.

Christopher Bull, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thank you. Louise and Mike Caliban.

“June the second is the date of the Queen’s accession.” Actually, to be slightly precise there, February 6th is the Queen’s accession. February 6th, 1952. June 2nd, ‘53 is the date of the coronation. So in six weeks time, February 6th will be the platinum jubilee of the Queen. The 70th anniversary of her accession because she exceeded the moment her father George the Sixth died, which was February 6th. June 2nd, A year later, 18 months later, was the date of the coronation. So that’s that. So the accession is actually counted from this Feb, well, accession day is February 6th. So the Queen, so the 17th anniversary of the Queen coming to the throne is just six weeks from now.

By Jov. Ah, sorry by Jov, there you are. You’ve already given the answer that I’ve just given. Thank you, user, glad you enjoyed it. And thank you. The Queen’s official birthday marks the date of the coronation in '53. Thank you, yep. Thank you Monica for that. Barbara, thank you for your kind comments.

And Harriet, I left Jerusalem in July of 2006, and came to live in London. I’m originally from Lester in England, so I’m an Englishman by birth. Essel, thank you for your thank you. iPad.

“I thought that the Muslims had built a cemetery in front of the Golden Gate so that Messiah, who will be a Cohen, could never enter the temple mark through the cemetery.” I’ve heard that and I’ve heard that confirmed by Muslims, and I’ve heard that denied by Muslims. So it depends, as with everything in Jerusalem, who you ask. Estelle, thank you for your kind comments.

Q: 465328, Why didn’t you show the Kotel?

A: I just wasn’t able to fill everything in. But that will feature in future talks, worry not. 10090, thank you for your comments. And I also look forward to having you there.

Oh, thank you, Andrea, and I’m also reminiscing about Michelle, coming to my home in Jerusalem. Rose Rahmani, thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed the talks.

Q: And Isaac Anna Hoover, “Has any links to the pictures?”

A: I don’t have any links, maybe Lockdown does. And that’s fine by me. Martin Sterns, oh, Martin. And greetings back to Lester. And delightful and wonderful to see your name. Thank you, Martin. Mirana Ross, Canada.

1940s, 24th of May is the Queen’s birthday. Now I’ve never heard of that date as the Queen’s birthday. I’ve only heard 21st of April, and as her real birthday. And of course second Saturday in June is her official. Ah, Queen Victoria. There we go.

Q: Georgie Nash. “Why would these women wear such outfits like Muslim women?”

A: I’ll save that for a future talk. Phil Steele, thank you. “I felt like I was actually there.” Well, Phil, I’m delighted that you felt you were actually there. Thank you. Gerald Ryan Gold, thank you. Delighted you enjoyed it.

Q: Harriet. “Can you speak about,” my last photo, three robe Jewish women,

A: I won’t speak about that today, but that will feature in a future talk. It was just a bit of a tease in my last part of the lecture.

Q: How authentic is the Via Dolorosa historically?

A: Again, let me save that for next time. The answer is, it partly is and partly isn’t. I’m not trying to be ultra diplomatic here. I think that is a fair answer. It partly is and partly isn’t. And I’ll come to that next time.

Q: Sheila. “Was there a Muslim cemetery place outside the Silk Gate to prevent mentoring?”

A: I think I answered that slightly previously. Yes or no is the answer depending on who you ask.

“Allenby walked in through Jaffa Gates.” Absolutely right. Joan. Yes, he didn’t, you are quite right. He got off his horse and he walked, as a sign of respect for the Holy City. Clever politician was Allenby. I’m an old cynic, you see. Ruth Tau. Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it.

And Carla Bronsley, thank you. My pleasure. And I’m really glad it brings back memories to you. Carol Winegro. Yes, I also wish I could lecture for many more hours.

“Coptic Christians from Ethiopia.” Well, there are Coptic Christians in Ethiopia. There was a branch of the Coptic church in Ethiopia. But the Copts are Egyptian. They consider themselves the indigenous people of Egypt, descended from the ancient Egyptians. They’re absolutely fascinating and more on the Copts next time. I’ve spent a lot of times with the Copts in Egypt, and also in Ethiopia for that matter too. As you rightly make references.

Q: Jared Adler. “Can one, get a list of the places you use, in order to use as a guide?”

A: Ooh, I haven’t devised a list. It’s all up there in my head. But the photos might act as that list. I hope that helps. Essel, my pleasure. It was my pleasure. And thank you for your kind words. And Gerald Adler, glad you enjoyed the lecture, Gerald. Debbie, thanks for fast and forward, thank you for coming.

Karen Sylman. Yes, indeed. I could give five whole lectures on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I went around that church with a measuring tape and measured every metre and centimetre, and foot and inch of it. I have lots of stories to tell over 30 years, three zero years of exploring the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Nikki Steiner, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thank you beverly@hotmail.com. Beverly and Roger, thank you. Delighted you enjoyed the talk.

GL. “I love your background surroundings.” That’s my home and that’s my living room. Thank you very much, GL Ivo G. “I’m looking forward.” And I’m looking forward to having you back at future talks. And thank you for Lockdown for hosting me, of course. Isaac and Hoover Hastani. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Lindsay Ruben, thank you.

Q: Rhonda Butch. “Did you get a chance to try cleaning silk with Crest toothpaste?”

A: Ah, that goes back to my previous lecture. No, because I’m delighted with the wadding I have, but I will have a go at Crest. I promise you I will.

Thank you, Rhonda. Morris. “I found reason to be an enigmatic city.” You are right. “At least topographically, in someone historically, you have helped reveal it to me to a great extent.” Well, I’m delighted I’ve helped there, Morris, my great pleasure. Ross, glad you enjoyed it. Thank you, Sheila Chiat. “Wonderful session.” Thank you.

“So sorry I missed your previous talk on Jerusalem. I’ve not been told by the .” Maybe Lockdown has a recording, I’m not sure. Maybe they could help you out with that. Eli Strauss. I can’t wait for more too, and I look forward to doing that. They’re going to be spaced at about once a month, I think. I think that’s the plan. Louise and Mike Helbrond, ah, there you go, I remember the coronation. I’m in envy, Louise and Mike. Norman Pleis, I’m glad you enjoyed the lecture.

The Austrian Hospice. Wonderful place. Apple strudel and cream, the only place where you can have it wonderfully there. Overlooking, yes. I have lots of information on the Austrian Hospice. And a fascinating institution is. Have you been? I hope you have, it’s easy to get in. Just ring on the doorbell. Go up and you can watch the world go by beneath.

Ronald Cohen. “In 1963,” my goodness. “Still under Jordanian rule.” I was still on the rock, I didn’t know any better. That’s amazing, Ronald. Ronald, I am in envy. Susan Weinberg. “Look forward to your future talk.” So do I. Mierna, thank you. Susan Wykos, thank you very much, Susan. Essel, thank you. And I’m delighted that you enjoyed it. Herbert Hess. Ah, only too short. If only, if only.

Q: Iris Cohen. “Was there any historical data suggesting that there was some interaction between the Copts and the Falashas?”

A: Good question, I’d have to have a think about that. You mean the Copts, when you say Falashas, which is term I think that is no longer used. The Copts and the, you mean the Copts and the Jews of Ethiopia? Yes, there is. I’m just processing your question now off the top of my head. There is historical data. I’m not sure where you could get it, but I know that there is, from previous people that I’ve spoken to, both in Ethiopia and in Egypt. And I think I’ve covered all the questions.

• [Judi] You have indeed, that was fabulous. Thank you so much. And thank you to everybody who joined us. Wonderful.

• And thank you very much, very much indeed. And wishing you all a happy, happy New Year to everyone at Lockdown University.

• [Judi] Thank you, Julian. And we’ll see you in January. Take care.

• Indeed. Thank you, Wendy.

• [Judi] Bye-bye.

• Bye.