Jerusalem is a very spiritual city in some ways. All over there are people faithful and believing, praying, singing, chanting. Also there is another side, there is a secular scene as well, just not as visible at the surface and i am not talking of arab businessmen that try to sell their stuff to innocent tourists at outrageous prices.
It was on the last shabbat, that i had decided to go to a place called Birman to attend the Jam Session that was supposed to take place there.
In the hostel I was woken up rather early by roomates, the obligatory churchbells and the singing prayers of some christians passing by. I went out as there was no sense in staying and watch Ash and his crew cleaning the place (they really keep it tidy and proper). Now on Shabbat in West Jerusalem Everything is really closed. No people on the street except obvious tourists, like me.
I hung out in the area around the King George-Jaffa Road-Ben Yeahuda Triangle close to Birman waiting for the place to open.
As soon as the sun would set, life came back, seats were moved back in front of the cafes, shops opened one after the other, and people began to fill the street...
More and more and more, suddenly there were street musicians, and good ones !
I met Brinda the nice lady from London that volunteered in the hostel and a friend of hers, Raphael, a Jew from India who became a member of the Messianic movement.
Those messianic Jews believe that Jesus of Nazareth WAS the messiah, but are leading a jewish lifestyle apart from that. They keep clean and kosher, observe Shabbat and other jewish holidays and so on ...
He just came from his congregation and said that some of his fellow believers will soon come out and sing. Messianic Jews sing and pray in Hebrew ...
I was amazed to see like 20 Koreans stand in the pedestrian zone of Jerusalem and enthusiastically sing about Jesus in Hebrew.
I left the next day.
Also the Jam Session at Birmans turned out to feature very young and very well trained locals that played some kind of intellectual Jazz that had a somewhat tiring effect on me.
As i walked back to the hostel, the crowd on the street had even grown bigger.
There was even a Djembe group of some 12 people drumming their heart out on the street.
Cafes were packed with people.
Jerusalem is suc an intense place with that many extreme contrasts, and i have not visited most of the places ...
I may return at a later time ...
