Jerusalem Dome Rock

The Dome of the Rock, one of the Muslim world’s holiest shrines, marks the spot where Muhammad ascended to heaven.

They swarm about you at every step; no single foot of ground in all Jerusalem or within its neighborhood appears to be without a stirring & important history of its own.”

Since Twain’s visit to the Holy Land, over a century of strife & division have imbued the ancient city, sacred to one major world religions, with contemporary drama & made it even more multicultural & significant than ever.

The Talmud teaches that “Ten measures of beauty descended on the world—nine were taken by Jerusalem, five by the rest of the world. There is no beauty like the beauty of Jerusalem.” Mark Twain, however, complained in The Innocents Abroad that, “The sights are plenty of.

Jerusalem today is a schizophrenic, volatile, & fascinating meeting of ancient & modern, Israeli & Arab, religious & secular, & political & spiritual.