The enlargeable Jerusalem photo beamed to us by Todd Bolen via bibleplaces.com. We are probably looking at the Christian or the Arab quarters of the old city. Comfortably reclining under the sun are the square and symmetrical wattage of the solar panels, the high-strung, cross-like “traditional” TV antennas, the voluptuous water barrels painted black to appear thinner and to trap heat, the breathlessly perspiring condensation boxes and of course the attentively detached, confidently dominant satellite TV dishes. That house in the middle got more disks than apartments, perhaps a radio signal outpost? What the dude on the broadcast minaret is thinking when he dishes the takbir, is the reception as good? The Crescent Moon above the minaret’s green dome wired somewhere down below, it moonlights as a lightning rod for the neighborhood.
Behold an allegorical layer superimposed on the ancient urban fabric. The “dish veil” looks like a foreign fashion. But if you walk the narrow streets facing the facades you will hardly see it. The “dish veil” is easily and quickly removable. To clean the dirty dishes off the table slate, grab the four corners of a magical tablecloth…abracadabra there is no trace of the feast for the senses, the buildings appear au naturel circa 18th century – naked, pure and innocent like the Adam and Eve. Yet there is the claustrophobic, choking, uneasy apprehension that all the gadgets are permanently anchored, dialed directly into the brains of the inhabitants, the tubes of the information life support IV dripping into the blood stream of the imagination. You can picture the wires snaking down the soft, apple rotten crevasses of the pale and pinkish Jerusalem limestone, plugged and soldered into the human conscience circuit. A reversal along the metaphorical vertical access, the flip of the modernity flop played out on the most stubborn of stages. Traditionally the submerged dark mystery is below ground in the proverbial basement, the hidden foundation, while the persona emerges above ground lit by the sun. Here the captured sun energy descents from the soaked with revelation firmament to energize and illuminate the concealed subterranean layer of the dreams and the desires. The Jerusalem roof is the new spiritual catacomb. The Jerusalem of Gold glistening with shadows of the parabolic reflections.
Further Reading:
Jerusalem in 1487?
Sexual Imagery in the Proposed Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem
Rome and Jerusalem
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a home in Rabat in Morocco and my apartment block suffers the similar fate of dishes cluttering rooftops, I am guilty even of having two of them there. The ugliness is obvious but the cheap access to hundreds of channels, free or thousands if you wish to pay is unquestionably attractive. I have even gone as far as to buy the gear and have also established a dish and set on my principle home in Rotterdam and my neighbours wonder if it was a political statement on my part – stating what – I do not know.
If anything, what I see as the most strangest thing, and I am sure the poorer streets of East Jerusalem will show it, is that you can have the most basic shanty-town slum, with hand-made buildings of brick, iron and plastic, but on top will be the “dish” – even if it that is also a rusted hand-beaten thing.
Ah you from Rotterdam so you should be plenty familiar with Moroccans in your own hometown.
Yes grew up with Moroccans and work with them. I am ethnically a 9th+ generation Rotterdammer but was born in Indonesia and my mother was born there but from Rotterdammer origin as well (my father met and married here there). Culturally, I am proud of my heritage and my multi-cultural up-bringing.
Indonesian, Moroccan, Turk or whatever origin, I see only people and rich history. Though I enjoy cultures and history so much, I have a low tolerance for radicals and reject those foreign elements in my country whom fight integration and demand things that are frankly not even accepted or tolerated back in their home countries. Integration is a must, you can do that and not lose your culture, history and respect – assimilation is another matter and is not demanded.
I like Morocco, probably more than Indonesia – except the food is more my taste over there. Though poor in places, I noticed quickly that Morocco does not tolerate radicals and those that are, probably now live over here in Rotterdam – that is the problem we face here.
As mentioned in another thread, the history of Arab, Berber, Andalous, Jewish, Saharan, Spanish and French is fascinating.
Donny, interesting observation on the differences in fundamentalism between Morocco and Rotterdam. Fundamentalism is a reaction to an identify threat and you can see how the identity is more threatened in Rotterdam. Or how Muslim fundamentalism reacts to the Western cultural dominance. Similarly there is the Jewish religious fundamentalism even in Israel as the prevailing European Judaic model is under a cultural attack on Israel.
Again Ben, you have taught me something, knowing nothing about the influences on radical Judaism on or from Israel.
Just an interesting side-topic, academics only use the word “fundamentalist” with Christianity and not with Judaism, Islam or other religions. It has something to do with the reformation and protestantism. I tend to use words such as radical in regards to political, extremist similar to “hard-line” and I note that in Judaism the term “ultra-orthodox” is often used, but unsure the category for that, any pointers?
There been cross-pollination of terminology, mostly with the purpose specifically comparing someone within the same camp to an accepted eternal enemy. I.e. people in Israel refer to hard line tendencies as “talibanization”. Or religious left refers to right wingers as fundamentalist. The later term borrowed from the Evangelical Christians known politically in US as “fundamentalists”.
Todd Bolen!
He was the (amazing) professor of archaeology at my college when I went to study abroad in Israel during the autumn of 2001. I was a part of the IBEX program.
I believe this picture was taken in the Christian Quarter, looking towards the Arab (note cross in foreground).
Living in Israel, even for a brief amount of time, changed my life and earned my loyalty to that land and her people–I would go back in an instant, if I could.