MONDAY

FEBRUARY 14, 2000

Go back in time three thousand years.  What did Yerushalayim look like? Who lived there? Visit Ir David and find out. 

Ir David is located directly below the Temple Mount,  in predominantly-Arab Silwan. If you have a good arm, you could throw a baseball from there to behind the walls of the Old City.

The thing is, Ir David is the REAL Old City -- it predates all the other areas of Jerusalem by a thousand years. When King Shlomo built Bayit Rishon -- the first Temple -- his father David had already ruled and built his palace there.

If you want to know why, just go out onto his terrace.  A home built on the site (and recently reclaimed to Jewish ownership by Ir David) holds a commanding, panoramic view of the Kidron Valley below, and the surrounding mountain range (Har HaZeitim, Har HaMenuchot, Mount Zion etc...). It's hard to attack, easy to defend -- and a beautiful place to live.

Also important to King David was what lies below -- way below, underground . The waters of the Gechon flow there -- the primary source of drinking water to Jerusalem of old. An astounding series of tunnels intended to allow access to the water in time of war is still being discovered and explored.  Many of the finds can be clearly linked to events described in Tanach. Besides debunking some commonly-held theories about the source of the Gechon, our tour, led by the knowledgeable Rabbi David Marcus, left no doubt as to the original inhabitants of this land.

During the War in 1967 the Kidron Valley was a battleground. Inventive Israeli troops used the cover of dark to ferry ammo and supplies  across the valley.  The cable they strung across and the cable car they attached to it are still there (see top picture). During the day the cable was slackened, lowering the car and the cable out of sight of the enemy, 

The other pictures on this page include a series of views from David's Terrace (mentioned above). At bottom are shots of Nachum climbing down a ladder into a huge below-ground cistern, and one of what you'll see inside.  

Ir David continues to be strategically important today. It overlooks Abu Dis -- the Jerusalem neighborhood currently on the table as a potential capital for a future Palestinian state.  For more on this (and trust us, there's a lot more) go to www.cityofdavid.org.il to see what we mean.

Earlier Monday, Vatikin at the Kotel again for Nachum, Mark, Mayer and Robert.  Hard to believe we'll be leaving in just a few hours.

After Ir David we raced back to the Plaza for the Monday morning edition of JM in the AM, live from Israel.  Great show -- hope you heard it. If you didn't you still can -- just click on program archives to the left.

Then a few minutes to pack and off to the Knesset, Too bad, our planned interview with Member of Knesset Uri Savir was delayed and delayed until we threw in the towel and moved on to our next appointment: dinner.  Savir may call into the show Wednesday morning. Stay tuned.

Writing on the plane now, thanks for logging on to share our Israel adventure ....

JM in the AM