Introduction
Over the last eleven weeks we have described the long history of the city of Jerusalem. We have briefly surveyed three thousand years of history starting from the ancient egyptian execration texts and the book of Genesis. Last week we traced from the War of Independence in 1948 through till the issues which are currently on the agenda with regards the peace process. I feel personally, that even if we had discussed in detail the modern history of the city right up until the events reported in this morning's paper, we should still feel that the story isn't complete. There is something about our expectations from the story of the history which will never be satisfied until all the world's conflicts are resolved and we reach a new era. This association of hope for the future with Jerusalem is a phenomenon which we have described many tims throught the course. Even today Jerusalem's future is part of its history in the same way as its past is part of the present.

Jerusalem is a city where every day to day event may take on symbolic significance. There is nothing normal or mundane about life in Jerusalem. It says in the Talmud that Jerusalem is "not divided up among the tribes". Literally the phrase implies two things:

1. Jerusalem is not part of any single tribe's territory, it lies on "neutral" ground between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
2. No one may own land in Jerusalem. Since it was not given to any one of the tribes it belongs to all the nation.

The implication of this statement is that on the pilgrim festivals, when thousands of pilgrims flocked to the city to participate in the festive Temple ritual, acording to the law they were granted free board by the residents of the city. No one owned land in Jerusalem and so no one had the right to claim rent from the pilgrims who came here.

Symbolically the phrase suggests that there is something otherworldly about Jerusalem which puts it beyond our reach. We can never own and become masters of the city. There is something about it which has yet to be revealed and which has yet to be fully understood.

1. The Poems of Yehudah Amichai
Many modern residents of the city feel that this symbolism is a burden. Yehudah Amichai, a modern Israeli poet has perhaps expressed his sense of carrying an unwanted burden better than any other modern resident of the city:-

"The air over Jerusalem is saturated with prayers and dreams like the air over industrial cities. It's hard to breathe and from time to time a new shipment of history arrives and the houses and towers are its packing materials Later these are discarded and piled up in dumps."

Amichai suffers from the density of life in Jerusalem. Every recent event is inevitably part of a three thousand year old story which just piles up around the city polluting the atmosphere. He is acutely aware of the symbolism which surrounds every innocent scene. Nothing is without its symbolic context. Imagine a simple day to day scene: Two residents of the city go walking in the hills one is an Arab shepherd searching for a goat the other a Jewish father searching for his son.

The simple mundane scene cannot go unnoticed in this city. The description of this simple human story immediately conjurs up associations in the minds of all who witness it:-

"An Arab shepherd is searching for his goat on Mount Zion and on the opposite hill I am searching for my little boy. An Arab shepherd and a Jewish father both in their temporary failure. Our voices meet above the Sultan's Pool in the valley between us. Neither of us wants the child or the goat to get caught up in the wheels of the terrible Had Gadya machine.
Afterward we found them among the bushes and our voices came back inside us, laughing and crying.
Searching for a goat or a son has always been the beginning of a new religion in these mountains."

It is impossible to avoid the symbolism. Obviously, the scene which Amichai portrays connotes the scene of the sacrifices of Isaac and/or Ishmael. The one scene shared by two cultures which is the essence of each culture and the course of conflict between them. But because of the thousand year old conflict, the father and the shepherd desperately search, hoping to rectify their "temporary failure". The "failure" which is the inability to find the lost one is also symbolic of the state of sin which characterises the imperfect world. We seek to correct this failure in the hills of Jerusalem. Yet the poor father and shepherd are only anxious to find the goat and the child so as to avoid being pulled reluctantly into history. They are wary of the danger of being turned into symbols and being pulled into the "terrible Had Gadya machine" i.e. a destructive and fatal chain of events. They don't want to start a new religion they want to find what they have lost, but Jerusalem won't let them. Amichai writes:-

"Once I sat on the steps by a gate at David's Tower, I placed my two heavy baskets by my side. A group of tourists was standing around their guide and I became their target marker. "You see that man with the baskets? Just right of his head there's an arch from the Roman period. Just right of his head."" But he's moving, he's moving!" I said to myself: redemption will only come if their guide tells them, "You see that arch from the Roman period? It's not important: but next to it, left and down a bit, there sits a man who's bought fruit and vegetables for his family."

Normalisation of the city is the new Zionist dream which Amichai believes in. This is the redemption for which he yearns. We have to relieve the residents of the city from the burden they carry as if they were keepers of a big living museum. Forget the Roman arches, the sacrifice of Isaac and the Herodian Temple. Look! there are real living people in Jerusalem, living real lives; little personal dramas which should be allowed to unfold unaffected by history. Notice them and the redemption will come. Amichai's redemption is unloading the burden of the past. But he knows that it cannot be done. It is impossible to escape from the symbols which are an intrinsic part of life in the city.

2. The Contraversial Tunnel - a foothold on the future
Recently, the end of a Hasmonean water tunnel was opened up to the public. Most of the original tunnel was destroyed by Herod when he refurbished the Temple Mount. The tunnel which carried water down the Tyropean valley interfered with the construction of the supporting walls which Herod built to enlarge Mount Moriah. The tunnel bears no special religious significance to either Moslems or Jews. It is of archeological interest but nothing more. The explosion which the public opening of fifty meters of tunnel which had already been excavated caused, was not caused by the significance of the tunnel but by the symbolism associated with the city of Jerusalem. In both secular and religious forms of Jewish and Palestinian nationalism every move in Jerusalem is critical.

The city is a future symbol for the end of days. The nation with the strongest foothold in the city is best poised for the future. Each side seeks recognition of its cause and vindicated before God of its version of the truth. Without Jerusalem these dreams may not be fulfilled.

3. Three Themes Summarised
We have considered what is special about the city of Jerusalem. What is it about the city which makes it so attractive and why it is focus of world conflict?

In the first lecture I offered three answers to these questions. I suggested that at every critical juncture of the city's history three forces were in operation. First, Jerusalem, the stairway to heaven has always been the focus of Messianic yearning. The city's history is thus a cycle of redemption and destruction. This quality is inherent to the city because of the conviction that God's presence hovers over the Temple Mount. Second, I argued that Jerusalem has always been the meeting place between east and west. The city has always perched on the critical seamline between competing cultures whether Jewish and Assyrian, Roman and Greek, Christian and Moslem or Zionist and Palestinian. Third, I suggested that as the "Capital of Monotheism" Jerusalem's history has been shaped by the yearnings of Jews, Christians and Moslems to prove the ultimate truth by turning the city of Jerusalem into an expression of their faiths: The Jews built a Temple and a State, the Moslems built the Dome of the Rock and the Christians built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Some of you perhaps are more convinced by one or two of these themes. Others were perhaps more impressed by one and less of another at different stages along our long journey through time. Needless to say, I feel that all of them are true to a greater or lesser degree throughout the story. I feel that understanding the symbols which have piled up through history, taking on different forms from time to time is an essential tool for living in Jerusalem today. The special quality of life in Jerusalem may only be fully appreciated when one learns to enjoy the symbols and recognise the historic significance of the daily events reported in the news. Every street corner in the city has a story to tell and that is why, to this day the residents of the city are surrounded by pilgrims. They arrive from all over the world searching for something special. Tourists come to the city looking for an educational experience aswell as a holiday. It has been my privilege during the last few years to share some of the stories which I know with tourists and students. And my experience has taught me that however well you tell the story and however much or little you know of Jerusalem, it is never the "teacher" but always the "subject" itself who communicates best.

4. Conclusion
It is my hope that you have enjoyed reading these lectures and that they may inspire you to come and see the city for yourselves. I shall conclude the course with a story which I love to tell to tourists who visit the city; the story of the battle of Austerlitz:

Napoleon and the Czar of Russia went to war in 1812. Before the battle commenced Napoleon spied in his eye-glass a little fellow running through the valley below. He sent his General down to catch up with him and clear him out the way before the canons started shooting. The general returned with a perplexing message for Napoleon. The man was a Jew who was running through the valley on his way to the top of the opposite hill from where he hoped to see a view of the holy city of Jerusalem. Likewise he asked not to be disturbed. In the Russian camp the same scene unfolded. The Czar sent down his general who returned with the same perplexing message. Ultimately the Czar and Napoleon both decided to go down into the valley and sort the situation out in person. When they caught up with the mysterious Jew he ignored their calls. They both dismounted and began running after him, but he continued to ignore them. All three of them panted up to the top of the hill on the other side of the valley. On reaching the top of the hill the Jew spread open his arms looking at the view below proclaiming, "If I forget thee O' Jerusalem let my right arm forget its wisdom." With joy on his face he recited psalms still ignoring the Czar and Napoleon who flanked him on either side. The Czar tapped him timidly on the shoulder and asked him if it wouldn't be too much trouble for him to simply point in the general direction of what he was looking at. Napoleon pulled out his eye-glass and began searching the valley below for a glimpse of the holy city. But of course all of this was to no avail. From Austerlitz you can't see Jerusalem!
Ten minutes passed before the Jew completed his prayers. He turned to Napoleon and to the Czar, "What do you want from me?"
Napoleon replied, "You claimed that you could see Jerusalem from here, I want to know where you were looking." The Jew replied indeed I can see Jerusalem from here can't you?" Napoleon tried the eye-glass again and confessed quite frankly that he could not. To this the Jew replied "Of course you can't see Jerusalem with your eye-glass, are you stupid? We are in Austerlitz, Jerusalem is miles away. If you want to see Jerusalem it doesn't matter where you are in the world all that matters is that you look with an open heart!

I tell visitors that the story describes the yearnings of Jewish people to feel near to Jerusalem even when physical access to the city was impossible for them. However, now thousands of people visit the city every year and they need to be told that even if they are here, without opening your heart, it is still impossible to see the city. I don't know how easy it is to see Jerusalem through the internet. I hope that these lectures have perhaps opened up your hearts to the city's magic and to its unique history. It is my hope that equipped with your open hearts you will come to the city and experience first hand the special place, the city which we have spent three months trying to describe.