A long-time reader of my blog suggested I check out Hezekiah’s Tunnels … this is another case of “not at all what I thought it was“. If you haven’t gone and want everything to be a surprise, stop reading this diary entry and just go.

The tunnel extends from a spring to Ir Dovid, the city of David, just outside the old city of Jerusalem. It’s how they got the water there, dating back thousands of years and the tunnel is still completely functional and carrying water.

Driving There Is Not Like Walking There

Living here and owning a car makes for a very different experience … took a daughter to Hebrew classes in Jerusalem and then asked Waze to take me to Ir Dovid which took me through the Arab neighborhood of Abu Tor … I wouldn’t walk there (until I do) though I’ll drive through in daylight. I don’t even think it was designed for horses … maybe donkeys with carts … very narrow and very steep roads. This was part of the tour … no pictures though. I needed to concentrate. Instead, here’s a picture of Abu Dis, picture taken from Ir David. Same idea … kind of. It’s another pre-’48 Arab neighborhood where zoning is a suggestion.

They do, by the way, have Israeli ID cards and Israeli health insurance. It’s not spoken about much though despite that few accept Israeli citizenship, it is coveted to be part of the Israeli system rather than the Palestinian Authority’s for insurance, pensions, and … in general, being taken care of by your government.

Then, hey, there’s the entrance to Dung Gate which takes you to the Kotel [Western Wall] and there’s the entrance to Ir Dovid. Parking? Well, there was an empty spot on the street right there … seemed way too good to be true. It was still empty hours later. Everyone seemed to agree it was too good to be true.

Seen in the parking garage near Jaffa Gate: don’t pee in a direction away from the electric cars

So I continued towards Jaffa Gate which has a nice big parking garage with plenty of space. Missed the street that I’ve walked dozens of times because this was driving and driving from a different direction. Driving, and coming from a different direction, were disorienting.

Side fact: It’s called the “orient” because it is how maps used to be “oriented” … East was up. The Western world is called the “occident” which is also the name of the largest Jewish newspaper in the United States in the mid-1800s and the horse used to discovery video.)

Came up to Damascus gate and thought better of parking there … the gate takes you to the Arab quarter. I’m told it’s fine, plenty of police there. Nah. Not yet. Back to Jaffa gate and then for a walk through the Old City adding about an hour of walking, round-trip.

Jaffa Gate to the Kotel

Jaffa gate is large, easiest to get to, and surrounded by friendly Jewish neighborhoods. From the gate there are two (main) ways to get to the Western Wall: straight down a narrow road with steps and shops on either side and round about the Armenian quarter and then through the Jewish quarter.

When I first came to Israel in 1999 and for many years after that, they’d say “don’t go through the dangerous Arab shuk – go around through the Armenian quarter.” Doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore … the Arabs there are now selling plenty of Jewish stuff and there’s even a Jewish-owned store there now with a rather brazen sign that he seems to get away with.

Ir Dovid Entrance

Okay, so after a 45 minute detour to the parking lot and back to the entrance to Ir Dovid by way of the Arab shuk and the Kotel, you come to a gift shop. Smart. The tunnels have been there thousands of years aren’t going anywhere to better check out the gift shop. This cracks me up now that I know more Hebrew:

They use the harp symbol here to denote things being the city of David and all … the funny part is that we call these “Snow globes” (snow does actually fall in Jerusalem, at which time Canadians complain bitterly about how the municipality has no idea what it’s doing with snow removal and if only they’d ask them). “Cador” literally means “ball” and the 80/20 rule applies. With 20% of the words in Hebrew you can name 80% of things in English.

“Cador” can mean: ball, pill, bullet, and globe. Earth is called “cador aretz” … the land ball (globe). Snow globe gets translated into Hebrew as “snowball” and we get a literal translation back into English.

Archaeological Stuff Visible from the Big Land Ball

There are active archeological digs going on – I don’t so much know what I am looking at though they have very helpful signs telling you what you’re looking at and what was discovered here. There are lots of these with descriptions and what was found. Wow. I feel at home here. This is my history and where I belong.

For example, here the description from the Naviim [prophets] matches this location for … someone important. His seal was found in the remains of his house on this very place. (Should have taken a picture of the sign …)

It used to be that your personal seal was unique – press it into hot wax to seal an envelope and it was assured as being from you when someone else received it and opened it. This couldn’t be ‘photocopied’ and as long as you guarded your stamp, no one could ‘forge’ your signature.

In Megillas Esther, the king gave Mordechai his stamp to use as he pleased … in historical context, that’s … wow. In modern Israel, the bureaucracy still hasn’t moved beyond the stamp despite the advent of the printing press followed shortly thereafter by the ballpoint pen.

Down to the Water Tunnel

I still get a kick out of Israeli safety standards outside of office buildings. This is as steep as it looks. While the new Nvidia campus, with more office space than any other company in Israel to date, will surely have elevator inspections and regulations, move outside that and almost as steep you find narrow, uneven, stairs into a cave. These stairs alone crush any ride at Universal Studios, Great Adventure, or Disney. Lament that Israel doesn’t have that kind of stuff? This is better – and the entrance ticket was about $7 dollars. (Parking was about $15 … and the smoothie afterwards was a very overpriced $10).

M.C. Escher designed the stairs.

Then some of this.

Then … without warning and as much fanfare as if you overdraw your Israeli bank account (that is, none), you come to this:

After what looks like the entrance to a tube ride at an amusement park with rushing water (after climbing up stairs, not down them), then you come to the recreation of the blind museum:

Ah. There was a sign by the ticket booth that said flashlight recommended!

You know, that’s really the sort of thing that they should have said was required and checked and made sure everyone had one.

Nah. It’s Israel.

Besides, even with a flashlight there is no way in all that is holy that OSHA would have allowed this in America:

At Howe Caverns there’s an elevator and you’re not even allowed to walk around on fully lit, flat, fully hand-railed a solid cador of aretz without a guide. At one point, when you’re sitting in a boat with hands and feet in at all times, they turn off the lights for a few seconds to show you how it’d be pitch black – in Israel it’s … “you might want to bring a flashlight … now go!” I love the freedom here.

This is a hand carved tunnel which takes a few rounds of “99 bottles of beer on the wall” to get from one end to the other, that’s how long it is. The tunnel never ended. In fact, I had to find just the right position to get cellular signal long enough to upload this blog entry.

Stop and think about this … thousands of years later and this tunnel is still transporting water the same way it has been! What do we possibly make today that will last that long and function just as well? Sure, we make plenty of non-disintegrable stuff, though it’s not going to work as well a few thousand years from now and Six Flags has to tighten screws on its water slides at least monthly.

The height varies from, “I can stand and walk freely” to “this is what Kerstin Fritzl felt like, locked in a basement shorter than her”.

Over the length of almost six football fields the height change is 12 inches. There are still a few dips and rises here and there and one or two ninety degree turns … it seemed like a fun idea to go through this pitch black until every time I tried it.

. . . and then when you finally get out (still trying to do that), the water pools and local kids are swimming in it. Then, make your way back up a dry drainage tunnel:

Kind of dry ….

The Entire Aliyah Diary

Arrival

01. Aug 19, 2024: Preparation In America
02. Aug 25, 2024: First Few Days
03. Aug 29, 2024: Moving In
62. July 17, 2025: I MADE IT

Cultural Adjustment Fun

Cultural Adjustment Difficulties

On The Roads

Shopping

11. Oct 13, 2024: Packages. (חבילות.)
34. Feb 17, 2025: Finding Obscure Things
41. Mar 23, 2025: New Shopping Habits
44. Apr 6, 2025: Pesach Shopping & Osher Ad

Government and Bureaucracy

Politics and Thought

Travel: South Israel

Travel: Central/North Israel

Travel: From Israel to …

54. June 4, 2025: Marseille and Avignon