Jerusalem Tour Suggestion 4:
Just Outside the Walls: Biblical Jerusalem and Mount Zion
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Ketef Hinnom – Place of the oldest survival texts of the Bible
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Bible Hill (Givaat HaTanach)– Urban Nature in Jerusalem
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Valley of Hinnom (Gey Ben Hinnom) : Option for Rock Climbing
Other possibilities related to this theme:
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City of David
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The Templers and
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The German Colony
Mount Zion
While located outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, Mount Zion is filled with ancient Jewish and Christian traditions. We will learn about the sources of these traditions and discover why this part of Jerusalem was called Mount Zion when in essence “Zion” in the Bible and Jewish prayers refers to the Temple Mount.
Who brought Zion to Mount Zion?
We will trace the footsteps of the soldiers who captured Mount Zion during the 1948 War of Independence under the continuous threat from Jordanian snipers, positioned on top of the walls of the Old City. We will climb the Mount Zion trench which connected the Western City to Mount Zion enclave between the years of 1967 to 1948.
The highlight of our tour is a 1,000 year old, three story complex, dated back to the Crusader period which houses the Tomb of David, the Room of the Last Supper and “Beit Hanasi”, where Israel’s second president, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi received Jewish pilgrims, in the years 1948-1967 when Mount Zion was the closest accessible place for Jews to pray toward Temple Mount. It is here that we will learn how traditions can be more powerful than any archeological finding or historical documentation.
Our tour will consist of breathtaking views of the Valley of Hinnom, Kidron Valley, Mountain of Olives, the New City and the Old City. On the way, we will visit Oskar Schindler’s grave, located on Mount Zion.