Back in December, as soon as I saw the new holiday decorations put up by the municipality, I had no doubt the three components represented three religions, the same three recognized as being such by the state of Israel: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The dreidels are an obvious reference to Hanukah, the holiday where they are often in use. Oddly enough, the other representations are more hidden and abstract. The most colorful of the three, which could be a painted snowflake, I believe to be a Christmas tree ornament. Please correct me if I’m wrong. The third one, least obviously, has to be Islam. In other examples the point could have been made more clearly, but this represents the geometrical and symmetrical abstractions of Islamic non-representational art.
I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when the committee was deliberating all of this. What amazing discussions must have taken place! How did they reach their agreements? Who were the more accommodating voices? Who the resistant and inflexible ones? What compromises were made?
Is it possible Jerusalem may be moving into the direction of Haifa where the entire Abrahamic community comes out to celebrate a single holiday festival, as you can see in this photo borrowed from the YouTube channel Relaxing Walker (relaxing.walker)?
The lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearl-white star,
Lit from the oil of a blessed olive tree,
Neither of the east nor of the west,
Whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire.
I’m convinced this light if it could only be found by more of us would show the right way to communal understanding and coexistence. Because know it or not we’re already entirely interconnected.
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PS: Oh, and there is a fully trained and authentic Santa Claus who keeps a house right here in Jerusalem/al-Quds. That the gift giver is with us is surely worth knowing.
Meanwhile, from inside New Gate:
