JERUSALEM AS YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN IT! Walking through Jerusalem in the SNOW!

Hello and welcome back to Israel with Aline. You see that I'm all bundled up today because it's cold here in Jerusalem. It's zero degrees and the weather forecast is that it's going to snow tonight. So what we're going to do is a completely different experience. We're going to go together here in the old city of Jerusalem and walk at night, walk in the rain, in the snow and see Jerusalem in a different way. So if you're ready let's get started. We're going to enter the old city of Jerusalem from its south side and as you can see it's already hailing and later it's probably also going to snow and we're going to enter through the gate called Char Abor Sekim which is so small that it's not even counted among the eight gates of the old city. Here on our right we see the garbage gate which is probably in the same place as the biblical times garbage gate that is mentioned in Nehemiah and through here the temple's garbage was taken out and speaking of temple we can already see from here the temple mount that we will also get to know together at the end of today's video. Let's head to the western wall which in Hebrew is called Kotel Hamaravi. The western wall and that's how we call it to this day. Why? Because it is one of the four outer supporting walls of the Jerusalem temple and being part of the Jerusalem temple it is one of the most sacred places in the world for Judaism. And as we can already see here folks it really has started to snow in Jerusalem. It really is beautiful and moving to see snow falling here at the wailing wall and we're going to get really close to the wall. These stones that we're seeing are over 2,000 years old and in the little spaces between the stones you can see that there are papers. These papers are names and requests. To this day people come here to pray and ask God because of what is written in the book of Kings which says that God will have a temple institute and the goal is that it will be placed in the third temple of Jerusalem. If you want me to make a video on the subject comment below. Rain or shine or in this case snow the bakery here remains open and they have these sweet burakas for sale that are delicious. Here to our right is one of those vending machines which in many places sells snacks and soda but here it sells books. Yes there are different books you can choose buy and take. We are entering the Muslim quarter of the old city of Jerusalem but it's important to tell you that this is a cultural division. This means that most of the people living in this neighborhood are Muslims but yes there are mixtures between the neighborhoods obviously. And an example the place we are going to see now the Via Dolorosa one of the most important places for Christianity is precisely within the Muslim neighborhood. There are two paths in Jerusalem known as Via Dolorosa and here they divide their way. One of them goes towards the garden of the which goes outside the walls and is the path mainly taken by evangelicals and Protestants. And the second path which is what we are going to do together today is the path that goes to the Holy Sepulchre and it is mainly done by Catholics and Orthodox but there are detailed videos about both here on the channel that I will link here for you. This path is divided into 14 stations we are now passing by station number five and walking here also reminds me of one of the reasons I like living in Israel the most. It's the safety being able to go out on the street at night walk peacefully it's something that makes me very very happy. And also Jerusalem is a beautiful city but it is different at every hour of the day so seeing Jerusalem at night also has its beauty and it's an opportunity for us to be here together today. We've arrived at the Christian neighborhood and we're now looking at the Church of the Redeemer which is a German Lutheran church. Here in one square kilometer there are 49 different churches that means there's an Armenian church, a Greek Orthodox church, an Ethiopian church, a Catholic church, a Lutheran church. I mean there's room for everyone here. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built in the year 326 by Helena the mother of Emperor Constantine and it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. The last reconstruction was 900 years ago. What are Christmas lights doing here in February? In reality they are not just put up for Christmas. The population of Jerusalem loves these kind of twinkling lights so throughout the year in different parts of the city there is this type of lighting. It's always there but a bit more Christmas. We are now walking through the Armenian neighborhood and the Armenians have a very strong connection with the Holy Land. Since they are the first nation in the world to convert to Christianity in the year 301 this happens. While in Rome Christianity was still a forbidden religion Armenia had already converted and since that time Christian Armenians come to the Holy Land and that's why this place later will transform into the Armenian Quarter. We are crossing the Zion gate and we are leaving within the walls to now know Mount Zion, a super important place in the Bible and here are some historical places for us to know. We are going to make a little stop now at one of them which is the place that is traditionally known as King David's tomb and this place of prayer is separated between men and women. This here is the men's part. Here even at the entrance there is the solidel, the kippah to borrow for those who enter but we will obviously enter on the women's side. We are practically alone here today. I don't think many people had the crazy idea to come here on a snow day and here in front of us we see this stone which is the tomb of King David and on the walls are written the Psalms, the book written by King David and like every traditional holocaust synagogue of Jewish prayers there is always a library where you can take books. In this case here there are books of Psalms, there is the Siddur which is the book of Jewish prayers, there is the Tanah which is the Hebrew Bible so you can borrow the books here to pray. The people here at King David's tomb are so sweet. They gave me some cookies and a hot tea. I'm going to warm up here and we will continue our tour afterwards. The snow kept falling for most of the night and now it's six in the morning and we're going back inside the walls to continue our tour now with a bit of daylight. So we're now entering through the Jaffa gate which in Hebrew we call Jaffa and its name is because from here came out the road the path that went to the biblical city of Jaffa. To our right we see King David's tower which has absolutely nothing to do with King David but rather with King Herod. This tower was built 2,000 years ago but when I say King Herod it's important to remember that there isn't a king in the history of Israel with that name but rather six different kings. So the king who built this tower is called King Herod the Great who is not the same King Herod that appears in most of the New Testament passages. Look how beautiful Jerusalem is covered in snow and the reason we're here so early today is so we can see the Temple Mount together covered in snow. I haven't shown the Temple Mount in any video on the channel yet so this will be our debut together. The Temple Mount has several entrances but this one is the only one for non-Muslims and I also like it because we pass over the western wall and we have this super super cool view from here. This place has a fascinating history of over 3,000 years. Here is Mount Moriah and you can see through the columns here on our right the different historical phases that this place has gone through. Here was Solomon's Temple, here was also the Second Temple of Jerusalem and nowadays in this place there is also this structure which is the Al-Aqsa Mosque which is the third holiest site in the world for Muslims but the most famous is the Dome of the Rock, this golden dome that we are heading towards now. If you thought the Golden Menorah was impressive, the Golden Dome is even more impressive. It costs over 8 million dollars to be covered and it's over 80 kilos of gold and was donated by King Hussein of Jordan and this dome is built on top of the peak of Mount Moriah, the place that according to the Bible was where Abraham sacrificed or almost sacrificed his son Isaac. How much does it really snow in Jerusalem? In Israel we have Mount Hermon that snows every year and has snow throughout the year but here in Jerusalem snow does not happen every year but happens one, two days every two, three years. So this year we were graced, blessed with a very cool snow. I hope you enjoyed getting to know a little more about Jerusalem and the snow. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel for more tours around the Holy Land. Okay, Shalom and until next time!