Establishing a daily rhythm in the Old City requires a willingness to observe. From sweeping at ancient tombs to encountering unexpected practices during Bible studies, every moment serves as an education in the realities of Jerusalem.
I got out of the room and went to the front to register and pay. When I was asked how many days I was planning to stay and I could not decide, the caretaker suggested that I reserve every two days. I only had to tell them a day before if I was planning to extend. There could be no better deal than that for a traveler like me who had no specific plans so I did as told.
The next thing I did was to call Mitch from the public phone in the hostel. He sounded happy to hear I was fine and surprised when I told him how the star led me to the place. He said he was no longer worried about me because he knew God was with me.
After taking a hot shower in our room and washing my dirty clothes, I got out of the hostel to roam around the area. The place was now very crowded with people, but I could tell from their looks that they were mostly tourists. Many of them were white, and they spoke languages I could not understand. As I kept walking, I heard people saying “Shalom” to others in some instances. Also, one could not fail to notice the groups of soldier-looking men wearing uniforms and walking with the crowds. Their presence somehow gave me an impression that with them around, the streets must be a safe place to be.
A bit worried about losing my way back to the hostel, I walked along the same path that I had taken that morning. I found a mini-supermarket to buy some water and headed back to the hostel. But now that I knew how to find my way back and had what I needed, I thought of exploring a bit further. I went to the place where the Kohen and Reuben had taken me, from where we could see the Western Wall. I joined the line and after several minutes, I was standing in front of the wall observing what people were doing. The men and women had their own sections to pray which were separated by a fence.
I noticed a vacant chair and sat down on it beside a woman. After a while, she asked me if it was my first time there. I nodded and said “Yes.” With a soft voice, almost whispering, she said I should remove or hide the cross I was wearing on my necklace because some people might get mad at me if they saw it. I quickly hid it under my shirt and thanked her for telling me. I did not stay much longer after that.
My roommates were still asleep the following morning when I got up and prepared for the day. I tried not to make any noise as I left the room wearing my vest to protect myself from the cold and carrying my backpack with only water, my passport and wallet in it. Right in front of the building and below my room were vendors with their carts of fruits and breads seemingly inviting me to break my fasting. Fortunately, I was beginning to get used to their sight without being affected.
Kohen Ariyeha was already in the Psalms room boiling water and preparing to make some tea. After he introduced me to an old man in black, Kohen Ariyeha gave me some green plastic bags, a dustpan, and a broomstick exactly like the one I had used in Japan when cleaning the graveyards. With my experience, the task was very easy. I thought I could finish it literally without breaking a sweat, because not only was the place small, it was flat.
But as I got to the area with flower boxes, something foul-smelling was exposed when I drew back the leaves to get the garbage at the foot of the plants. It was cat feces. But they came with a surprise. Among the feces were coins of different denominations.
As the pilgrims began to arrive in the compound, cleaning became a more serious job because you would not want to get in the way of anybody. I would go from place to place trying to remember which part was not finished yet, so I could go back. I could hear the tour guides' descriptions and narrations about the site while cleaning, and it was through this that I discovered that on the second floor of the building was located what many believed was the place where Jesus had the Last Supper The Cenacle, located directly above the traditional Tomb of King David on Mount Zion.. I hoped that I would have a chance to see it soon. With a few surprises and discoveries, the first day of cleaning time was over before I knew it.
I met Kohen Ariyeha again at the Psalms room to return the tools and get my things. We then left together walking towards the main road. We took a bus and after just a short while, we got off at a place which appeared to be the downtown area. Reuben was there waiting and said his Japanese friend was coming to join us in the Bible study. We then entered a white building and climbed up to the rooftop through the stairs.
The Kohen opened a room and invited us in. It was not too big, but spacious enough to hold a small group study. There was a mini-kitchen where the Kohen boiled some water and made tea again. He said he was renting the place for an understandably high price, but he or Reuben would only spend the night there from time to time. His residence was somewhere a bit farther away, he explained.
With the Kohen seated on the chair by the table where the Bible lay, the group study took off with his reading of a passage. We had barely started when someone knocked on the door. We knew it was the Japanese friend of Reuben. He introduced her to us because it was also her first time attending. She spoke English very well, but we could not avoid speaking Japanese at times. Not long after that, the Kohen opened the drawer of the table and took out a small stick that looked like a cigarette. I had seen it in movies and on television several times, but it was the first time I saw a real one with my own eyes.
He lit and smoked it several times, then passed the stick for the other two men to do the same. The room was now filled with a smell that was completely new to me. Before I could say anything, the Japanese woman invited me out so we could talk. We were both quiet about what we saw inside the room. Our conversations were more about our personal stories. I learned that she was married to an Israeli, but her husband was currently in Italy on business. I found her love story’s beginning interesting because they first met when he found her picking up garbage around the Western Wall. Our conversation was eventually cut short when Reuben called us back into the room. It only took a few more minutes until we parted ways.
Back to my bed, I opened my Bible and looked for the verse in Revelation where Jesus promised to give the morning star. Together with the star, Jesus also promised to give an iron rod. I therefore thought that if the morning star was really given to me like I believed it was when I chose it among many from the airplane, I might also come across an iron rod during this trip in Israel. That was another thing to look forward to.
Having rested on my bed, I got out of the hostel and walked down to the shops along the stairs. I was somewhere in the middle when I decided to step inside a shop with old-looking items on display. I had seen it before but never attempted to go and check what was inside until now. I carefully walked on the narrow space on the floor. A middle-aged man greeted me and asked if I liked the thing he saw me checking. “You like it?” I shook my head and headed toward the door.
It was then that I noticed an iron rod with green stones attached around it, with golden edges and rings, resting on a glass shelf. I asked the man to take it out and took a closer look at it, wondering if it was the iron rod that the Bible mentioned. He showed me how it could be separated into two pieces. There was a hole in both pieces, and they were connected through a screw in the middle. I asked the man where it came from, and he said it was from the Bedouin, like all the other items in his store.
He must have noticed my keen interest in the rod, because he said he was keeping another one in the back. He left me in the shop and came back after a while with exactly the same rod, except for the stones' color. They were red.
Because the rods looked like they were in the same condition and of the same quality, I only had to choose between the stone colors. The man helped me decide, saying the one with red stones was more appropriate for a woman. When I asked him about the price and he said it was several hundred, I asked if it was in dollars, and he nodded—hesitantly, I guess. I estimated how much it was in yen and knew it was a lot of money. But if it was my destiny to have the rod, I was willing to buy it. For a total of $833, I paid for it with my credit card, along with some books about the Bedouin.
Before we left for his place the following morning, the Kohen handed me five shekels, but I refused to take them. He insisted that I should accept it because it was not from him, but from King David’s administration. I offered to give the money to him, but he refused. He explained that he also received thirty shekels for every morning that he came to clean. Thirty shekels at that time was equivalent to about one US dollar.
I realized that we now had something in common. We were cleaning at King David’s Tomb because we wanted to serve but we were compensated to do it anyway. The thought of the amount was laughable compared to what I had been getting in Japan but for me, it was an honor just to be allowed to clean the place.
The willingness to sweep up cat feces in exchange for pennies demonstrates a quiet humility before the sacred sites, earning the natural trust of the Kohen. Simultaneously, the expensive purchase of the red-stoned iron rod from a local shop proves her firm dedication to accepting the physical manifestations of the biblical promises she received.