The Storyteller of Jerusalem

(source: Olive Branch Press)
no copyright infringement intended

I was in the Holy Land last year, together with a group of about thirty people. We were led by a young priest, Father Martin, a heartful man with the knowledge of those places. Unfortunately we could not see all that was intended, as the Covid pandemic had just started. And so we were not allowed to go to Bethlehem, nor to the shrink of Mar Saba: the whole West Bank was closed for visiting. The interdiction was also enforced on some places in Galilee, for instance the valley of Jordan, or Hozeva. At least we spent a good couple of days in Jerusalem, inside the Old City and around it.

Jerusalem has a special vibe, and trying to get it is overwhelming. It's too much history here, and too dense. Pinnacle of joy, bound by a terrible curse to be chanted forever, choice of the Almighty upon anything else, to gather His children under His wings ... and the city killing the Prophets, stoning those sent unto ... 

Back home I started to look into the books that I had, to understand better what I had seen and what I had felt, to add details that I had missed, more and more details, to advance, slowly and painfully, on this road to Jerusalem.

Did I find what I was looking for? And, after all, what I was looking for? To tell about such a place, even the most mundane thing, one needs to be a real storyteller, I mean someone with a very special gift.

As I was trying to read all that I could find about the Holy Land, a friend sent me a PDF document: a Romanian translation of a book authored by Simon Sebag Montefiore, The title was Jerusalem: The Biography - a story of the place from the Biblical times up to nowadays (up to 1968, to be more exact, los amigos saben por qué). To be able to write such a book, Montefiore consulted a lot of sources - ancient and modern authors. I would like to dwell on two of these authors: Evliya Çelebi and Wasif Jawhariyyeh.

I encountered the name of Evliya Çelebi several times in my life. First it was in my high school years: a history textbook was mentioning him, as the man who had spoken a little bit about the Romanian countries, in his travel books. It had been in the seventeens century, and he had travelled a lot, from Istanbul to Vienna to Crimea to Mecca and Medina to Jerusalem to Cairo. I considered getting a little more information. Was it possible to find a translation of his books, or at least some more detailed reference?

Years passed, I was now in my mid fifties. This time it happened in New York. Close to the Washington Square, on the Thompson Street I think, I came across a small bookstore, seemingly specialised in books covering the Ottoman / Arabian / Persian  zone. Evliya Çelebi was there, together with Piri Reis and Ibn Khaldun, among others. The place was special: it breathed a magic, imponderable yet positive. I stayed there a little bit, I felt too shy to buy a book, any book. I decided to come a second time, this second time didn't come any more.

Other years passed, many years, I have passed beyond the mid seventies. I found Evliya Çelebi in the book of Simon Sebag Montefiore. It was there, together with Ibn Khaldun, and Wasif Jawhariyyeh, and William of Tyre, Josephus Flavius ... This time I ordered immediately the book of Evliya Çelebi. It took about a month to arrive, and in this time I looked for another author, Wasif Jawhariyyeh.

WORK IN PROGRESS





(A Life in Books)