Religions Alike

 

The National Geographic Documentary Jerusalem exemplifies the divide between the three most populated communities of the small Old Jerusalem. While the communities have distinct differences, they have more in common than they know. 

The three main religions in Jerusalem include Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The documentary Jerusalem interviews one girl from each community and follows them around while they share their most important. The first thing I noticed was that Old Jerusalem is completely separate from New Jerusalem (there is a wall that separates the two). This makes it so all of the religious temples are together and the new modern city does not overlap the historical and symbolic architecture of Old Jerusalem. While there is a physical wall that separates the two versions of the city, there are also some unofficial boundaries that separate the three main religions of Old Jerusalem, while no walls or barriers are doing so, the divide is felt, so much so that the young women mention it in the video. At the end of the video the woman from the Jewish community, Revitial, says “I also wonder if they are curious about my community, about my life” (National Geographic 2013, Jerusalem). This statement exemplifies the curiosity about the way clothes live life while still being so passionate about their routines and culture. 

The common aspect of the three religions other than the fact that they all originated from Jerusalem is the monumental setting of Mount Mariah. For Christians Mount Mariah was the place where Abraham was told to sacrifice his son as a testimonial of faith, for Jews, Mount Mariah was the site of creation itself and for Muslims, the Mount was the place where the original temple was built by Solomon. While each religion has its definition of why the Mount is so significant, they can all agree that it is a sacred place. Another similarity is that all three religions believe in one God. Each God is called a different name, but they share the same belief that there is only one true God. Lastly, each religion has its concept of sin, there is good and bad and they all believe that you should strive to do good to honor God. 

Above the differences of the communities of Jerusalem, the main similarity that ties them all together is their love for the old city of Jerusalem. All three of these women made it a point to say how lucky they were to live in the city and expressed the significance of the place to their culture, family, and religious beliefs.