3/

Then he said: it's a copy of the Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. The latter just doesn't have the minaret.

It's not a coincidence, he continued. The same Ottoman architect planned both, just a few years apart.
4/

We kept on meandering in Istanbul, and my friend kept on pointing things out. For the first time I realized how deep an impact Ottoman culture had an impact on the Jerusalem I live in.

I don't idealize. I do not see Ottoman Jerusalem as "Paradise Lost".

But...
5/

I came to realize that anyone unfamiliar with the Ottoman dimension of Jerusalem does not really know contemporary Jerusalem.

And whatever its liabilities were, there was tense cohabitation among Muslims, Jews and Christians in Ottoman Jerusalem.
6/

Turkey has not really forgotten what was learned in the century-long Ottoman rule over Jerusalem.

I 've had pause to think that the day will come when the Turks will help establish a Jerusalem where the integrity of Jewish, Christian and Muslim equities are assured.

Musings
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