The coming of the Messiah in Jerusalem.
“In this town it is believed that the Messiah can come at any time,” that’s what the inhabitants of Jerusalem say. Maybe it’s so because Jerusalem is the holy city for three major religions. Jerusalem is also important because of its history and mystical side that the city maintains.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam’s traditions say that the Messiah will come soon in the city and then to the rest of the world. Here there are three stories of three “messianic” places in Jerusalem:
Around Jerusalem there is an old wall with seven open gates and a closed one: the “mercy’s gate.” According to religious traditions, this gate will be closed until the coming of the Messiah. “From then” they say, “the dead will be raised and the gate will be opened.” This is why there are many graves near the region of the old city wall and close to the “mercy’s gate”. Several people who believed in the Messiah wanted to be the first to rise again.
Tombs were built around the gates of the old city to the dead people and also a special home in the new city of Jerusalem for the Messiah. In 1981, two rich Jews came from Bukhara to Jerusalem – Alisha Yahudiaof and Israel Hefetz. They built in Jerusalem a large and beautiful house in a particular style, like a palace. “In this palace” they said, “will be the Messiah’s and here he will live.” Even today one can visit this big house that lies in the Bukharan neighborhood, one of the first neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
Source: book “עברית מן ההתחלה”.
Translation: Joel Moreira, nds.
