Thursday, July 10, 2008

Jerusalem Religiosity v. Virginia Religiosity


It goes without saying that Jerusalem is a religious city. Being the center of Judaism, being the spiritual navel of the religion and the nation, Jerusalem is steeped in an atmosphere of faith and ritual. A walk down a street in Israel's capital will reveal various posters of religious leaders, signs declaring religious beliefs, and all manner of posters and billboards for Jewish things.

What's humorous is that I left one religious area for another. I left the Bible Belt of America for the Torah Town of Israel (catchy, right?). I left a resoundingly evangelical Christian area for a resoundingly orthodox Jewish area. Sometimes I think it's my destiny to associate with overwhelming religiosity...

I took these pictures on the drive to my house from the airport on Tuesday. I grew up around these billboards, seeing signs like "Jesus is LORD!" and the such. So, it's not that I'm surprised to see them again, it's just an interesting and note-worthy sighting once you live in Israel for a long time. And, I should add that these are just the first two I saw - there are dozens of these things along the road, including a house with a quote from the Gospel of John emblazoned across the side.

I wonder what my European friends think about this? Comments?


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

we are so not friends anymore...
You have not even called since you have been in the US! What am I? Chop liver??? :(

~T

Israeli by Day said...

oh T, I'm sorry!

With all these signs inundating my mind I don't KNOW what to do!!!

Anonymous said...

no excuse!