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CITY OF I OBSESSION continued from page 52 a Franciscan monk from the USA volunteering his time at the great church in the busy months around the millennium, met a Californian woman in the church who asked rum if he knew Jesus. He said he did and the woman replied, "I know Jesus because I am his wife." 'Jesus was always saying 'Do not fear,'" said Father Louis. "And that is the bad part about all this millennium fever, the fear involved: what's going to happen, the predictions about the floods, the hurricanes, the destruction." Like the Haram aI-Sharif, the Holy Sepulchre is another potential target for religious zealots. Some people fear that Christian fanatics might attempt to destroy the church either to help bring about the apocalypse or to divert attention from attacks elsewhere in the city. The basilica of the Holy Sepulchre holds about 15,000 people, but there is only one exit: a narrow door barely wide enough for two people to pass side-by-side. The idea of creating a second door in the church was discussed for two years but eventually abandoned because the different denominations responsible for its upkeep couldn't agree whether they should do it and where to cut it. Two days before New Year's Eve I returned to the Petra. Some very distinct rings around the moon had thrown everyone into chaos and speculation. Wherever I went in the rabbit warren of a hostel, people were talking about the unique clouds (actually ice crystals that refract moonlight causing a halo effect), reinforcing their theories with quotes from the Bible. A charismatic man in his late twenties held court on the roof. I learned that his name was Michael David (or just Mike) and he came from Toledo, Ohio. He spoke in the commanding voice of a preacher. "Christians have been trying to figure out for 2,000 years when Jesus would return," he said. "But the ingredients weren't in the world until now." He waved a Bible and his body grew tense with excitement. "See the rainbow around the moon? Some people see it as white light, but those with good eyesight see that it is a rainbow!" Mike spoke in a rush that gained momentum by the minute. He quoted Revelation four, "".and there was a rainbow round about the throne"." Then he explained to the crowd that Jerusalem is God's throne on earth. At night, Mike hung out on the roof of the Petra, where he stretched out his sleeping bag to sleep under the stars. Mike was tall with short dark hair and a goatee. He looked like your all-American guy and, when he wasn't talking about the end of the world, he acted like one too. Mike had been in Jerusalem for two months, ever since he felt compelled to quit his job driving trains across America and buy a ticket to the Holy Land. The money he had won gambling in Detroit and used to buy that ticket had long since run dry, so he worked at the Petra to cover his room and board. On the eve of the millennium, I made my way up the road winding through olive trees that leads to the Mount of Olives. From the top of the hill, the whole of the Old City undulated majestically before me and the golden Dome of the Rock dominated the skyline. Alarmingly, its floodlights kept going off, then on again, for a reason I never discovered. To the south, a dimly lit Palestinian suburb spread out toward the West Bank. On the mountaintop, about 75 people clustered in groups. Many of the people I'd met in the last couple of weeks had been deported. Bob was off somewhere else in the city, preparing to comfort the people he knew would be devastated when Jesus did not appear. The mountain was crawling with journalists. Flashes went off every few minutes. There were travelers getting drunk on champagne, as well as young local Arab boys, excited about the chance to mingle with foreign girls at night. A traveler from France was dressed up in white robes in what I soon learned was a parody of the Syndrome. Fireworks went off in colored spurts at various places in the city below. Suddenly, there was a commotion a few feet from me. I went over to investigate and found Mike, Bible in hand, preaching. A crowd surrounded him, hanging on every word. He was sweating and impassioned. Mike spoke of I9-headed beasts and NATO and how the trouble in Kosovo is an indication that the end of the world is near. "Wake up people!" he shouted into the crowd. After his speech, Mike was glowing and exhilarated, and accepted congratulations before wandering off alone into the night. I waited around for something else to happen, but midnight came and went and nothing did. Eventually people began to disperse, heading toward the bars of the New City. About three hours after midnight, I found myself at the Western Wall. The air was mild and the voices in prayer carried and echoed off the edges of the great space. At first I stood a distance away, just watching. The Wall rises 60 feet into the air. Above it, the Dome of the Rock disappears into the night. The first six feet of the Wall are stained brown with the constant hands and heads touching it, caressing it. Women were coming up to the Wall, praying and crying. Men were chanting and dancing in circles. The place felt like it had accumulated all the sorrows of the past and present. As I approached the Wall, I felt pain and sorrow and heaviness. I put my head against the Wall. It smelled like warm skin. It is not enough to describe Jerusalem politically or geographically. Something pervades the city that is beyond rational description or even understanding. "Of the whole world, Jerusalem is where God puts his foot down," Mike had said. "This is the connection between God and man. It always has been." EPILOGUE On January I, 2000, the sun rose over Jerusalem, birds flew overhead toward it. The city was a picture of peace. The Dome of the Rock still stood. Y2K had not sent the city into a chaos oflooting and violence. No one had thrown themselves off the Mount of Olives in disappointment that Jesus did not show up. Now, a year later, the beginning of 2001, the anticipation is mounting again. Many believe this year to be the true millennium. And to add fuel to the fire , Jerusalem is boiling with a different kind of turmoil. The political kind. Perhaps this is what Bob was referring to as the "TOTAL collapse." 106

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