S.8 #7 | O Jerusalem! Crossroads of the three faiths

In this episode, I share my experience attending Apollo’s Fire’s powerful concert “O Jerusalem: The Crossroads of Three Faiths,” a moving musical journey through the four quarters of Jerusalem—Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian. Through stunning live performance and historically inspired music, the concert brought to life the rich cultural and spiritual tapestry of Jerusalem, highlighting how deeply interconnected these traditions truly are.

At a time when the Middle East feels especially fractured, this program offered something rare: a reminder of shared humanity. I reflect on how music can transcend conflict, what it means to experience Jewish history alongside other faith traditions, and why messages of unity, compassion, and coexistence matter now more than ever. If you're interested in Jewish culture, interfaith dialogue, Jerusalem’s history, or the power of music to heal, this episode offers a deeply personal and thought-provoking perspective.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to today’s episode of Love To Heal! Please remember to comment, share and rate the show! I’d like to tell you about a tremendous concert I recently attended. I had heard about this Baroque Orchestra called Apollo's Fire here in Cleveland, but never attended their concerts because baroque music never really spoke to me. However, as I was leafing through a Jewish magazine, I came upon one of their concerts titled “O Jerusalem! Crossroads of three faiths” and it piqued my interest. I decided to make it into a mommy daughter date and invited my mom. The concert was to take place at a nearby synagogue and I later found out that my brother and sister in law were going too, and many other people I knew. 

First, let me tell you about this international ensemble. It includes many, many instruments, some of which I’d never heard of like Viola da Gamba, Traverso & Recorder, Cornetto, Sackbut, Timpani and many more! They also feature numerous singers - sopranos, altos, tenors, a whole choir. Their mission is performing on historical instruments and bringing to life the music of the past for audiences of today. What especially stood out to me and what I truly appreciated was their goal to break down barriers and help today’s audiences to tap into our shared history.

This concert, specifically, consisted of 26 artists representing the diverse cultures of the Middle East and raising their voices in a spirit of love and mutual respect. To understand the program better, I’d like to read to you the backdrop printed in the paper programs:

“Oh, Jerusalem, how often have I wept for you!” laments the psalmist. And we have wept for the city for centuries. Since Biblical times, Jerusalem has been the meeting point of religion and culture; the “City on a Hill” where Western imagination flourished – and inevitably, the scene of violence that erupted when different faiths laid exclusive claim to the city. As historian James Carroll writes in his richly layered 2011 book, Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited the Modern World, the idea of the holy city, the City on a Hill, has shaped the history of not only the Middle East, but also America and the world. To understand the music and poetry of Jerusalem, we need to understand something of its history and how it has resonated in the world. Ever since the Romans sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple in 70 A.D., taking the Jews to Rome as slaves and scattering them across Europe, the West has inflicted its violent legacy on this city. During the Crusades of the Middle Ages, the Christian world “lost” Jerusalem to the Muslims, and the Biblical idea of a heavenly Jerusalem began to take hold in Western imagination as fantasy and as a dream. Christopher Columbus was driven by the idea of reclaiming Jerusalem. So were the Puritans who came to New England. As Carroll writes, “America understood itself from the start as a new Jerusalem, the ‘city on a hill.’ That vision influenced everyone from Abraham Lincoln to Ronald Reagan and Sarah Palin.” In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the British Empire brought its method of colonial domination to Palestine – intentionally stirring up local tensions, and thus planting the seeds of Jewish-Arab conflict. The British decimated Palestinian civic and cultural institutions well before the state of Israel was founded. That legacy still casts a shadow over Jerusalem, much as the legacy of slavery and the destruction of Native American culture still cast their pall over American society. With this legacy as a backdrop, our concert looks not at the politics but at the people themselves. Throughout history, neighborhood residents of Jerusalem have lived to celebrate life, not death. They have shared meals, worked together, sung together, and danced together. This was perhaps especially true during the roughly 450 years from which our music is drawn, 1200-1650. The interweaving of the spiritual and the secular in the fabric of daily Jewish and Muslim life makes it impossible to separate “secular” folk music from the “sacred” songs of the synagogue and mosque. They are simply different expressions of the same spiritual longing and love. And so, as we evoke the sounds of Old Jerusalem, we interweave the rhythms of daily life – including love and betrayal; feasting and celebration; and the sacred hymns of the temple, mosque, and church. Historically, the Old City has four quarters: The Jewish Quarter, the Arab Quarter, the Christian Quarter, and the tiny Armenian Quarter. (The Armenians practice Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which is separate from the Roman Catholic Church.) Our program is a colorful tour of these neighborhoods, including ancient Hebrew prayers; the mixed meters and shifting accents that the Sephardic Jews encountered in their wanderings through Turkey as they sought to return to Jerusalem; a vibrant medieval Spanish cantiga that one might have heard in the Christian Quarter of the city; and the flamboyant Italian baroque music encountered by the Sephardim in Italy.  

Doesn't this sound wonderful? And now let me tell you about the concert itself: 

 The program started with Part I -  O Jerusalem, which included Sephardic medieval traditional songs in Ladino. I’d heard of Ladino some years ago thanks to the popular Chanukah song 8 kandelikas (8 candles), but that was the extent of it. It wasn’t until this concert that I finally understood what the Ladino language really is. Ladino is a Spanish-derived language traditionally associated with the Sephardic Jewish community. It is an endangered Romance language developed by Sephardic Jews after their 1492 expulsion from Spain. It combines 15th-century Castilian Spanish with Hebrew, Turkish, Greek, and Arabic, and is primarily spoken today by older generations in Israel, Turkey, Greece, and the Balkans. When I heard the songs, I thought they were being sung in Spanish, that’s how similar Ladino is to Spanish. To make it more interesting, the paper program of the concert included the lyrics of the songs and their translations. For instance, the song titled Kuando el Rey Nimrod translated into beautiful poetry and spoke of the story of the birth of Abraham, the father of the Jewish people and of monotheism. The first section concluded with a moving poem titled Children of Adam by poet Sa’adi from 13th Century Persia. This poem calls humans limbs of one body, all created equal, and when one limb is hurt, the whole body shall be in unease. It therefore concludes that one not touched by the pain of others cannot be called a human. The poem, which was beautifully recited by a man, stirred many emotions in me.

The second part of the concert, called The Jewish Quarter, included more traditional Ladino folk songs, a ballad and a Medieval Hebrew prayer. One powerful song really stood out, it was called Eli Elijahu - a traditional Iraqi piyyut text attributed to Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra who lived in the years 1089-1167. Piyyut, which was a new word for me, is Hebrew liturgical poetry designed to be sung, chanted, or recited during Jewish religious services. Originating in 5th-6th century Palestine, these poems enrich standard prayers, often incorporating acrostics, rhyme, and complex biblical references. They function as soul music, merging history, theology, and emotion. I have to admit, these Sephardic and Middle Eastern tunes really moved me. I felt my soul alive, I wanted to move, to dance to these rhythms, I couldn’t get enough.

The third section was dedicated to the Christian and Armenian Quarters, and while they were beautiful songs and chants, I did not feel what I felt in the previous sections, this music just didn’t resonate with me. The fourth section was titled Mosque, Synagogue, and Cathedral and presented more chants mostly from medieval times.  The fifth section presented the Arab Quarter, and finally the sixth section brought all the diverse cultures and peoples together for a neighborhood celebration with a Ladino song called the Morning Meal. To say that this concert was breathtaking is to say nothing at all. I was immensely impressed, moved and inspired by this program and left wanting more. If you have the chance to see Apollo’s Fire live, please do. They are amazing and they do travel across the U.S. and internationally!

To conclude the evening, the director of the ensemble stepped forward to share her point of view on the recent Middle East crisis. She, herself, as the daughter of a Jewish refugee and Holocaust survivor, was honored to join with her Israeli, Palestinian, American, Jewish American and Armenian friends on stage. With the world in such distress, she explained, our personal friendships become more precious every day. For these performers, this concert became a candle in the dark and they are grateful to share this light of hope with the audience.

A friend of mine that was at the concert later expressed to me how incredible it was to see this performance that included Muslim themes in a synagogue! She was surprised that Jewish people would be so accepting and welcoming. I told her that it wasn’t surprising to me at all because we are not the ones that hate other nations. Jewish people, especially those who live by the Torah, do not hate anyone, it is simply not in our nature. We are never the ones who attack, we only defend ourselves. The other day I watched a video from Bill Maher’s Real Time show, and this particular clip happened to be on antisemitism, and he pointed out something very important: Jews very rarely, and I mean very rarely publicly speak badly about others - about other nations. While clueless pro-Palestininians and antizionists spread atrocious lies about Jews, publicly and openly wishing for another Holocaust, Jews do not do so in return. You will not see this in politics, on television, anywhere - it’s not something we practice. Jews are not an aggressive people, we don’t want to rule the material world, unlike the popular misconception. Our goal is to bring heaven down to earth by serving G-d, period. All we ask is to be left alone. Let us do our thing! Unfortunately, we have been chosen as scapegoats throughout much of human history due to envy and such, because Jews do tend to do better economically than other nations despite constant setbacks, but no matter what, the Jewish people will thrive. And we will lead by example what it means to be loving and accepting. There is a reason why we were chosen by G-d to be spiritual leaders.

Thank you for listening and please share this episode so we can keep that candle of hope lit!