By Ahron Horovitz
Reviewed by Fern Sidman

For those who will be traveling to Israel for the first time, and even for veteran tourists, there is no doubt that the holy city of Jerusalem, in all its resplendent majesty, continues to be a focal point of any journey. Jerusalem is known as “the center of the world” and as such is steeped in thousands of years of rich and vibrant religious history. Because each tourist desires a visit that is rife with powerful personal meaning along with a lifetime of vivid memories, then Ahron Horowitz’s new book entitled, “Jerusalem: Footsteps Through Time: Ten Torah Study Tours of the Old City” (Feldheim Publishers) is simply indispensable.

It is safe to say that after reading this stellar travel guide that one can leave the well meaning but feckless tour guide behind because this book provides a trenchant ride through the annals of Jewish history. And for the visitor who possesses the predilection for meticulously researched Torah tours of the Old City of Jerusalem, then this book delivers a veritable wealth of invaluable information on the heart and soul of the city of gold.

Mr. Horovitz serves as our personal tour guide to the Old City of Jerusalem by highlighting each sight with direct quotes from the entire Tanach, the meforshim (commentaries), the Mishnah, Talmud and other scholarly seforim. Our sojourn is brilliantly enhanced by the impressive array of exceptionally beautiful color photos that will satisfy even the couch potato tourist. The highly informative narrative also includes the seminal discoveries of such renowned British archeologists as Stuart MacAlister, G. Duncan, Kathleen Kenyon as well as Raymond Weill, Yigal Shilo, Ronni Reich and Eli Shukron; who had all conducted extensive digs in and around the Old City; uncovering a plethora of artifacts dating back to the era of the patriarchs.

One cannot help but feel as if we are personally experiencing the awesome holiness of Jerusalem alongside our ancestors as they traverse the magnificent landscape. We begin in the “Footsteps of Abraham” as we learn about the first time that Avraham Avinu saw the city when commanded by Hashem to bring his son Yitzchak as a sacrifice. Avraham sensed the holiness of this place that we know today as Har Habayit (the Temple Mount) and we are told that “through his devotion, Abraham discovered the mountain’s spirituality. He named it ‘Hashem Yireh’ - G-d will see - hoping G-d would one day observe His people serving Him in a house of worship on this site.”

Other tours include “David and His City: The Rise and Fall of Biblical Jerusalem” in which we follow in the footsteps of King David’s conquest of Jerusalem. Stepping back in time, we learn of the growth and expansion of Jerusalem during the reign of King Solomon and how the first Beis HaMikdash was built until the destruction of the city by the Babylonians. What is most amazing is that this tour includes extensive research on the provincial water systems and how they parted a significant role in the city’s capture and vitality.

Analyzing the life and character of King Herod who built the second Beis HaMikdash, we explore the remnants of the walls of the Temple Mount as well as getting a insider’s look into the cutting edge modalities of construction in a tour called, “Secrets of the Temple Mount”. If you’ve ever wondered what everyday life was really like during the second temple period, this tour introduces us to the “Main Street” of Jerusalem as we absorb the sights and sounds of the stores, the sidewalks, secret tunnels, the mikvaos, the grand concourse, the hotels, the shopkeepers and the patrons of 2000 years ago.

The reader will surely be moved by the author’s description of the Kotel (Western Wall) and its environs on Tisha B’Av in the year 70 CE. “Titus and his armies burned down the Temple, after which they razed the walls of the city and the Temple Mount. Had we had been there, looking up from the deep Tryopean Valley at the huge, western wall, we would have seen Roman soldiers toppling stones down into the valley against a background of smoke billowing up from the burning Temple, amid the din of cries of the wounded and dying”, says the author.

We move underground for tours of the labyrinth of tunnels built under the Old City and then to the upper city of the second temple period for a detailed sketch of the last 100 years of that era. Lamentably, one the bleakest periods of the Old City came subsequent to the Bar Kochba revolt and this tour, “and Zion Will Be Plowed Like A Field” takes us through until the Middle Ages. Our spirits brighten in the next several tours which document the re-building of the Old City as we read of the religious fervor and mesiras nefesh of our great Torah luminaries. The promise of the sublime eternal character of the Jewish people and the city that is the center of their lives will resonate with the reader as Jerusalem of yesteryear leaps forth from these pages and in to souls of its readers.