The Jerusalem Syndrome

A street documentary. On a chilly March morning in 2021, I returned to the old city of Jerusalem to refresh memories of high school days, some 50 years ago. The moment I stepped through the Jaffa Gate, the old magic took hold. The wonderful mix of ancient and contemporary, holy and mundane, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the iconic religious structures, and the dark alleys. All this is further complicated by security issues and constant ethnic and religious friction and yet, everyday life is bubbling and finding its way in the bursting marketplace, in the small shops and businesses and residential areas deep within the city's narrow, mysterious and dark alleys. People. Places. Sounds. Smells. Intoxication and elation bordering on vertigo. Just like when I was young, I felt bewitched and enthralled by the unique atmosphere, nothing has changed. Only this time I had a camera and a mature eye, and I tried to encapsulate the feeling in the images I made along the way.