The New Jerusalem/El-HEJERA Project .
Appendix
I:
Using Academy of Jerusalem Chambers as prototype Temple cells.
The Academy of Jerusalem is fortunate
in being situated in a very special and evocative place at the very heart of
the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a building of the Mameluk period (13-16th
century) so situated as to bridge the Jewish and Moslem Quarters of the Old
City over the Chain Street that leads from the main gate of the Old City (the
Jaffa Gate) to the Temple Mount and to the Western Wall.
All its rooms have domed ceilings. In the main hall,
directly above the Chain Street and directly overlooking the Dome of the Rock,
is situated a round table that has served many ceremonial and/or intimate
discussions and group processes. A smaller, perfectly proportioned room is
aligned with the most likely place of the Holy of Holies of Solomon's Temple
(as claimed independently by the Habad school of Hassidic Jews
and by architect Tuvia Sagiv's investigations).
Within the present proposal for the New/Heavenly
Jerusalem, these chambers will serve the burgeoning New Jerusalem community
both actually and virtually. The virtual version will give a prime example of
how residential and other facilities of the Old City might be converted into
"Temple Cells" for individual transformation work and into
"Temple Chambers" for group work. The actual space would serve as a
real prototype, perhaps an "embassy", for the future Temple of
Jerusalem.