How would Jerusalem, already congested at the holiday season, cope with a massive influx of pilgrims were the Temple rebuilt? A think-tank using models of urban city planning and the Saudi Arabians’ arrangements for the Hajj is currently hard at work

In ancient times, the major challenge faced by the city administration was to provide water and accommodation, both at the roadside, for those approaching Jerusalem on foot, and within the city walls for those who had already arrived. When we translate this challenge into modern terms, inns and aqueducts give way to issues of congestion, crowd control and giant fluctuations in hotel occupancy. Questions of urban planning that would allow the city to function normally, both at over-capacity during the festivals and throughout the rest of the year, become unusually complex.

“Jerusalem has to be planned like an accordion, so that it can shrink and grow as needed,” says David Brukner, a member of a think-tank currently working on a planning scheme for the Jerusalem of the future – a city with the Temple at its center (see article: To the Mountain of the Lord). “It would be wrong to plan whole areas which would become virtual ghost towns as soon as the pilgrims left. Look at the desolation and decay affecting Olympic villages for which no suitable alternative use is found. But we have to be ready with solutions for congestion and increased demand for accommodation when the city’s population doubles or triples, or perhaps even more, during the festivals. The solution is one that combines taking up available space in local residential property by encouraging the resident population to offer rooms for hire in their homes, and the construction of enormous tent cities, with appropriate infrastructure, in areas that are somewhat further from the city, in which no permanent structures would be built. Possible examples would be in Emek HaArazim, to the west of Jerusalem, on the slopes of Issawiya in the east, on the ridge of Kibbutz Ramat Rachel in the south, and similar locations.”

The think-tank has been investigating the infrastructure developed by the Saudis for the Hajj in Mecca, when about three million people converge on the city, roughly half of them from abroad. The Saudi authorities set up a gigantic tent city in Mina, a location not far from Mecca, providing ideal accommodation for pilgrims: the tents are air-conditioned, centralized kitchens serving basic meals are located throughout the camps, and there are drinking fountains and washing areas as well as an internal transportation system, which also provides shuttle service to the major pilgrimage sites.

The Jewish pilgrimage, however, is somewhat different in its requirements, since the Torah requires that the pilgrims bring all manner of things with them to Jerusalem: the fruits of Maaser Sheni (the second tithe), the firstborn animals and other sacrifices. In fact, the pilgrims are supposed to behave during the festivals as householders, providing for the poor and the stranger, rather than being catered for by central kitchens. Nonetheless, we can learn a great deal from the Saudis’ logistics when it comes to providing accommodation, catering, and sanitary and transportation facilities for tens of thousands of people.

“The development plans call for giant parks in open areas on the outskirts of the city, ,” states an initial document by the Jerusalem think-tank. “During the three pilgrim festivals, these will be operated by the Temple Authority as camping areas for the pilgrims. The infrastructure for the pre-fabricated accommodation will be permanent, while the structures (or sukkot) themselves can be dismantled after the high season and kept in storage most of the year. Barbeque sites for roasting the Korban Pesach (Paschal lamb) are also included in the plans, with picnic areas where families can sit down together to eat it.”

Accommodation requirements will, according to Brukner, not only dictate many aspects of the design of the dedicated camping areas, but will also impact on the home-design of ordinary Jerusalemites: “We need to ensure that the superfluous space in the city’s permanent buildings can be utilized as fully as possible in the festival season, allowing families to share their homes with others. Most of the guests will be family members or friends, but there is nothing to stop other pilgrims from being warmly welcomed and accommodated. This is how Jerusalem coped with the influx of pilgrims in the Mishnaic period, and that is also what naturally happened in Gush Katif during the struggle against the expulsion. The population literally doubled, with visitors housed in residents’ homes. In the words of the Mishna, “No one ever told his friend he had found no place to stay.”(Avot de Rabbi Natan, 35)

Jerusalem today (2008 figures) boasts 9,283 hotel and guest-house rooms, and 2.5 million tourists visit the city each year. Adding hotel rooms to cater specifically to pilgrim holiday demand is not an option; the solution must be temporary. Examining the yearly pilgrimage to Meron for Lag BaOmer may offer a kind of solution: the crowds there approximate
350 ,000 men and women, most of whom do not sleep until they return home the following day. The testimony of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananiah (BT Sukka 53a) suggests that this was also the case at the water-libation celebrations on Sukkot. The commandment to stay overnight in Jerusalem only requires that the pilgrims remain within the city walls; they might just as easily discuss or dance the night away as sleep, until their departure the next day.”