The Olam Center for Contemplation, Meditation, and Affirmation

by Dietz Ziechmann
Fall, 2023 [5784]

The Olam Center for Contemplation, Meditation, and Affirmation -to be constructed in Old City, Jerusalem, Israel.
The people of Israel, and the world, deserve a new face of Jerusalem, one not dominated by the Al-Aqsa Mosque and scars of the past. A city is dominated by its images, by its Gestalt to use a psychological term employed by the experts. Jerusalem needs to build for the future in line with the majority of its people, to both break somewhat with its past and foreshadow its future. October 7, 2023 shows dramatically that we cannot rely upon the status quo.
Dietz Ziechmann, Project Founder
dietz.ziechmann@gmail.com
The present cityscape makes Jerusalem seem to be a Muslim city, with all that that implies for the observance of sharia law, and political dominance. Religious Jews are confined to the side of a wall of the old Temple structure, no place for shelter from the elements or a comfortable place to gather for spiritual events.
Destroying the mosques on the Temple Mount would not only infuriate people who call themselves Muslims but would create problems for Jews. How does one avoid trampling on the Holy of Holies? Would the Orthodox need to revive the practice of animal and grain sacrifices which the Prophets should be replaced by prayers? Who could authorize reconstruction of the Temple as such? Someone designated as the End-Time MESHIACH? The Olam Center would encounter none of those problems. OLAM in Hebrew means 'world, Cosmos, eternal', a fitting metaphysical designation for the new center. Its presence would be open to various appropriate spiritual interpretations. Treating ELOHIM [God] with proper non-idolatrous respect and reverence.

Now is the Time:

Creating an Architectural Counter-Symbol in Jerusalem
“In the last Days", {not the end of the Earth, but the beginning of a new, anointed era}, the mountain of the house of the LORD (YHWH, HASHEM) will be established, as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.’ Isaiah 2:2

Zechariah expanded a little upon Isaiah´s vision and further predicted that the name of the Hebrew God would be singularly recognized throughout the world, and worshipped throughout the world.

I have long thought about it. Israel yet suffers from an architectural symbolic inequality, a remedial inferiority, that can be solved with a minimal cost compared to many other things.

Approach Jerusalem from above, by plane, by foot, motor vehicle, or through photography. What do you first see? And what remains in your mind? The Temple Mount and the golden domes of those mosques upon it. That image continues to provide psychological sustenance to all Muslim opponents of the reality of the existence of the State of Israel. It bespeaks of an eventual, unconditional triumph of Muslim rule over all the land.

Caliph Omar (638 CE) conquered Jerusalem from the Byzantine Christians, who disparaging the site, had used the Temple Mount as a garbage site, an erected a temporary wood-construction mosque. Caliph Abdel Malik, with apparent thoughts of religious-political supersessionism in mind, and to counter his rival the Caliph of Mecca and Medina, had the golden spire of the Dome of the Rock erected (691 CE).

Right now, it conveys the image of Jerusalem as a “Muslim’ city, a kind of Muslim proto-capital.

If you are Jewish, you might not recognize this psychological state of affairs, because you have been conditioned to not rely upon images, idols, and to not have a fixation upon the concrete.

You have probably never contemplated becoming a suicide bomber, or to dominate the OTHER unconditionally. Judaism emphasizes the qualities of humility, reasonableness from Hillel on down, trying to find the good in, and commonalities with the OTHER. While such attitudes encourage peacefulness and harmony, they do so largely, only mostly them to the extent that the OTHER reciprocates.

The City of Jerusalem occupies 48.32 sq. miles (125.156 dunams, or 640 acres to the square miles,1, 562.5 acres), the Metropolitan area 252 square miles (652,000 dunams), the Temple Mount around 37 acres, or 2.368% of the City per se.

To establish something roughly equivalent in to the Old Temple Mount, something roughly equivalent would have in the words of Zecharia would have to be raised (unless skillful architects could create a trompe – l´oeil (“trick of the eye’ illusion). Gold leaf would not necessarily have to be used either, to reduce costs. But a shiny object would have to be created.

Foreseeable objections:
1) The New Temple Mount would be interpreted as purely tradition. Counter: neither was the Temple Mount. The Miskan (“Sanctuary’) had originally been mobile, in a tent, then established in places other than Jerusalem (Shiloh, Hebron).
When first established, there were thoughts that having a permanent, fixed sanctuary might be idolatrous).

2) The structure on the New Temple Mount should be eye-catching, modern: a place for meditations and affirmations, but not animal or grain sacrifices. We want people to look forward, not back.

3) Some “Ultra-Orthodox’ practitioners think for a Jew to pray anywhere on the Old Temple grounds might be sacrilegious, since the exact location of the Holy of Holies can´t be determined with precise certainty. This aspect would not be/will not be problem for the new site, though a few elements may have to be ascribed.

4) Some think only the End-Time Messiah can authorize the creation of a New – or recreation of an Old Time Temple. Such people and their forebears thought the Recreation of a State of Israel was a sin. (Have you forgotten?)

5) Creation of a New Temple Mount will involve small application of eminent domain and some resentments because of that use of the law. So did clearing a plaza in front of the Western Wall to enable people to prayer without undue hindrance. And praying at the Kotel was also an innovation.

6) Muslims will be enraged. (What are they not enraged by?)

7) It will be a facility just for the Modern Orthodox? (it doesn´t have to be.)

8) It will make some in the U.S. State Department, British Foreign Office, etc. nervous. (What doesn´t make them nervous? (Moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, etc. did.)

9) Architectural symbols have no value! (Ask anyone with any sophistication if public monuments have any value? YAD VA SHEM, the Washington Monument, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Hermitage, the Jewish Museum, etc., etc.)

10) Only non-Jewish monuments have cosmopolitan value. All others incite GOYIM. So, we should be timid? (Oy, there are some people who seem to accept this idea!)

11) Nothing is permanent. (Some things have lasted for at least centuries, even millennia. The pyramids, not just a pyramid scheme.)

12) Any objection I have failed to mention?

Strategic/tactical considerations:

We need to build public and private support for this project, yet shield it for as long as possible from extremists/terrorists who would take violent exception to its guiding premises. Think of the short-term successes of HAMAS recently because of their maintaining strict secrecy and thus the element of overall operational surprise.

dietz.ziechmann@gmail.com. Given Hebrew name: Meleck. (I think Shofet would be more accurate. No country recognizes me as a king. But some would acknowledge me as a community leader.) I have a deep sense of history and public affairs, having been brought up on it since grade school, having served under conditions of war and peace, being descended from a myriad of statesmen and stateswomen.

The Temple of Jerusalem by Joan Comay. NY: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1971.

For basic history of the city and area.
“Contested Heritage, Holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Modern Jerusalem has been shaped by 3,000 years of worship, conquest, devastation, and rebuilding’, by Alberto Lucas L?pez and Matthew W. Chwastyk. National Geographic. Dec. 29, 2017.
“Under Jerusalem’ by Andrew Lauder. National Geographic. Dec.27, 2017
Sacred Mosaic: Jerusalem Eras of Building (detailed 3-dimension graphic map) National Geographic. Dec. 27, 2017.
“Temple Mount’ Wikipedia, accessed 10/10/23. 7:24 PM. 73 pages,
“Land of Israel’ Wikipedia, accessed 10/1023. 7:45 PM. 17 pages.
“Jerusalem’ Wikipedia, accessed 10/8/1023, 7:53 PM, 65 pages.
Visions of a Compassionate World: Guided Imagery for Spiritual Growth and Social Transformation by Menachem Ekstein. (1921). New York and Jerusalem: Urim Publications, 2001. Translated and annotated by Yehoshua Starrett. Forward by Rabbi David Zeller.
The Oxford Companion to the Mind. Edited by Richard L. Gregory. (OUP, 1998) Especially articles on Gestalt Theory and Gestalt Therapy.
Understanding War: History and Theory of Combat by (Col.) T.M. Dupuy. NY; Paragon House, 1987.
A History of Military Thought: From the Enlightenment to the Cold War by Azar Gat (Tel Aviv University) (OUP, 2001)
Organizational Theory and Design by Richard L. Daft. St, Paul: West Publishing, 1983.
The Evolution of Operational Art by Brigade Commander Georgii Samoilovich Isserson 1936 Frunze Academy, USSR. Translated & published by Combat Studies Institute, Ft. Leavenworth, KS, U.S. Army General Staff, 2013.
Sun Tzu´s ancient Chinese classic The Art of War. How to win wars without fighting big battles.

Case study in strategy:
Nomonhan, Mongolia, 1939. Near the Khalkin River. Extraordinary Soviet victory
“What the Japanese apparently had no knowledge of were the works of Sun Tze
And six other Chinese military authors. Their books were regarded as so dangerous by the Chinese emperors that their mere possession by unauthorized individuals was an automatic death sentence.
It should be remembered that Mao Tse-tung [Pinyin: Mao Zhedong] was originally a librarian, and Mao´s book is pure Sun Tze. Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap have also been exposed to that knowledge and it is now [1998] taught at [the U.S. Military Academy at] West Point.’ Ralph Zumbro, The Iron Cavalry. (NY, Pocket Books, 1998, Chapter 20, p.275

Principle: “Don´t go into another´s territory at an unfavorable time.’ Wang Xi, quoting Fan Li.
“When strong, appear weak. Brave, appear fearful.… Many, appear few.’
The essence of classical Chinese strategy is to employ paradox. Exercise disciplined patience.
If construction starts on the New Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Hamas will be disconcerted and find hard to intervene, having to leave its tunnels and bunkers, and other prepared sites, travel a great distance, exposing itself, and looking weak rather than strong. Hamas is strongest in its prepared defensive positions. Weak on the move, and weak in attacking prepared Israeli defensive positions. Weak in the air.
Remind the media that David Harris points out that Qatar has provided Hamas and Gaza with $ millions of dollars that could have built Gaza into a Singapore of the region, instead focused on their jealousy and hate of Israel poured that money into weaponry, not seeking a peace with Israel.
Du You
“It is best if an enemy nation comes and surrenders on its own accord. To attack and defeat it is inferior to this.’
Zhung Yu
“Zhung Yu quoted a statement by Wei Liaozi: ‘Practicing martial arts, assess your opponents: cause them to lose spirit and direction so that even if the opposing army is intact, it is useless –this is winning by the Tao [the metaphor to Cosmic unity]. If you destroy the opposing army and kill the generals, mount the ramparts shooting, gather a mob and usurp the land, this is winning by force.
Zhung Yu then explained, ‘So winning by the Tao and winning by force mean the same as keeping a nation intact and destroying a nation. Treating the people mercifully while punishing criminals, gaining complete victory with the country intact, is best’
….. use unusual tactics and secret calculatons to seize victory with battling.’ Etc. etc. Translations by Thomas Clary.
Incidentally, The Art of War was written around 500 BCE and the name of its author is pronounced Soon Dzuh [in Mandarin] (DuPuy)

Additional References
A Kabbala for the Modern World. 3rd edition. By Migene Gonzales-Whippler. Llewyellyn Publications -descendent who worked on scientific explorations at UNESCO and learned Kabbalah. A coverso-descendent who learned Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition, atypically at a Hasidic storefront schul with mimeographed sheets. Imperfect, the author did not know Hebrew. Author understands the connection between the metaphysics of Kabbalah, biochemistry, quantum physics and astrophysics. The metaphysical glyph of the Tree of Life emphasizes the need for balancing ineffable values.
The Big Bang by Daniel Matt, Ph.D.
The Gates of Perfection. Translated from the German, traces the ideological roots of Jerusalem from pre-Jewish times onward.
Miraculous Living: A Guided Journey in Kabbalah Through the Ten Gates of the Tree of Life. By Shoni Labowitz. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.
“Long Strange Trip: A Journey Through Two Thousand Years of Unitarian Universalist History. Part I: In the Beginning.’ DVD. Boston UU Films, 2911-12. Identifies the struggle to reestablish authentic monotheistic “Christianity’ by Michael Servetus, etc.
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths. By (Rev.) Matthew Fox. Endeavor to harmonize world religions, philosophies, etc. Title alludes to quotation from Meister Eckhardt, Chrisitain “mystic’ metaphysician. NY: Tan Francisco: Harper Collins.
Constantine´s Sword: The Church and the Jews: A History. By James Carroll. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. A history of Church-based antisemitism.
The Jew Is Not My Enemy: Unveiling the Myths That Fuel Muslim Anti-Semitism. By Tarek Fatah,
Identifies point where Muhammed (Mohammed) turned against the Jewish community in Arabia and elsewhere because one the Jews in one Arabian oasis community defected from his coalition as political, not religious.
Mohammed. By John Glubb (alias Glubb Pasha). Identifies the point where Mohammed alienated Meccans by declaring their non-Muslim ancestors were burning in Hell, an unforced error. Contradicts Muslim myth of Muhammad as being perfect in his judgment and perceptions.
Works of Joseph Campbell on the psychological dimensions and consequences of myths, archetypes, and social emotions.
How to Read the Bible: History, Prophesy, Literature – Why Modern Readers Need to Know the Difference and What it Means for Faith Today. By Steven L. McKenzie, OUP, 2005. Deconstructs Biblical myths to get at actual meanings as understood by its authors within the context of the times in which they were created.