I fell in love with Jerusalem on a rooftop just inside Jaffa Gate.

I woke up at dawn to the call of the Muezzin, and watched the sun rise over the Mount of Olives, illuminating the mosaic of belief and people-hood spread out below.

So many different worlds converged in one tiny space in this place where frustration and faith flows down winding roads, but the stones stay (almost) the same. Jerusalem is a nexus point of politics, faith, and peoplehood.

It is a place holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims. People have fought and died over these very stones, and the Old City is still fraught with tension.

And yet, Jerusalem is also the seat of miracles – both small and mighty, for people of different faiths and walks of life. Jerusalem shimmers and writhes all in the same breath.

And I want to live in it – REALLY live in it – for a year: Three months in every quarter, with each stay timed to coincide with the special religious holidays and festivals of that quarter.

So, why am I doing this?

Because I want to get to know the people that live there, that share such crowded space, that share these stones, and that see things so very differently. (Or maybe they don’t see things that differently. But I won’t know for sure until I’m living there, on the ground, celebrating the good times, and mourning the difficult.)

I also want to help where I can – and while I’m there I’ll be volunteering my services as a former teacher by teaching English for free to the kids of each quarter.  I’ll help clean the public spaces, and be of service when I’m needed.

What’s the book about?

This book will chronicle that experience in the Old City – it’ll be about the things I discover, and it’ll also be about the people who live in the Old City and what they know and what they discover, too. It’ll be about the turmoil, the chaos. It’ll be about tension, and strife, and struggle and pain. It’ll also be about faith and hope and friendship.

Wait, what about my kids?

I have two incredible Jewish Israeli kids who speak and dream in Hebrew and sometimes curse in English. I’m divorced and share custody with their father, and on the days I’m with my kids, I’ll come back to where they live in the center of the country so they can stay in their school and keep their friends. But YES, I will take them for weekends and holidays to the Old City.

Because I want them to play and share snacks with other kids who speak a different language. I want them to learn more about their Judaism, and about the other religions that love this land as we do.

How am I doing this?

As an outsider who loves to write and talk to strangers, its natural for me to go in and out of these worlds, and I want you to be part of it, too. And thanks to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Youtube, I CAN take you with me every day I’m there.

The book will be divided into four sections, with one section for each quarter, timed to coincide with the most special times experienced by that quarter:

I will observe the High Holy Days in the Jewish Quarter. I’ll keep Kosher and keep Shabbat.

I will celebrate Christmas in the Christian Quarter, according to both the Western and Eastern calendars.

I will mourn with the Armenians over the Armenian Genocide in the Armenian Quarter

And I will fast during Ramadan in the Muslim Quarter, and study Arabic at Al Quds University.

The book will include stories from the Petra Hotel – the very place Mark Twain stayed, Shabbat with an ultra-orthodox family, getting tattooed in the world’s oldest tattoo parlour (seriously), getting to know the nun who makes the best apple strudel in the world at the Austrian Hospice, spending a night in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, visiting Al-Aqsa during Friday prayer, living with nuns, learning Arabic, studying with a Rabbi’s wife, and teaching English to anyone who wants to learn in any quarter.

How can you help?

I want you to come with me on this journey and be part of the story.  And you can help by donating what you can.  The incentives are geared to bring Jerusalem to you, and to also help the people living in the four quarters. Your generosity will help me do very real, meaningful experiential research on the ground, LIVING in the four quarters,  while I share the experiences in real time.

And you can even come and spend a day with me, and be part of the story!

The Old City of Jerusalem may be set in stone, but it’s always changing – and the book will capture that through these stories and experiences – some extraordinary and others mundane. So come be a part of it with me. It’s going to be a special year.