Update #3

Friday and Saturday, January 29 and 30

WOW! You can pack a lot into two days here! Yesterday, we spent the morning at a museum area. They have this unbelievable model of Jerusalem that they have built. It is probably roughly the size of a basketball court. It seems huge! Anyway, it is Jerusalem in 66 AD, right before the total destruction of the city in 67 AD by the Roman legion. It is fascinating to see how the palace would have looked and the towers that were used to protect them and the walls – walls around the entire city.

Then, in the late afternoon, we walked down to the Eastern Wall – the Wailing Wall. I already told you about the Bar Mitzvahs and women hanging over the partition but this was totally different. It was just as the Jewish Sabbath was beginning. We watched as the Jewish men flooded into the area in front of the wall. There were various services going on. The Sephardic Jews stood right up at the wall and repeatedly bowed toward the wall. Another sect wore round, fur hats. While this was going on, back behind us in the courtyard were about 50 Israeli soldiers – probably anywhere from 18 to about 25 maybe. They stood in a circle, arms around shoulders and sang and danced. It looked kind of like camp to me – I think they were definitely camp songs with the National Anthem thrown in for good measure. There was such a contrast to the holy, dour, praying men and these young men (we’ve seen girls in uniform too but the men and women are usually separate), some with yarmulkes, with rifles slung around their chests, singing and dancing. You kind of scratch your head.

And today…..we headed out of Jerusalem, only about 4 miles from the city, we first stopped at Mary’s well where she and her family would have gotten water when she visited Elizabeth. Then we walked up the hill to a church commemorating where John the Baptist was born. They say he was born in a cave but there is this beautiful church with blue and white tile covering the floor and walls over the site.

Next stop, the Church of the Visitation where Mary was to have visited Elizabeth with Jesus in her womb. My favorite part of this church was they had the Magnificat written out and printed in about 40 different languages on beautiful tiles set into this long wall. Another favorite sight was a sculpture of two pregnant women – Mary and Elizabeth – sort of showing off their round bellies. It was just so natural and like any two women in the world would do. I will try to upload some pictures.

As we were heading into Bethlehem, we had to stop at the checkpoint because Bethlehem is in the Palestinian part of Israel. There is a huge wall and gate and strict enforcement of who comes and goes. It is similar to getting into the US from Mexico. Apparently, for people living in Bethlehem to go into Jerusalem to work is not only very expensive but one had to reapply every month and then they have to be back by 7:30 that evening. It is mostly Christians and Armenians living in Bethlehem.

Then we went to a place called Shepherd’s Field where it is thought the shepherds saw the star to guide them to Bethlehem. There was a cave there showing what it was like for the people back then – as many lived in caves. In fact, it is thought Jesus was born in a cave, not a wooden stable. They have built yet another church on this site and we sat inside and sang – mostly Christmas Carols – it was pretty moving to think about what had happened there.

On to lunch in a place meant to look like a tent – the Shepherd’s Tent Restaurant. Guess what we had? Hummus and pita, of course. They bring you those two items and then plates and plates of various things to go along with it – like spicy red sauce, corn salad, green salad with feta and olives, eggplant, mushrooms (not delicious fancy ones, Edward – more like from a jar), etc. Then they plopped a couple of Falafel on our plates followed by delicious little squares of baklava.

On to the Church of the Nativity, the very site where Jesus was to have been born. That is hard to grapple with even when you are here seeing it for your self. You go in this big stone structure that was built by Constantine and his mother in 320 AD, with stone quarried locally. Nothing fancy at first, then you see up ahead the Greek Orthodox church and more silver, gold and incredibly ornate chandeliers you ever saw while priests are chanting in Greek. Then everyone lines up, off to the side, to wait their turn to go downstairs to the Grotto and get down on their knees to feel the stone ground where it is supposed Jesus was actually born. Then your group is shuttled around to see various other points of interest. The Armenians have an area for “their” church, then you walk through an archway to the Roman Catholic church – an absolutely gorgeous place with its own grotto. It is a little bit strange but pretty awesome at the same time.

Getting out of Bethlehem, back to Jerusalem, took patience as we waited for them to check everyone’s papers. The funny incident of the day was about our coffee break. There is much complaining about coffee here. It is mostly Turkish coffee which is so thick and strong we can’t drink it. Many long for a Starbucks. Apparently there was a Starbucks in Jerusalem but it didn’t make it. Anyway, we were walking up the hill to the Church of the Nativity and spotted a shop called Star and Bucks! Green and white, very similar logo – we all got a kick out of it. On our way back, we made the owners day by stopping in and everyone got something. Everything cost the same for us – 10 shekels which is about $3. Some of us got juice that he squeezed right there – I got OJ (deelish!) but most got pomegranate juice.