Wednesday: The Wailing Wall

Early morning, we drove to the Wailing Wall and the Temple Mount. The Wailing Wall was such a powerful experience. Dozens of Christians and Jews were praying and crying by the temple. Because the Jews are not allowed onto the Temple Mount, this is the closest they are able to get to the wall. I also said a prayer by the wall, and was completely blown away by how powerful the Spirit was there.

 We then headed to the Temple Mount. Ezra, our tour guide was very bitter about the state of the Temple Mount (He is a non-religious Zionist Jew, whatever that means) and so I’m sure the information he shared with us was more biased that most. Still, it is very tragic that the Muslims built their Temple right over where Solomon’s Temple was buried, and will not let the Jews excavate, even though it may be very likely that the Ark of the Covenant is buried underneath. The Dome of the Rock was beautiful, nonetheless.

Then we walked along the Via Dolorosa, stopping at all of the stations. Most of the road is now overridden with shops, but you can still see the stations marked along the way with little churches and altars marking the significance of the site. We ended at the Holy Sepulchre, where both the cross was raised, and where the tomb of Jesus was believed to be (there is so much debate on that topic, and now people are saying it is unlikely that is the tomb of Jesus).

 Ezra also showed us a little chamber where Queen Helena discovered what she claims to be the cross on which Jesus was hung. That cross is now cut into tiny pieces and transported to different churches across the world.

We walked over the ruins of Cardo, the main street in Jerusalem during Jesus’ time, and went to the Dormition Abbey, where Mary’s tomb is.

We then visited the site of the Last Supper, which coincidentally is right over King David’s tomb. This site is the only site that is important to all three major religions: Christians, Jews, and Muslims, and they actually agree to share.

We then walked over the Mount of Olives (where Jesus ascended) and through the Garden of Gethsemane. There was a church next to the garden and we sat in on some of the most beautiful singing I’ve heard.

Finally, we hopped back on the bus to En Karam, where Elizabeth and Mary met while they were pregnant with John the Baptist and Jesus. Here, my camera ran out of batteries, but I did capture of a wall of prayers written in different languages.

E, A, and I asked to be dropped off at the Old City where we grabbed dinner (hummus and falafel, of course!) We then sat at the Wailing Wall, praying and reading scripture (reading Solomon's dedication for the temple in 1 Kings while sitting in front of the wall was an amazing experience!) until after the sun set. It was an amazing last evening in Jerusalem!

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Tuesday: Early in the morning, we got on the bus with 34 other people (huge group this time) and visited the museum that held the Dead Sea Scrolls. Apparently, the actual scrolls were not on display (surprise, surprise), but the replicas could have fooled me! The museum was beautiful – it was underground, but t was shaped like one of the jars in which the scrolls were found. No pictures were allowed, but I took a picture of the dome covered the museum (a dome that is built to be like the top of the jar).

Afterward, we headed to the Holocaust Museum. It was a really powerful experience, walking through the experiences of the Jews. I’m still trying to process it all. One thing I did notice that really surprised me was how there was still a lot of bitterness towards America’s late involvement in the war, and that bitterness came out very strongly in the museum displays. There was a lot of bitterness against Christianity as well. In some ways, I think these world affairs are a Catch-22 for America. Countries get angry when the US get involved, but then they also get angry when the US doesn’t. There were a few people from Uganda on the trip and we heard them commiserating with our tour guide about how the US didn’t seem to care about their prospective plights. It made me a little bit angry, but at the same time it made me very aware of how sheltered I am in the states.

I mean, I can’t really imagine being an Israeli Jew. You get kicked out of your own land centuries ago and are forced to assimilate into other cultures. Then during World War II, those countries that you’ve assimilated with turn on you and treat you inhumanely and then murder those of your race. When you are finally liberated (albeit orphaned and humiliated), you have to fight tooth and nail to stay on your own land. Most of the world does not recognize you as a nation, and another people group has forbidden you to enter the most sacred place for your people – the only place you believe that God resides in.

I can’t even imagine.

On that sobering note, we drive to Bethlehem, which is actually Palestinean land. We pass through a heavily guarded security checkpoint and enter into the city in which Jesus was born. A church is built over the location, and the church is a source of great conflict between the Greek Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Armenian Church. The Greek Orthodox Church and the Armenian Church share an entrance to the church (a famous entrance, apparently), and the Roman Catholic Church has a separate entrance off to the side. The church was beautiful.

Tunnel leading to the Manger Cave:

The spot where Jesus was born:

Where the manger was located

This is also the church from which the Roman Catholic Church broadcasts their Mass every Christmas.

Old Bethlehem:

This used to be the shepherd's fields - likely where the host of angels appeared to the shepherds:

Interesting People I met in Jerusalem

Upon arriving in Jerusalem, I was still pissed off from customs. That, added to the frustrating process of renting a car and having shared a hotel room with two other people all week (note: Tracy loves privacy and alone time), I recognized that my Pitta dosha (for those of you familiar with Ayurvedic medicine) was EXTREMELY out of whack, and I needed to cool down before I started taking out my irritation on my travel-mates.

So, I took only a few dollars with me as well as some pleasure reading (Elizabeth Gilbert's newest book Committed if you must know), and made my way down the street of the hotel. I quickly learned that walking around Jerusalem by myself as a woman is not a smart thing to do, so I turned around, bought a Coke Zero and a strawberry popsicle (or as the storeowner calls it, "strawberry ice") and walked to a small park next to the hotel to read.

The sun was just setting when a kind-looking man sitting in the park bench across from me called out to me and told me I needed to go see the sunset. "There is a beautiful view just down the street. You must go watch it from there," he said. "I don't know where there is," I replied. "Okay, I walk you down there. My cousins work at the hotel you are staying in. I know where to go."

Ibrahim is a Muslim who is a direct descendant of Lazarus (as in the one Jesus raised from the dead). He has worked as a tour guide for the past 40 years and actually lived in both North Carolina and Florida to learn English before coming back to Jerusalem in 1990. Because he is Muslim, he is not allowed to have physical contact with women after a certain time of day (or is it at all? I don't remember...either way he explained this to me when he refused to shake my hand). Still, he was gracious enough to carry my book and soda as he walked me down Palm Sunday Road (yes, the significance of the road is what it sounds like) while smoking a cigarette with his free hand. We walked past the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, and he gave me a brief history of post-Christ Jerusalem until we reached a gorgeous view of the sunset overlooking the Holy Lands.

As the view really does overlook Jerusalem, he then gave me a quick rundown on all the famous Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sites. You can see Bethlehem in the picture below:

I started to explain to him that I will be going on an 8 day tour of the Holy Lands soon, but that led him into a long rant about how he doesn't bring politics into his tours, but he refuses to call David and Solomon and Jesus "king" because they were not kings, merely prophets. I couldn't get a word in edgewise, and even if I could I was starting to get a little concerned about getting back to the hotel before dark. Luckily, he finally noticed my agitation and walked me back to my hotel. Before dropping me off, Ibrahim took it upon himself to give me a lecture about interacting with people in Jerusalem.

"Do not talk to anyone or look at the boys. You seem to be a nice girl, and you are here to find God, not to play with the boys. Do not smile or look at the boys and make sure that you use the word "no" instead of "yes." If you even look at the boys, they will come and bother you. Understand?"

I found it to be a little ironic since I was having this conversation with him because I responded to his greeting in the first place, but I nodded my assent. He was right, after all. That's when the front desk man at my hotel, Loay, looked over at me and said "I'd be wary of him." But Loay is another story, one that I will leave for tomorrow...