The Holy Land: Jerusalem

Lush farmland on the drive to Jerusalem

Modern cities

The Ashdod port on the coast allowed us to head inland to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Israel is about the size of New Jersey, with a population of about 6.5 million. The history of this area is so long and troubled, I can't do it justice in these few paragraphs. But they persevere.

Jerusalem is a sacred city to three major religions: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim, which creates a lot of conflicts, and a lot of pilgrims. I was thrilled to be seeing in person the places that I had long heard about and studied in school. It was difficult to reconcile the Jerusalem and Bethlehem I had envisioned with the towns I was driving through. Both cities are modern cities with modern problems of construction, traffic, dirtiness, and crowds. And yet, right in the middle of all the action, was suddenly something holy, something meaningful and spiritual. 

The Wall of the Old City

Our guide for the day was Murray from Borough Park, Brooklyn, New York, who has lived in Israel for 50 years. I was on the Christian tour, so we focused on locations meaningful to Christian religions. Our first stop was at the Mount of Olives. We were able to see the Harmon Ha Natziv, a Jewish cemetery going back to the days of the biblical kings. We could also see the Old City Wall and the Dome of the Rock. 

The Church of All Nations

Beside The Church of All Nations is the Garden of Gethsemane, a peaceful garden with ancient olive trees where Judas betrayed Christ. The church was built in 1924 with funds from many different countries and is said to enshrine the Rock of Agony, where Jesus prayed prior to his arrest.

The Garden at Gethsemane

Inside the church

Another view of the garden and the ancient olive trees

We then went to the Jewish Quarter to see the Western Wall. 

The Western Wall is a portion of the Temple Mount retaining wall built during the time of Herod the Great. During Christian Roman rule, Jews were barred from entering Temple Mount (except once a year), so they began to pray at the Western Wall as it is the closest place to Temple Mount they were allowed to pray. It now stands as a prayerful place for Jews, Christians and Muslims, as the site holds religious meaning for all three religions. 

Entering the plaza, I passed a guard

The square was teeming with people. Mondays and Thursdays are busy at the Western Wall, as those are the days the Torah is brought out and many families host bar mitzvahs. Happy celebrations were everywhere, music and dancing, while tourists watched on (and sometimes joined in). 

Celebrations and music abounded

The area at the actual Wall was dedicated to prayer and very respectful. You could feel the change in the air as you walked closer through the people in quiet prayer and reflection to find a spot on the wall to place your hand and offer up your private thoughts. As is tradition, people write down their prayerful intentions and stuff them into the cracks of the wall.

Praying at the women's section of the wall

Prayers left in the cracks of the wall

I can think of only two other times in my life when I was completely overcome by emotion that seemingly came from outside and inside me at the same time and welled up into tears. The first time was when I touched the hand of Mother Teresa, the second was when I saw the coast of Ireland for the first time, and when I placed my hand on the Wall was the third time.

Walking by the shops on the Via Dolorosa

We walked the Via Dolorosa – the Way of Suffering, which is the narrow, cobbled streets that Jesus walked during the crucifixion. Periodically, stations of the cross are hung for the faithful to follow. We started at the 5th station and made our way to Calvary and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where they had the final stations. 

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the church which was built (and destroyed and rebuilt a few times) around the actual tomb of Jesus Christ. It is also said to be the spot of his crucifixion at Calgary. The Faithful stand in line for hours to see the tomb, which a shrine has been built around. They also wait to reach under the altar in the second story of the church to touch the rock of Calgary is enshrined. The church is decorated in the Greek Orthodox style – control of the church has passed between the Orthodox and the Franciscans and is currently run by the Orthodox. It was a beautiful experience, but I couldn’t help but feel pulled away from the spiritual experience because of the immense crowds of people crushing in to see everything at the same time as they were doing construction and driving forklifts into the church.

The Rock of Calgary is under this altar

The shrine built around Christ's Tomb

After we made our way outside the walls to find our bus, we headed to Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity, the site where Jesus was born. Because Bethlehem is in the West Bank and under the control of the Palestinian Authority, we needed a local guide to take us around the city. 

Graffiti in Bethlehem - some was done by Banksie, but I don't know if this is one of them

Palestinian regulations also require that all passengers are provided with an opportunity to shop at a location within Bethlehem. We stopped at the designated store to shop and pick up our guide. I bought a few things. Our guide Murray hooked me up with a good discount because I was helpful to the group (I know, I got involved. But someone needed to herd these cats if we were ever going to make it back to the ship!).

The Church of the Nativity

You have to bend down to enter

The grotto inside the Basilica is traditionally where Jesus is believed to have been born, and is the oldest Christian site continuously used as a place of worship. Constantine the Great ordered a church built on the site. It was later destroyed, and rebuilt by Emperor Justinian. 

This was the line to get in to see the grotto under the church marking the spot where Jesus was born.

The Church of Saint Catherine is adjacent to the Basilica and is where most of the caves below the basilica can be accessed. 

 

Our local guide lives in a neighborhood of Bethlehem called Shepherd’s Field. It has rock walls, stony green fields, and modest homes in a valley. It was easy to imagine shepherds gathered there on a starry night. 

It took us twice the amount of time it should have to get around Jerusalem that day due to unbelievable traffic. Our bus driver did an amazing job weaving that behemoth through narrow streets and back ways to get us where we needed to be. All the traffic was due to the protests against the government’s  attempt to change the judiciary. So shops started closing early, major roadways were blocked, and there was a call for a general strike. The airport was going to be closed, and they closed the port to inbound ships. We got back a bit later than all-aboard, but everyone was on the ship by 8:30 pm. But we couldn’t find anyone from the port to cast off our lines and get permission to leave. There was a bit of a scare that we may get stuck in the port, but by 10:00 we were underway.

Emergency pitstop at the Elvis gas-and-go

I made no new friends in Bethlehem; the only dog I saw was taking a poop on the side of the road, and the only cat I saw was rifling through a trash can. I’m so very glad I got to experience these places, but I was disappointed by some of the realities of the modern world.