Day 92 ~ Shalom, Y'all! Tales from Southern Israel!

 April 11, 2022

Low 70's with bright sun! Perfect!

“Jerusalem is a port city on the shore of eternity.” - Yehuda Amichai

Unfortunately, Jerusalem is not a port city on the Med. (It's not really southern either. That would be Elat down at the tip of the country in the Negev Desert next to Aqaba, Jordan. But our guide Mori ended our tour with "Shalom, y'all!" and it's stuck in my head!) Jerusalem is more in the middle of the country. We docked at Ashdod (pronounced "Ash-dohd") and took a two hour drive from sea level to an elevation of about 2500 feet. Not enough to debilitate me, but when we're walking, it's high enough that I'm aware it's not the 1000 feet I'm used to at home. 

Somebody pinch me! It's hard to believe we're actually in Jerusalem. Just off the DH's left shoulder, you'll see the golden Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque, previously the site of Solomon's Temple, and the ancient city walls that enclosed the Holy City. Our waiter Aswi and his assistant Dani were able to leave the ship long enough to pray in the mosque and their entire families back in Indonesia feel blessed by their experience. Jerusalem is holy to all three of the great monotheistic religions--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The DH in the Garden of Gethsemane

Our guide today was Mori, an affable man full of good humor. He came to Israel from Brooklyn in the 70's and lived on a kibbutz (a sort of Yiddish commune) for a while. To idealists, it seemed such a good idea--"from each according to their abilities, to each according to their need," sort of Soviet socialism lite. But most of those experiments in communism have folded in Israel because, as Mori said, given a choice, a person will choose to contribute less and take more. I know some people think socialism will work if the right people do it, but it has failed every time it's tried, including among the Christians in the early Jerusalem church. The problem is human nature. Without force, we tend to take the path of least resistance.

Gethsemane means "near the olive press," which mirrors the emotional crushing Jesus experienced as He waited to be betrayed and led off to His death.

Inside the church of Gethsemane

As we neared the grove of ancient olive trees, I experienced such a feeling of heaviness. I could almost hear Jesus' broken-hearted "Could you not watch with me one hour?" Even now as I type this days later, tears gather in the corners of my eyes. I have no idea if this was the actual site of Jesus' betrayal and arrest, but the quiet place affected me deeply. 

I could have sat down in the church near the garden Jesus and wept for days.

Church of Gethsemane

All the holy sites are marked with churches thanks to St. Helena, the mother of the Byzantine emperor Constantine. In the 300's she converted from Roman gods to Christianity and traveled to the Holy Land to find and show reverence for the places where significant things happened in the Bible by building churches, basilicas and monasteries. Are they the actual sites? Who can say? But Mori says at least you know it's in the general vicinity.  

We entered Jerusalem through the Dung Gate, which got its name in Bible times for obvious reasons and still deserves it today. Who'd have thought the stink of offal would linger for 2000 years? But no one seemed to mind. We passed several groups singing, dancing and celebrating bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs just outside the city gate and inside near the Western wall.

The man in the long striped robe in this procession is carrying a large ornate chamber that houses a Torah. Men and women must approach the Wailing Wall, which you can see behind all the people, from separate entry points and remain in gender separation. Because I'd have had to take Herkimer (my POC) from my DH and carry it on my back, this is as close as either of us got to the stones that go back to the time of Solomon. But there were prayers said anyway. Archaeologists have dug down and have determined there are another 17 rows of limestone blocks buried below the surface. 

We walked the Via Dolorosa, the Way of Suffering, that Jesus walked, carrying the cross beam on His shoulders. It was all uphill. Oh, God! After all He'd been through already, He had to climb up a narrow way, with people thronging Him from all sides because the city was full because of the Passover. Some of them weeping, some railing at Him. 

I always figured the road to the cross wouldn't be neatly paved. But it hadn't occurred to me that it would be a constant upward incline as well. With my lung condition, uphill is very hard for me. I'm sure it was hard for Jesus after having been beaten so severely. 

My epiphany reminded me of a story Corrie Ten Boom shares in The Hiding Place of something that happened to her and her sister Betsy. When they were stripped by their Nazi guards, Betsy whispered to Corrie, "They took His clothes, too." Cut to the heart, Corrie whispered back, "And I never thanked Him." 

Every time I huff and puff and struggle to get enough oxygen, Jesus knows exactly how I feel. And I never thanked Him before. But I have now.  

Mori in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He's convinced the second story of this church off to the right side of this photo, built over a natural hill is Golgotha, the place of the skull, where Jesus was crucified.  

 

The expressions on the faces of this early Byzantine mosaic reflect the grief of real people. When Mary lays her cheek next to Jesus, you can tell a sword has pierced her heart also.

  

The Bible says the tomb of Jesus actually belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, a new tomb where no one had been laid. The phrase "gathered to his people" was not just a euphemism in the first century. At that time, it was not unusual for many members of a family to be interred together in hewn-out cave-like mausoleums, their bodies laid out on shelves. Sometimes, a year later, mourners would come to collect the bones and place them in a small casket called an ossuary. There is a carved structure in the center of this rotunda of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which covers a shelf from Jesus' time. We did not have time to stand in line to enter it, but one of our group broke off and did. There is no body in this burial chamber.

First century tombs being excavated outside the city walls. This gives you an idea how simple the tomb might have been before the Byzantines got hold of it. They do love to embellish and decorate and show their reverence by ornamentation.

After this, Mori took us to lunch at the Olive Tree Hotel. It was a buffet style luncheon and very reviving. In the afternoon, we headed for Bethlehem, only 7 miles from the heart of Jerusalem, but it is a city under control of the Palestinian Authority.  Our trip there deserves its own post.

So I'll end with a very short video of a beautiful songbird who greeted us first thing this morning!