Israel update #7

9.9.08
Breakfast: eggs, 2 french toast, chocolate croissant. good but not good for me :)
We go into the Old City again today, this time starting with a tour of the Western Wall tunnel.
. The City is divided into four non-equal corners, largest is Muslim, then Arab Christian, then Jewish, then Arminian Christian. We end at through a gate in the newer wall, built by the Turkish in the 16th century. We walk past the Western Wall (called the wailing way by the Romans as a way to ridicule the Jews who were wailing for their destiny and wailing for the temple) (the gray mosque - Elaxa mosque- and the gold dome can be seen too) into the entrance of the tunnels, which have been dug to do excavations on the land belonging to the Jews. No excavations can be done under the temple mount or on any Muslim property, but there have been tunnels dug near the Western Wall. We come to a gathering room with a cool display, which first shows the topography of the land of Jerusalem with no buildings. The first temple was built by King Solomon but it was destroyed in 586 BC. When the temple was rebuilt, it was small and humble. When King Herod came on the scene, he thought the temple was too small and sought to prove himself as a good Jew, so he made a huge temple. The topography of the land was not good for such an endeavor, but oh well, he just cut off a part of the mountain (our guide removed a part of the mountain on the display.. very educational). Most of the extra dirt went into the Kidron Valley. He leveled the mountain to build a huge platform for the temple. The current Western Wall is actually the Western Wall of the Platform. A huge sanctuary was built on top of the platform built in 25 BC, but was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The platform was too massive to destroy. In the 7th century AS, the Muslim Moqsue was built and the dome was made gold later. We walk further into the tunnels. There have been several stone arches built to support the ground above us which have Muslims houses on it. We walk along the Western Wall which has basically been mostly buried, but used to be at ground level. It is 80 feet tall... under ground now we are at about halfway, which means only 25-30 feet actually show above ground. At one point, we see a 5000 ton stone made of petrified plaster in front of the Western Wall, which is higher than street level, which shows the level of destruction done by the Romans. Herod had ordered everything to be plastered, but the plastered slid down the walls, so stone pads were built on the walls to keep it up. We see an old gate and ruins of steps that would lead to the temple, the gate was blocked by the Muslims in the 1960's after the digging began. At the Northern end of the Western wall, we are able to come to the street level in those days to where the fortress was built to prevent possible attack. The street is the very street Jesus would have walked. The Roman Garizon was probably located at the fortress. Once Herod died, the Romans did not think his sons capable of ruling the land, so the Romans got more involved and moved Pontius Pilate, a Roman governor, there, and he would stay in the governor's quarters from time to time. So Jesus probably came to the fortress during his trials. The fortress and temple were completely leveled, only thing left is the basement of the fortress and the water resevoir, which we see. By the resevoir, we see carvings in the floor by the Roman Garizon of some of the games they used to play. A Muslim school is now built where the fortress was so no escavations can be done. We also see an aquaduct which predates Herod 150 years. We read John 18:28, the Jews accused Jesus of blasphemy, but the Romans accused Jesus of Treason, which is why Jesus would have visited Jerusalem and the fortress, etc. The tunnels were very impressive, being able to be that close to the walls and the street and everything from Jesus' days. Along the way, groups of women were praying, just like outside. It was very moving. The Jews really believe in the power of the wall and the temple, that that is where God is.

Then we walk the via delorosa, the "traditional" path Jesus walked to Golgotha. There are stations of the cross along the way, different churches. Walk through alley with lots of shops and see lots more stray cats.

Next we walk to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is located on what is thought to be Golgotha. The church covers 3 holy sites: the hill where the cross was, the slab where the body was annointed, and the tomb, so the Cathedral marks the spot (this of course is hypothetical, since no excavation have been done, but this site is agreed upon by many scholar to be the right spot). The church has 6 different denominations: Ethiopian othodox, Assyrian orthodox, Egyptian orthodox, Armininian orthodox, Greek orthodox, and Roman Catholic. Inside is the table slab where Jesus' body was laid. Also a little chapel built on the "traditional" place where Jesus died, and the tomb is not far. Seeing people worship, pray, bow down, touch, kneel, gaze, longing, love, remember, reverance, awe, beauty, families, babies, young and old, is so moving, so magnificent, it moves me to tears, I can feel God in them, this is when I experience God, when others are trying to experience God.

When we leave to walk back to the bus, I see a cute kitty, so I squat down and say, here kitty kitty. Instead of the just up to me, the cat jumps in my lap! It was adorable! I wanted to keep it so bad!! It was just a baby kitten!! We also see a lot of men and women IDF soliders walk by us... I didnt realize until now that men and women are mandatory drafted for 2 years. Thats real equal rights, and I would want nothing to do with it. But I guess its a different culture over here.. maybe if I were born here I would feel differently. We also walk by a wall, that used to be 8 feet tall but is now more like 2 feet. It was built by King Hezekiah during an invasion in 702 BC (in Chronicles and Numbers).

Then we stop by a little museum about the burning of the 2nd temple in 70 AD. The museum is built around the ruins of an old priestly house that burned at the same time. A movie was shown dramatizing a family that may have lived there. It was an interesting movie that portayed a division within the Jews as one of the cause of the loss to the Roman: The Zealots versus the Moderates and the rich versis the poor. The Zealots were convinced in "liberty or death- what is life without liberty." The character in the movie from the priestly class but became a zealot, said, "But what was independence when all are dead? Was there some other way? Did our divisions cause this?" This is an interesting idea... and is more true than people realize. The Zealots burned the food in the storerooms and killed their own people who were not "with" their zealot ideas. If this wouldnt have happened, maybe the Jews, as a unified group, would have had a chance.

Next we drive out of the city into "Genesis Land," where Abraham and his family came and lived when they moved from Ur. We are greeted by very cute Israelis in costume (we put on costumes too). One is "Eliazar" and he tells us that the most important mitzvah (commandment) is hospitality. A group of us ride camels down to where we will be treated with hospitality with a meal hosted by Abraham himself. So I got to RIDE A CAMEL!! It was actually really cool... the only scary parts are when the camel raises up from his knees once you are on him, and when he kneels down to let you off. The ride was bumpy, but fun. When it ended, our camel walked a little to close to the edge of the mountain for my liking, and when I got off I guess I got a little to close to his face and he growled at me and tried biting me! other than that I would definitely ride a camel again. We arrive at the tent for lunch greeted by Abraham (a man in costume) who washed our hands to wake us up, to take away the tiredness, because he wants us to enjoy our time in the tent and he cannot fulfil the good deed of hospitality if we are sleeping! We all sit around knee high tables on cushions.. not too uncomfortable for me but all the older folks didnt like it. Abraham explains that he came frm Ur (which is in current day Iraq). He was supposed to do what his parents did, which was work in a shop where he made and sold idols. (Abraham made a comment about how our idol is the tv.. haha so true!). However, Abraham left the ways of his father with his wife and nephew, Lot. And he came to Canaan. He knew this was the promised land because he read the signs. The signs were two bodies of water which represent different types of people. The Sea of Galilee gives water to the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is full of life (fish) yet the Dead Sea is dead. So the map of the land teachers us to share, not hoard. If he could learn hospitality here, then this was the place he knew he was to come to. Abraham is a man of peace, he would put muzzles of his sheep and goats when they crossed others' lands, because if the sheep ate grass from their lands, that would be stealing. He also did not want to fight with his kinsman, even though he and Lot's men did not get along. So they divided, Lot went toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham went in the other direction. He explained that living in the hills of Moab, tents would generaly be pitched on the side of the mountain with four openings, but this tent was made specially for us, on top of the mountain with one opening, to see the beautiful views of the mountains. We are served our first course (which we thought was the entire meal, but there was MUCH more to come!) There was pita (with some amazing spices on it), seeded bread, veggies, and sauces- all was amazing. The second course was chicken legs, lamb kabab meatballs and rice. And dessert was dried fruits, dates, tea and coffee. We also had unlimited fresh lemonade and water. He said that we were to eat with the hearts of appetites and eat as much as we wanted so we would be "salem" or complete, full like the circle. So our plates were never empty! Very good! But I ate way too much :) Then I got my camel license... hehe.

Next we drove back towards Jerusalem, but passed through the town where our tour guide lives. The first part of the city was the labor part. There was a checkpoint and places to park for Palestinian workers who worked there but could not live there. They rely on Palestinian labor because their labor is cheaper. Which makes me really angry and reminds me of the Haiti/DR situation, and the Mexican immigrant situation, and so many others... just because people are different and will be paid less to do dirty work doesnt mean they should be paid less.. they should be paid a fair wage! His community has 3 check point, 1 is paid for by the government, the other by private security companies, which costs everyone $15/mo. It is a middle class town, lots of children and playgrounds, average age is 35 and 3.2 kids in average family. And apparently they discriminate against the Palestinians.

Next we go walk along the Northern Wall of the Old cityand visit the Church of St Anne, where traditionally Mary, mother of Jesus was born (St Anne is Mary's mother.). The church is the only Crusader's Church this well kept... built in the 12 century. The church is simple but elegant, very large. Has acoustics that last 7 seconds! We sang Amazing Grace to hear the echoes... but after done singing, they didnt wait the 7 seconds to hear the acoustics! Patience!! It's only 7 seconds!! Sad!! Sad to hear people say "wow" before it was all over! And people couldn't sing together haha. Imagine what a great choir would sound like! Such wonderful resonance, the sound of heaven, but can people really wait 7 seconds?

Next we see the pools of Bethseda, which were actually resevoirs that collected rain water. The gospels tell a story of a disabled man who wanted to get into the waters, which would heal him (the waters would be stirred and an Angel would heal you), but he couldnt get in. Jesus came by (and as a Jew, the best Jew thing to do would have been to lift him into the waters), but Jesus spoke to him and healed him! It was the Sabbath (no work to be done) but Jesus told the man to lift up his mat and walk (which was actually okay by sabbath laws if the man lived outside of the city and needed his mat while far away in the city). Later, Jesus met the man in the temple performing a sacrifice for the healing, and Jesus said, "now you are healed but you can be even further away from God." Churches were built in the area -Byzantine and Christian to remember the miracle.

Next we walked through the Muslim cemetary along the Eastern Wall and saw the Eastern Gate and to the excavations that are being done around the wall. We go to a little museum explaining the ruins and excavations and saw a short movie. Helpful timeline of the rule of Jerusalem over the years. (1948- State of Israel, 1917- British, 1517- Ottoman, 1260- Mamluk, 1099- Crusaders, 638- Muslims, 324-Byzantine, -63 -Roman, -332 -Hellenistic, -528 -Persian, -586 -Babylonian, -1006 - Israel, 1st temple, -3300 - Canaan. Jerusalem attracts love, passion, and longing. The 2nd temple was the largest structure ever built in the country... so many people came to visit it. The small stones used to build it were 2 1/2 tons! Walked around the ruins, saw an old stone with a Hebrew inscription: "to the place of trumpting to...", which probably was at the SW corner. Also saw more of the Herodian street, which is in total 1 KM long. We saw stones that originally supported Robinsons Arch on the SW corner. And a ritual bath (mikvah) that people would have used before going to do sacrifices at the temple (one side down, for unclean, other side divide up for the clean). Then saw the Western Wall again, still so very powerful... but so much in the day with tourists. Walked to bus and saw more stray cats! :(
Dinner was rice, peas, chicken, and yummy assortment of desserts.
Went online for a long time after dinner, trying not go to bed so early, ended up falling asleep around 10:30pm.