Day 4, Tuesday, March 6, 2018 - Jerusalem
Another beautiful and warm day in Jerusalem.
Our first stop was the Western ("Wailing") Wall which is the only remaining part of the Second Temple constructed by King Herod and destroyed by the Romans in 70AD. On the drive up it was interesting to see the many small caves carved out of the soft limestone. It is easy to imagine the kind of cave that Jesus might have been born in. When we visited the cave of his birth in Bethlehem, it was hard to tell that it had been a cave.
I put a prayer on a slip of paper and put it in a crack in the wall and also did my morning prayers at the wall - hopefully ok for non-Jews. It was quite moving to be there and to think that Jesus had been there 2000 years ago. The wall is controlled by the Orthodox Jewish authorities so there were separate security lines for women and separate areas of the wall that can be visited by men and women.
From there we walked up to the site of the Last Supper. The room that is there now was actually constructed in the 16th century and was used by Muslims although although they also recognize Jesus as a significant prophet. Underneath this in the "basement" is Abraham's tomb, by tradition. Many of the religious sites are "by tradition".
From there we went to a Catholic church that is the site of Mary's tomb (one of 3 sites "by tradition"). The church was built in the 1800s and was dedicated by the German Kaiser who at the same time dedicated a Lutheran church nearby although we didn't get to visit this church.
We had lunch at an Armenian restaurant in the Armenian quarter. The food was delicious with traditional Armenian meat and vegetable dishes. Jerusalem is divided into Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Armenian quarters. The Armenians are also Christians but get their own quarter because they have been there from 4th century. Armenia was the first country to accept Christianity as its national religion, prior to Rome.
After lunch, we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial. Our tour guide shared the emotional story of his family's escape from the Sudetenland prior to Hitler's annexation. His grandparents and mother traveled to Switzerland, France and Italy before being granted permission to come to England where they lived during the war. His family had relatives in the US but the State Department was very slow in granting permission to emigrate to the US and this didn't occur until after the war. His great grandparents were not heard from after the war and were assumed to have been murdered by the Nazis. Our tour guide grew up in the US but moved to Israel and became an Israeli citizen.
The Holocaust Memorial was very informative but very depressing, with many details of the extermination of the Jews. It was particular poignant considering Poland's recent law that Polish people are not allowed to refer to "Polish" death camps. 3,000,000 Polish Jews were murdered by the Nazis, far more than in any other country, and there were many Polish collaborators. The only helpful country was Denmark which helped all the Jews in Denmark to escape to Sweden and then welcomed them back after the war. Surviving Jews from many other countries were not welcomed back, especially in Poland. No outside countries were willing to accept the "displaced persons". England refused to let Jews emigrate to Israel.
Back at the hotel there was a lecture and discussion with a Palestinian Muslim man from East Jerusalem who was virtually stateless even though his family had been in Jerusalem for over 400 years. He spoke about the current Palestinian "situation" and said he had no hope for peace. Trump's actions of moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and threatening to cut off aid to the Palestinians unless they agree to peace talks is hurting the situation. If Trump comes to Jerusalem for the opening of the US embassy in May, violence is likely, not that it will bother him.
Our first stop was the Western ("Wailing") Wall which is the only remaining part of the Second Temple constructed by King Herod and destroyed by the Romans in 70AD. On the drive up it was interesting to see the many small caves carved out of the soft limestone. It is easy to imagine the kind of cave that Jesus might have been born in. When we visited the cave of his birth in Bethlehem, it was hard to tell that it had been a cave.
I put a prayer on a slip of paper and put it in a crack in the wall and also did my morning prayers at the wall - hopefully ok for non-Jews. It was quite moving to be there and to think that Jesus had been there 2000 years ago. The wall is controlled by the Orthodox Jewish authorities so there were separate security lines for women and separate areas of the wall that can be visited by men and women.
From there we walked up to the site of the Last Supper. The room that is there now was actually constructed in the 16th century and was used by Muslims although although they also recognize Jesus as a significant prophet. Underneath this in the "basement" is Abraham's tomb, by tradition. Many of the religious sites are "by tradition".
From there we went to a Catholic church that is the site of Mary's tomb (one of 3 sites "by tradition"). The church was built in the 1800s and was dedicated by the German Kaiser who at the same time dedicated a Lutheran church nearby although we didn't get to visit this church.
We had lunch at an Armenian restaurant in the Armenian quarter. The food was delicious with traditional Armenian meat and vegetable dishes. Jerusalem is divided into Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Armenian quarters. The Armenians are also Christians but get their own quarter because they have been there from 4th century. Armenia was the first country to accept Christianity as its national religion, prior to Rome.
After lunch, we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial. Our tour guide shared the emotional story of his family's escape from the Sudetenland prior to Hitler's annexation. His grandparents and mother traveled to Switzerland, France and Italy before being granted permission to come to England where they lived during the war. His family had relatives in the US but the State Department was very slow in granting permission to emigrate to the US and this didn't occur until after the war. His great grandparents were not heard from after the war and were assumed to have been murdered by the Nazis. Our tour guide grew up in the US but moved to Israel and became an Israeli citizen.
The Holocaust Memorial was very informative but very depressing, with many details of the extermination of the Jews. It was particular poignant considering Poland's recent law that Polish people are not allowed to refer to "Polish" death camps. 3,000,000 Polish Jews were murdered by the Nazis, far more than in any other country, and there were many Polish collaborators. The only helpful country was Denmark which helped all the Jews in Denmark to escape to Sweden and then welcomed them back after the war. Surviving Jews from many other countries were not welcomed back, especially in Poland. No outside countries were willing to accept the "displaced persons". England refused to let Jews emigrate to Israel.
Back at the hotel there was a lecture and discussion with a Palestinian Muslim man from East Jerusalem who was virtually stateless even though his family had been in Jerusalem for over 400 years. He spoke about the current Palestinian "situation" and said he had no hope for peace. Trump's actions of moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and threatening to cut off aid to the Palestinians unless they agree to peace talks is hurting the situation. If Trump comes to Jerusalem for the opening of the US embassy in May, violence is likely, not that it will bother him.
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| At the Western Wall |
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| Western Wall with Dome of the Rock in background |
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| Church of Last Supper - notice Ottoman Arabic on wall |
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| Interesting Painting in Roman Cardo note girl giving pomegranate to boy with water bottle in backpack! |
Thanks for your commentary. Isn't it fascinating how that area is still so relevant to today's politics.
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