ISRAEL - DAY 5

ISRAEL – DAY 5

We left Jerusalem on September 22 and headed for the northern part of Israel.  We drove through the West Bank as we headed towards the Jordan River.  The West Bank has three areas – area A is controlled by the Palestinians; area B is under Israeli control; area C is under joint control of the Palestinians who are responsible for civic rule and the Israelis who are responsible for security.The Jordan River is the border between Israel and the state of Jordan.  These pictures represent our tour for that day.

This is a group of people saying mass on the Jordan side of the River Jordan.

My niece dipping her toe in the Jordan River. 

   

My nephew dipping his hand in the Jordan River.    

Yours truly dipping my hand in the Jordan River. 

The extended family in front of the Jordan River.  Note that the river is not very wide.

We left the Jordan River and headed to Jericho.  Jericho is a thriving city as it has a sub-tropical climate.  It is under Palestinian rule and its residents are very laid back compared to Bethlehem.

View of Jericho from the bus.

This tree is called a Zaccheus tree after the biblical Zaccheus who was so short, he had to climb a tree to see Jesus.

This is the Mountain of Temptation where Christ was when he was tempted for forty days and forty nights.  The Monastery of Quadrantal (far left building in the sandstone colour) was subsequently built on what is considered a holy site.    

My brother enjoying a leisurely camel ride.

 We then headed to the archaeological site of Bet She’an which was destroyed by an earthquake about 700 years after the crucifixion.  No one was killed in the earthquake as the citizens recognized in the elements that there was something wrong and left the city.

View of the site from the top of the hill.

Part of a Roman theatre at the site.

Part of the ruins still being excavated.  The two dark coverings in the background of the picture are where archaeologists are working.  Note the size of the fallen columns.

My niece and nephew on one of the fallen columns.    

A close up of some of the fallen columns.

A view of a typical Roman main street. 

We then made our way to Nazareth with our first stop being at the Church of the Annunciation which was built to replace the small church which was there after a visit from the Pope circa 1964.  The church is dedicated to Mary and there are many ‘art works’ donated by countries around the world to commemorate Mary.  It’s interesting to see how Mary is represented by the many countries. 

This is the front of the Church of the Annunciation.

Some of the artwork donated by some of the countries is mounted on the exterior walls in the compound.    

The door to the church was donated by The Netherlands.

Part of the interior of the church.    

Close up of the site of “The Cave” believed to be where the annunciation took place.    

More artwork donations mounted on the interior walls.    

Canada’s contribution.    

The USA’s contribution    

Japan’s contribution.

In contrast to the Church of the Annunciation dedicated to Mary, this is the Church of St. Joseph dedicated to Joseph.  No artwork on the walls

A beautiful Ficus tree which is on the grounds of the complex.

We then went to visit a small synagogue in the little town of Safed.  This is a picture of the Ark behind curtains. 

These are old books in the synagogue which must be destroyed but they are kept until a certain time then they are destroyed during a ceremony. 

And so ended day 5 of our trip.  We overnighted at a kibbutz hotel where we would spend two nights.  The hotel has been bought from the commune and is now privately owned but many of the kibbutz residents still live around the hotel.

   

ISRAEL - DAY 4

Today (Sept. 21), we visited Old Jerusalem - a lot of walking involved.  There are four quarters in Old Jerusalem - the Jewish Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Muslim Quarter and the Armenian Quarter.  In the time of Jesus, the area was an industrial one and the residents left the walled city of Jerusalem to go to the Mount of Olives to work.  The Mount of Olives did not have olive trees at that time.  I think I can best portray some of Old Jerusalem as it is today by the pictures and captions.  Some of the pictures were taken from the Mount of Olives. 

Largest Jewish cemetery in the world just outside the inner walls of Old Jerusalem.  There is also a very large Muslim cemetery which could not be seen from where we were standing.

The gold dome is an old mosque that is now a monument where Muslims go for individual prayers.  To the left of that and in the background is the gray dome of the El Axa mosque which was built on the site where it is thought that Mohammed went up to heaven.

View from the Mount of Olives of the Garden of Gethsemane (just around where the buses are parked).

Picture of the extended family on the Mount of Olives overlooking Old Jerusalem.

The Dominus Flavit (means the Lord wept) chapel which was built over the site on the Mount of Olives where Jesus foresaw the destruction of the temple and wept.

The gold onion shaped domes are the Russian Orthodox church of Mary Magdalene.  Just in front of the wall are Jewish tombs that were destroyed by the Jordanians who conquered Jerusalem at one point and needed building materials.

The Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was praying when he was betrayed by Judas Iscariot and arrested and taken to Pontius Pilate.

A close up of an olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane 

Windows of the Church of Gethsemane (or the Basilica of Gethsemane) built over a rock at which it is said Jesus was praying when he asked his disciples to stay awake with him.  The windows are made of alabaster in blue and purple colours.  The church is intentionally not bright inside because it signifies the agony which Jesus was experiencing at the time.

This is what the windows look like inside.  You can see the shape of the cross shows up more brightly than the rest of the window.

The altar inside the church.  There was a mass concluding at the time we visited.

Beside the altar in the church.

Part of the ceiling in the church.

We visited the Via Dolorosa where it is said Jesus walked on his way to being crucified.  There is no confirmation of this in the bible but it has been handed down through the centuries by pilgrims.  The Via Dolorosa has the fourteen stations of the cross.  Each station is represented by a church.  Many large groups from around the world make pilgrimages to the Via Dolorosa and have a short mass at each station.  Along the way, the sing hymns or chant.  I did not take pictures of the churches or of all the stations so here are the few that I took.  The churches are owned by different segments of the Christian religion, e.g. Christian, Armenians, Greek orthodox.  The 10th, 11th and 12th stations are actually in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

On these two spots, it is said that soldiers cast lots for Jesus' garment.

One of the stations of the cross shown on one the churches.

The Wailing Wall.  After the destruction of the temple, the Romans allowed the Jewish people from the surrounding towns and villages to come back to pray.  When the Jewish people came and saw the destruction, they prayed to the only wall of the temple that was left and they were wailing and crying so the Wailing Wall name was given by the Romans.  The wall is important in Judaism because of its symbolism.  The central theme in Judaism is the coming of the Messiah and the bible says that when the Messiah comes, the temple will be rebuilt.

 The orthodox Jews have divided up the wall so that men and women do not sit/pray together at the Wailing Wall.  Men sit on the left and women on the right.  These orthodox Jews are becoming more and more strict requiring proper dress; e.g. covered arms and legs.

 A close up of the many written prayer requests stuck in the crevices of the wall by Jewish and non-Jewish people from around the world.

My friend and I at the Wailing Wall.  I did go up and touch the wall.

The Wailing Wall at night.

After the Wailing Wall, we made our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built over the site where it is said Christ was finally laid to rest.  The church is actually owned by Roman Catholics, Greeks, Ethiopians, Armenians and the Syrian Jacobites who have a small part of the church.  These groups dislike each other intensely and fight each other with knives so the Israeli police end up being called in and they have to get into the church on horseback to end the fights.  So this is more about power and control than spirituality with these groups and the fact that the church is being renovated is something of a miracle since all the groups had to agree on what would be done.  The more influential groups own the portions closes to the site of the Golgotha and the tomb.  To get to the actual spot, we had to make our way down through entrances of the church owned by the Ethiopians.  Getting into the church was actually quiet but once inside the church,  there were hundreds of people and it was quite noisy.

 

This slab of stone represents the site where Jesus' body was laid and prepared for burial.  Being Jewish, Christ was buried in accordance with Jewish laws and Joseph of Arimathea who was constructing a tomb at the time, lent his tomb for the temporary burial of Christ .

This is a mosaic on the wall representing Christ's body being taken into the tomb.

Over the centuries, millions of pilgrims who have visited Joseph of Arimathea's tomb wanted souvenirs of the tomb and they chipped away at the stone until all that was left was this rock over which the church was built.

Picture of the front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The Upper Room where it is believed the last supper took place and Pentecost occurred.

Synagogue built over the tomb of King David.  Women and men are separated so that the men see one half and the women see the other half.