Jerusalem and Bethlehem

So at last we came to Jerusalem.

Starting from atop the Mount of Olives, we saw the massive Jewish graveyard that covers its western slopes, leading down to the Christian graveyard in the Kidron Valley and, opposite, the Muslim graveyard on the eastern slope of Mount Moriah going up to the base of the temple mount (pictured: rockin' the shades in the graveyard).

We worked out way down the mount toward the Kidron, passing through the Church of Dominus Flevit. Dominus Flevit means "the Lord wept," and refers to Christ's tears over Jerusalem. It commemorates his prophecy of the destruction of the temple, that not one stone would be left upon another. Unlike most tradition Christian churches, the structure purposefully faces west, not east; thus, it faces across the Kidron to the temple mount, bereft of its temple. Through the (again unusually) clear glass behind the altar, the congregation can see the Dome of the Rock.

At the base of Olivet is the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations. These are most likely not the actual trees from Jesus' day, for although they can be dated around two thousand years of age, the trees from AD 30 would certainly have been used by the Roman Legio X Fretensis in AD 70 to build their siege works during the Great Jewish Revolt. Nonetheless, it is a serene and majestic place, and the facade of the church is truly magnificent.

The next morning, a Friday and therefore the eve of the Sabbath (called Shabbat here, by the way), we toured many of the Jewish sites around Jerusalem. Notably, we went to the Western Wall (and by the way, 'Wailing Wall' is somewhat disparaging) and then toured the exquisite Western Wall tunnels. The visible and iconic wall is itself called the Kotel, and this is merely the upper half of the entire Western Wall that continued several meters farther below ground and stretches the entire length of the temple mount. It is called the Western Wall because it was the western-facing retaining wall built under the direction of Herod the Great.

The Western Wall Tunnels were dug out by the Israeli government following the capture of the Old City in the 1967 Six Day War. These tunnels burrow along the length of the wall, allowing for more detailed archaeological work, and eventually get down to the first century street level. Here, archaeologists were able to capture a glimpse of first century life, in particular a water channel running along the wall and adjacent cisterns that supplied the massive amounts of water needed for the temple cultus; the remains of blocks left lying about when the construction was halted either at the beginning of the Great Jewish Revolt (AD 66) or with the destruction of Jerusalem four years later (pictured); and also a nearby quarry where stones lay half cut from the bedrock.

Aside: We were able to exit the tunnels from the other end, entering by the Kotel in the Jewish Quarter and exiting along the Via Dolorosa in the Muslim Quarter. Before 1996, however, visitors had to retrace their steps through the narrow passageway because there was no opening on the opposite side. Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the opening of the northern exit in September of '96, which Yassir Arafat condemned as an attempt to cause the collapse of the temple mount (in order to destroy the precious archaeological remains below?), sparking riots that ended in the deaths of eighty people.

Speaking of Palestinians, we then headed that afternoon for Bethlehem, where we met up with our excellent Palestinian guide. There we saw the Church of the Nativity, which is actually three churches (Orthodox, Armenian, and Franciscan) built atop a cave where it is said Jesus was born. Descending into that cave took about an hour of frantic pushing and shoving. Many in the group disliked the experience; personally, I thought the crowded and hurried environment was an illustrative lesson in what the incarnation was (and is) all about.The Son of God, after all, didn't come to earth to have a personalized, one-on-one spiritual experience; he came taking on flesh, to come from the womb in body and blood, to be tortured in crucified in body and blood, and to rise again to fill us with his body and blood.

From there we went to Beit Sahour, a pleasant Arab Christian town, and to Ein Karem, a suburb of Jerusalem associated with John the Baptist, and back to Jerusalem for the night.

So then came out final day together as a whole group. The day was pretty much the Via Dolorosa, the Holy Sepulcher, and Mount Zion, about two hours of each, ending with the Garden Tomb. Disappointments first: Mount Zion. The Cenacle, or Upper Room of the Last Supper, is obviously not the spot. It was picked arbitrarily by the Crusaders, and that structure was subsequently turned into a mosque. Equally arbitrary is the Zion site of David's tomb; David was most likely buried in the City of David just south of the temple mount, and the spot where he is commemorated is a Christian-Muslim fabrication. The only reason there is a Jewish tomb on the spot is because Mount Zion was the only place once within the walls of Herodian Jerusalem accessible to Jews before 1967.

I'll save a rant on the Holy Sepulcher vs. the Garden Tomb for another time, but suffice it to say, both were highlights as finales for the trip. The Holy Sepulcher (pictured) was amazing, despite an almost two hour wait a crowded line that included a trash tractor buzzing through the church; no matter, the resurrection is meant to redeem the world, not shut it out. Since I think that the Holy Sepulcher truly is the spot where Christ died and was raised, that outshines all imperfections. The Garden Tomb, conversely, is almost certainly not the spot, but we held a final prayer service there that included a communion experience, and that was particularly special because I'd grown so close to each and every member of the tour group.

That night I said goodbye to my parents, because they were leaving at 1:30 in the morning for Ben Gurion Airport. Fortunately, as it turned out, several other members of the group stayed for an additional two days, but that's another post.