My Journey in Israel part 4 - Bethlehem

David and Me at Glenn Beck's the Courage to Remember

Monday was our first real day to go out and see the pilgrimage sights for Christians. Our first stop was Bethlehem. There was a time difference between Israel and the West Bank because of Ramadan, so we had an extra hour before we could enter anything. The solution to this was to first go souvenir shopping. We were taken to a shop co-owned by 4 or 5 families (I can't remember which). They sold a lot of Christian memorabilia and, my favorite, olive wood carvings. I had told Jake before leaving that the one thing I was planning on buying was a piece or two of an olive wood nativity set. I said a piece or 2 because I believed that each of the pieces was going to cost $200 or so. I was happy to find that I could buy an entire nativity for just a little more than that. So I spent most of my time ogling over hand-carved nativity sets. I settled on 2 that both cost around $300. I knew it was more than I had told Jake I was planning on spending, so I had to walk around and buy the kids their olive wood Christmas tree ornaments while I thought about it. In the end, I did get the one that I wanted, which, of course, meant I bought the one that was a little more expensive. I decided to ask for forgiveness. And just as a side note, Jake was glad I got it and didn't even complain. I love my husband. :)

When the Church of the Nativity opened we headed over there. It is on the top of a hill and the church is where "tradition says" Christ was born. This location was where Jews who followed Christ used to come and worship after he was killed. Hence, "tradition says." Now I am about to give all of you a history lesson that will blow your mind. Here goes. Back 2000 years ago, people in Bethlehem used to establish their homes in caves. If they had enough money, they would build an external structure either on top of or in front of the cave. I can't remember what the structure was called if they built it on top of the cave, but if it was built in front it was called an inn. And if the family had the extra structure the cave was then used to house the animals - the stable. So here you go and see if you can follow. Most likely, Joseph still had family in Bethlehem, probably his parents. When he returned home for the census he probably went home, but there was no room for him and Mary in the house (inn), so they were put in the cave behind the house (the stable), where Mary gave birth. Reconcile that with the images of them going from hotel to hotel and being turned away. When I heard that I had an "ah ha" moment.

Now for some more history. Everything in the area that has a church has a history that goes something like this: A church is built, the area is taken over by someone else, the church is destroyed and a new one is built. That group of people are then conquered, the church is torn down and a new one built. This goes on and on through 2000 years. But during the Ottoman empire, the emperor in Turkey had a brilliant idea. He would sell all these "Christian sights" to these different churches and make money. On a few of the most important sights, he sold the same plot of land to ALL the different churches who were interested, which has caused a lot of tension between the churches ever since. The Church of the Nativity is one of those that was sold to the Greek Orthodox, Franciscans, and Roman Catholic and each of the churches has their own section dedicated to their faith. The main area where they believe Christ was actually born and the manger they believe he was laid in is shared and each church takes their turns keeping it and holding worship services. It makes for some interesting architecture with the Greek Orthodox taking the cake for opulence.

We arrive at the church and get a little history lesson (which I just gave you), and then we are able to go in. Here is the door you go through to get in. They made it that small to keep out soldiers who would otherwise enter to desecrate the churches. You enter into a stone "entryway" before walking into the Greek Orthodox Basilica. There are very ornate lanterns hanging from the ceiling and at the front of the church are statues and paintings depicting Christ's birth. Everythig was gold plated (or straight gold, for all I know). We had to wait in line as people went downstairs to the place where Christ was born - into a cave. When we made it down there we gathered as a group into the back and one of us from the group, who had brought her bible, read the account of Christ's birth. It was a neat experience. We left there and quickly toured the Catholic church. It was much more subdued, yet beautiful. (I will post all of my pictures at the end of this post because of the disaster the last one was.)

The Mosque across the courtyard in front of the church

The teeny, tiny door you go through to get into the church


Inside the Basilica

The place they believe Christ was born

The manger they believe Christ was laid in

Reading the Nativity story in the cave Christ is believed born in

"Original" mosaic floor of the Basilica

The inside of the Catholic church

In front of the baby Jesus used during the Nativity at Christmas (Catholic church)

Statue in courtyard outside Catholic church. Can't remember who it is, sorry.

After the Church of the Nativity we went to the Shepherd's Field. This is where a group of archeologists spent time studying history and geography to find a place which would likely be where the shepherds were when the angels came to announce the birth of Christ. The garden is beautiful and well maintained with trees and flowers. 2000 years ago it would have been a field covered with short grasses. There is a small chapel there, a cave, and an excavation site. Inside the chapel there are 3 paintings depicting the announcement of the birth of Christ. It was beautiful. And to make it even more special, we sang "Hark the Herold Angles Sing." The acoustics in there were perfect for singing. Then we entered the cave while our tour guide, Claudia, gave us some more history. When they looked for this field, they chose a place with a cave because that is where the shepherds would have taken their flocks to keep them away from wild animals. Something very important back then. Caves were very important 2000 years ago. The one thing that caught my attention more than anything is its location in relation to the city of Bethlehem. It is definitely on the outside of the city, and sits lower on the hill than the city. So when, in the scriptural account, the shepherds went "up" to the city of Bethlehem, they quite literally had to go up. I used to think the use of the word "up" was used merely as a relative directional reference meaning just "go." But it really meant they went "up" in elevation to get to the city. Interesting.

Painting 1 inside the chapel


Painting 2 in the chapel

Painting 3 inside chapel

Inside the cave

Some of the excavation

Some of the grandmas loving on David.

Following that we had lunch down the street and then we went back to Jerusalem to the Church of All Nations and the Garden of Gethsemane. Most of the trees on the Mt. of Olives no longer exist. Now there are many buildings the cover the hillside. But a few of the trees that existed 2000 years ago are still there and still producing olives. They are kept behind a wall adjacent to the Church of All Nations and they are amazing to see. Gethsemane means the place they pressed the olives for the oil. They know this is the right area because ancient oil presses have been found here. They, of course, do not know WHICH tree Jesus prayed at, and inside the church is a stone, which I'm going to assume is where those who built the church think Jesus prayed. It is a beautiful church and a beautiful garden. And it is amazing to think that you are standing on holy ground where the ultimate sacrifice for our sins took place. It is a reverent place to be.

The view from The Church of All Nations

The Church of All Nations

2000 year old olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane


More of the grove of 2000 year old olive trees

The rock inside the Church of All Nations

Ceiling inside the Church of All Nations

Next came the 2nd Glenn Beck event: Courage to Remember. By the time our bus arrived most of the seats were full, so we went straight to the back. On each seat was a water bottle and a little LED light. Some were white and some were blue. I'm not sure if they were meant to spell something out, or what the purpose of the blue ones were, because the only mention of them was toward the end and we lit them up during a song. Anyway, we sat down and someone pointed and said, "There's John Voit." Sure enough, he was over near the entrance signing autographs and taking pictures with people. I have this funny thing about celebraties. I tend to leave them alone because I think they are normal people and I know I would be annoyed if everyone was always asking me for a picture. So, I stayed back, used my zoom, and tried to get his picture. By the time I was ready to hit the button, he had moved and was behind people. So its hard to see him, but he is there.

This event focused on the Holocaust. There was a panel of people on stage and they discussed different topics. One of which was how the head of the Corrie Ten Boom foundation said never before in history had Christians banded together in support of Jews. There had been a few throughout history, but overall most Christians had seen the Jews as "Christ killers" and had been the cause of much of the Jews horrific past. Now there was a growing group who vows to never again let something like the Holocaust happen. And I am proud to say I am one of them!

There was also a video shown of a woman who filmed her grandfather returning to his childhood home in Germany. He had left Germany at 15 and gone to Israel alone during the war. His parents were later rounded up and killed. He had never had a desire to go, but his granddaughter was persuasive that it was time to heal the wounds. It was a very emotional piece. Originally she shot the entire trip as simply a way to remember and to catch her grandfather's feelings as a family record. After watching it she realized she had something more and wanted others to see it. David was tired, hot and fussy, so I spent a great deal of this time standing in the back and bouncing him. as I was doing this a woman walked up to me and said she was a reporter for an online newspaper based out of Boston (she told me the name of it, but I can't remember what it is) and can she interview me. So that was fun. I don't know exactly what was said in the article, but if I was mentioned in it at all it was probably that I was a mother of 6 who came from Morocco with a 5 month old baby. That seemed to be what a lot of people focused on.

The event had some beautiful music and a great spirit. And I always have believed that you can not stop talking about the Holocaust and all that lead up to it, as well as what followed it. I am glad I was there.

My view of the stage

John Voit (he's the grey haired man in the back behind everyone else)

My Journey in Israel part 3 - museum day cont.

So to begin where I left off, after Yad Vashem we went to lunch. Nothing too exciting about that. And then after lunch we were off to the Israel Museum. We had been told all day about a miniature there of what the "Old City" looked like at the time of Christ. Now to go back a little bit, at the airport there is also a miniature of the Old City. It's about 1 m squared and includes all the important little things. So, I was expecting something similar to that. Um, no, that is not exactly what the "miniature" was like. As you can see, this is a little bigger and more involved than that. To quote one of the men in my group, "This is one heck of a lego set!" Take a look!


The Temple Mount





The NW corner of the Old City ->















The South end of the city - mostly residential






The North Gate Christ carried the cross through
->










The Southern end of the temple mount where they are excavating now.




















Amazing, isn't it? And the real thing is simply breath-taking. We spent several minutes walking around while our guide pointed out all of the important sites, including where we think certain events took place. Some things we know exactly where they were, but some things are "tradition tells us . . ." I'll get more into that later as we go through different sites.

After we saw this amazing miniature we were taken inside to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. Yea, you read right. I've seen them! Well, I've seen some of them. I could tell you what I remember of the story of the scrolls, but I think you would be better to look it up on Wikipedia. I'm bound to have forgotten details and so would not do the story justice. But the basic story is that a group of Jews left the city and set up a type of scholarly school in the caves around the dead sea. The scrolls are their "textbooks," you might say. But, like all the other groups throughout history in that part of the world, eventually they were all taken captive and lead out of the country, leaving these scrolls, all contained in ceramic jars, in the caves where they went unnoticed for 1500 years. Then one day a shephard going after his lost sheep threw a rock into a cave and broke a jar. He couldn't read but knew the leather it was written on was valuable, so he took it to a leather worker in Bethlehem and sold it. That leather worker could see it was important and took it to someone, who in turn sold it to someone, and anyway, after being sold several more time, was put on the black market in the states. Someone read about the sale in the newspaper and started collecting and translating them. Now we have them preserved, as best we can. One of the difficulties with the keeping everything in jars, is that the jars were on wooden shelves, and they were heavy. Over the years several of the shelves broke, dropping the jars and then, of course, the jars broke. Many of the scrolls are in pieces and they are attempting to reconstruct them like a puzzle. Others have sections that have just deteriorated over time. Others were in pretty good condition and fairly easy to read. But looking at them is simply amazing. It really is a piece of history.

After those amazing sights, we boarded our bus again and headed 2 hours to Caesarea, on the coast. Now, this has nothing to do with the event, but I just want to say, Caesarea is HOT AND HUMID!!! When the sun went down I thought, oh, good, it will cool off. Nope. HOT, HOT, HOT! Ok, back to the original story.

We arrived and the bus driver took us real quick by some of the Roman ruins in the area. There is an aqueduct there as well as Herod's Palace. Neat, but we weren't able to walk around so no pictures. He then parked the bus and we were off to the event. I grabbed a pictures of some of the tour buses that were there, but as we came out, I realized what you see is only a small portion of the row of buses that ended up parked there.

And although the event did not procure all of the tour buses in Jerusalem, the estimate was about 85-90%. Amazing.

















The theatre is quite large. I think someone told me it seats about 2000 people, not including the floor. The theatre is not the original, but some of the original foundation still lies there. It is made exclusively from the same white limestone that all other buildings are made of there (and that is no exaggeration because there is a law that all buildings must be made of the white, Israeli Limestone). We were pleasantly surprised, then, when we went through the entrance and found that Glenn has purchased pads and water for all of us to use. They gave me 2 pads and I was grateful because that limestone is HARD! And I was very grateful for the water, considering how HOT it was.


The even itself was very uplifting. Of course I don't remember everything that was said, but I did want to share what stuck out to me.

One of the themes reiterated over and over again was the importance to love "the other." Who is the other? It is anyone different than us. Their religion may be different, or their culture, their skin color, or their language. Whatever sets them apart as being different from us. But in loving the other, we can not put people in a group. It is when people are grouped together that hating becomes easy. It is easy to group all Muslims together, and blame them for terrorism, for example. It is much harder to look at each person individually and judge them on their character. Instead, when we look at each person individually, we end up saying, not all Jews are __________. Not all Muslims are ________. Not all black people are ____________. Not all white people are _______________. Get the idea? God judges us, not as a whole, but as an individual, and that is how we must judge each other. And in doing so, we will love each other and be our brother's keeper. It is the responsibility for each of us to be our brother's keeper in whatever capacity we can. Here are 2 more pictures of the event.



I believe this is Rabbi Shlomo Riskin. An amazing man with an amazing message. If you have time I suggest you go to YouTube and look up his address (or rather, I believe it was a blessing, not sure, they kind of run together).













Good 'Ol Glennie!



After the event we boarded our buses and headed home again. It was after midnight before we made it to the hotel and the next morning started early. I'll write more about that later.

My journey in Israel part 2 - The holocaust museum

Warning: This is long!

Our first day on the tour was museum day with the 1st "Restoring Courage" event in the evening. We went to Yad Vashem (the holocaust museum) and then The Israeli Museum. So, first, my impressions of Yad Vashem.

When we lived in Germany we visited Dachau. That was one of the concentration camps in the Southeast of Germany. I have seen the dormitories with the wooden bunk beds layed next to each other to maximize the number of people they could cram in. I have seen the meat hooks they used to hang people on to "punish" them. I have seen the ovens they used to cremate the bodies. Although most of the prisoners in Dachau died of disease, not gas chambers, the atmosphere was still very dark and sad. And because I have seen this, I was afraid to go into the museum. As I was about to go in they told me no babies, and I will say I was a little relieved. If David couldn't go in, then neither could I. But our tour guide, Claudia, told me she would take him and meet me at the exit. Now I was out of excuses. So I made up my mind to go through as quickly as I could and meet her at the exit to get David. I had no idea what awaited me.

First thing, the museum has one entrance and one exit and to get to the exit you must walk through the entire museum. Also, no pictures were allowed inside, so I only have photos of the grounds, which I will include a little later. Having been at Dachau, I thought Yad Vashem would be similar. Not at all. It wasn't scary with horrifying pictures or anything like that. It was stories; it was history. You begin your walk with the election of Hitler to the Prime Minister position in the German government. They actually start you right at the beginning. You then pass through actual posters claiming Jews were not human, board games about getting all the Jews out of Germany, and other little newspaper articles grouping all Jews together and then blaming them for all of German's woes. And that is how propaganda works. You don't start by telling everyone to kill, you start by taking people, grouping them together, and then belittling them until the majority of people hate them and will do to them whatever you desire. It was so interesting to see how it all played out - so methodical, so perfect.

As you wind through the different areas they have stories told by survivors of the different periods throughout that time frame. From isolation and boycotts, to wearing the Star of David, to being rounded up and living in the ghettos. Then testaments from Rabbis forced to put together the list of people to be put on the trains to work camps (death camps later on). There were stories of "The Righteous Among the Nations," who were those who put their lives in danger to protect Jews and to feed them. One of those stories that caught my attention was a farmer who hid a family in his root cellar. The neighbors found out and told the SS. The Jews were taken, he was beaten, but he did not give up. Instead he dug a hole, covered the entrance, and hid several more Jews there, feeding them, until the war was over and they were safe. That man has a place secured for him in Heaven, I am sure.

There was an area for the Kristallnacht, Auschwitz, the trains, and also for, and please excuse my lack of terminology here, the rebellions which began to take place inside the ghettos. But there were 2 things in the museum that impacted me more than anything else. One was a large pile of shoes, covered in glass, that you had to either walk over or around. Most people walked around. And after talking with others, that was one of the most impactful displays for several others on the bus. The other was the room of records. There is a large, circular room with book shelves that start well below where you stand and go well over your head. I'm a terrible judge of height, but sufficeth to say, the bookshelves were large enough to hold the tens of thousands of books with the names of nearly all 6 million Jews killed. They want to make sure there is a record of everyone killed - by name. And the bookshelves are not yet filled because there are still thousands of people who have yet to be identified. It is a very sobering thought and a very solemn place to stand.

So, when I originally thought I would hurry through and go to my baby, I ended up being in there a full 1 1/2 hours. And, really, I just brushed the surface of the things in there. You could spend an entire day in there, or even more, if you stopped to read everything and listen to each and every story. I will say, though, that I was very impressed that they focused on the history behind the holocaust rather than simply the atrocities. Because you must understand how it began in order to stop it from ever happening again.

And on top of just the main museum, there were 2 other buildings we went to. The first was The Hall of Remembrance. The names of each of the camps are engraved on the floor and there is an eternal flame. This is where dignitaries go to lay wreaths to honor those who died. The other building is even more sombre. There is an entire memorial dedicated to the children who were killed - The Children's Memorial. Again, no photos were allowed, but I took this at the entrance. The memorial is done by lights and mirrors. The room you walk through is kept dark while mirrors reflect little white lights and names of children and their ages are read in Hebrew and English. I really believe it is a fitting tribute.

As you exit there is another sculpture that I thought caught the emotion of the children killed. This is in remembrance of Janusz Korczak. A Polish doctor who worked at an orphanage. The children were sent to the ghettos and he went with them. They were ordered to be exterminated at Treblinka and he went with them. He was offered immunity, and was even told not to go into the ghetto with the children. But he would not leave them. Even in the end he was offered a way out, but he would not leave his children, and died with all 192 of them.
All along the grounds there are sculptures depicting different events done by different artists, and there are trees planted in remembrance of "The Righteous Among the Nations." Here are a few more of the pictures I took at Yad Vashem.

David and I outside the exit of the main museum.

















One of the sculptures in the gardens. There are 6 points on the sculpture, representing the 6 million Jews killed. You find things done in 6s all around Jerusalem representing those killed in the Holocaust.















This is the tree planted of Oscar Schindler. It was one of the last trees planted because they were unsure how to salute this man appropriately. In the end, they decided a tree, along with all the others who saved a Jew, was the right thing. It is a pepper tree, as many are, and grows pepper corns each season. My understanding is that he was a simple man in life and did not wish to bring any undue attention to himself, so they decided honoring him the same as everyone else is what he would have wanted.

Since this ended up being so long, I will wrap my day in another blog post.