My roommate, Eunice, stayed home sick this day. I brought her some breakfast, gave her some meds from my stash, prayed for her to get better - and off I went. (I looked for Hanan, but didn't find him, so assumed he decided not to come after all....)
Our first destination of the day was The Jerusalem Archaeological Park – which is an archaeological "dig" in the ruins around the outside of the Temple Mount (Mt Moriah AKA the historic Mt Zion). The Roman Cardo along the outside of the wall of Temple Mount has been uncovered - as well as enormous stones that were part of the temple destroyed in 70 A D (just as Jesus said it would be.) I took lots of pics of things outside. (We were not allowed to take pics inside.)
Then we went up a wooden ramp to Temple Mount. When I was at the Western Wall 5 years earlier, the ramp was not there, and visitors were not allowed to go up to Temple Mount. As I went up the ramp I peeked through the slats and got some pics of people at prayer (and study) at the Western Wall.
We saw the Dome Of The Rock and the water source for the Muslims’ Ceremonial washing. The building of 'The Dome of the Rock' is enormous. Much larger than I had supposed. There were several groups of men gathered in study circles around the courtyard.
We saw the exterior of the Muslim Al Aksa Mosque, which is built on Temple Mount.
As for Temple Mount – it was amazing to be where the 2 temples from Israel’s history had stood – another of my highlights. We were only allowed to stay until 10 a m. A man came and told us we had 2 minutes to leave.
Saw the backside of the Golden Gates – the Eastern gate where Jesus will return to the Temple Mount. It is sealed shut with thick stone masonry. And - the Muslims have a graveyard right in front of the gates. They believe that no respectable Jew would go through a graveyard to get to and through the Eastern Gate - the Golden Gate - so believe their act of placing a graveyard at the entrance will deter the fulfillment of the prophecy.
After we left Temple Mount, we went to the Pools of Bethesda, which was much larger than I imagined when reading about this place where Jesus healed the paralytic man.
The Pools of Bethesda are right next to St Anne’s Church. St Anne was the mother of Mary. We sang in St Anne’s – Holy,Holy, Holy…. I LOVE how the first strains of the songs become harmony for the next phrases. It was absolutely beautiful! Another of my highlights!
Walked through the Muslim Quarter through the Via Dolorosa – or at least a good part of it. We visited two churches in one courtyard. One was commemorating where Jesus was condemned: Church of the Condemnation. Next to it is the church memorializing where he first fell under the cross – and it had original stones with games carved into them that the Roman soldiers were purported to have played on.
Our journey of following the stations of the cross ended at the church of the Holy Sepulchre – but it’s just a lot of ‘commemoration’ without any true identity…. It's a huge ornate structure within a larger old church structure, and it just doesn't feel right....
For lunch I had another delicious falafel in the Old City – then went shopping for a while. I love the ambiance of the Old City. The Old City of Jerusalem is divided into four quarters – Jewish, Muslim, Armenian and Christian. We were in the Jewish Quarter 2 days before - and in the Muslim section this day.
I bought 5 scarves – 2 in the first shop we were first taken to, and then 3 in another shop, because the first one didn’t have enough color selection. At the first shop we were told, “Mark’s group gets 50% off.” So – at the 2nd shop I refused to pay more than that. The 2nd shop owner started his price at $30.00 each - and I ended up paying $15. each.
After spending time in the Old City, it was like experiencing a Time Warp leaving the Old City and walking through a modern shopping area. Quite a culture difference!
Our last place to visit for the day was Yad Vashem, the Shoa Museum – aka the Holocaust Museum, honoring all who were killed under Hitler’s genocide. It also honors those who tried to help. There was a large group of young Israeli soldiers there the same time as we were, so it wasn’t easy to see everything – but we needed to scurry through anyway. Really our whole tour was like a Cliff’s notes version. We went a lot of places – but we didn’t have time to do any of the sites thoroughly. There just isn’t time. It would be easy to spend a day – or half a day – at most of the sites and still feel you could see more....
The entire building is filled with compelling images - it is horrific to think of all they suffered, while most of the world turned a blind eye. Last fall I read "Stones from the River" by Ursula Hegi. It helped me understand a bit more of how a nation could be duped - thinking no one could actually do such a thing - while watching their neighbors disappear....
It appalls me to think that there are those who teach it never really happened. They should be forced to see the evidence. "Never again." That's the cry that must ring out at the gross injustice. We must learn from the past or we are doomed to repeat it.
Back to the hotel for dinner, packing and sleeping...at least a little! Eunice had a good, restful day and felt a lot better by dinner time. I had the joy of visiting with a few folks before hitting the hay...another highlight. Thus ended another wonderful day!
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