Final Day In Jerusalem

This was our final day both in Jerusalem and as a full group.  The focus of the day was following the last hours of Jesus prior to His crucifixion.  We went to Mt. Zion to the traditional place of the Upper Room.  This sits on top of David's Tomb.  Unfortunately, the Upper Room was locked and we could not enter.  But we went up to the roof of the building, talked about the events of the evening, and saw a unique door to a small room.  It was called the President's Room.  And prior to 1967, this room was where the President of Israel would come annually to pray in the direction of the Western Wall since up until that time Jordan controlled East Jerusalem up to the area of the Zion Gate.

After visiting David's tomb, part of the group walked the route from the Upper Room through the Kidron Valley to the Garden of Gethsemane.  The rest of the group met us there. Along the way we viewed the area of David's City, the original Jerusalem. We also saw a wire stretched on poles above us.  This is called the aruv.  Under the Jewish law you are not allowed to carry anything a certain distance outside your home on the sabbath nor travel far outside your home.  In order to accommodate certain activities on the Sabbath, the rabbis declared all Jerusalem up to this line
everyone's home.  And you could not travel more than a half mile outside that line.  The area of Jesus' ascension at the top of the Mt. of Olives was a "sabbath's day walk."

We also saw a few massive tombs in the valley.  While named after Biblical personalities, they were definitely first century tombs and probably were owned by some rich Jews in Jesus' day.

The Garden of Gethsemane reminded us of the passion of our Lord to fulfill His Father's will and to demonstrate His love for us.  Some of the trees in that Garden were very old, and the roots of some may have been there the night Jesus sweat drops of blood.  We then traveled to the home of Caiaphas the High Priest.  We talked about Jesus' trial before the Sanhedrin and the dark hours He spent in the basement there.  Herb Schoenfeld read Psalm 88 for us which ends "darkness is my closest friend."

After lunch we walked part of the Via Dolorosa, entering through the Herod Gate and exiting through the Damascus gate, having walked by the Antonio Fortress, the traditional place of Jesus' trial.  Our final stop was the Garden Tomb outside the Damascus Gate.  This large garden, located next to a bus terminal that has a rock formation that used to look like skull, includes indications that Christians worshipped here near the time of Jesus.  While would Christians do that in the area of a Jewish tomb?  The only conclusion is that this may be the place of the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, the tomb of Jesus.  We had communion together and worshipped Him who died and rose again!

Tomorrow, part of the group heads home and the rest of us head south to Eilat (and warmer weather).

Snow Changes Things

Our planned day was changed by the arrival of 4-5 inches of snow here in the capital.  Part of our group stayed back as use of the bus was impossible.  We walked through the snow and slush to the Jaffa Gate and entered into the Old City.  Reuben explained David's Citadel and the new excavation there that suggests it was here and not at the Antonio Fortress that Jesus was interviewed by Pilate and flogged.  That would mean the Via Dolorosa would begin here.

We walked through the Jewish Quarter, stopping at a couple overlooks.  All the shops of the Mamilla Mall were closed as well as almost all the shops in the Old City.  In fact, we tried to get into several of the historic places and they too were closed.  One Jerusalemite praised us for being hardy tourists.  She was impressed that we were out on such a day.

One stop we did make was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  The traditional location of the death and burial of Jesus, Helena built this church over the place where a pagan temple had been built over the place where Jesus had been buried. As we say, this is probably the place but the feeling is what we will experience at the Garden Tomb.

Here are the sights of our day.

A Day To Match The Mood

Because of the impending weather, Yad Vashem was going to close by noon today, so we headed there first thing this morning.  As Reuben informed us, the term holocaust is not used by the Jews because that word is associated with a sacrifice, as if the Jews were animals who were sacrificed by the Nazis.  Instead, the killing of over 6 million Jews (1 1/2 million of those children) is known by the term Shoah.  It means calamity.  The "final solution" was not about a philosophy, or political disagreement, or even about religion.  It was simply because anyone who ancestry gave them at least 25% Jewish blood, they were deemed worthy of destruction.  The cold, rainy day matched the sobering mood of the museum.  Another moving experience was hearing the story of Janusz Korczak, an educator who started a school in the ghetto to demonstrate life in the face of death and then went with his children to extermination.

We also viewed the Dead Sea scrolls and other Scriptural fragments at the Israeli Museum as well as the model of first century Jerusalem.  This put into perspective what we would later see.  The scrolls completed the picture first painted for us at Qumran two days ago.  Seeing a complete copy of Isaiah was amazing.

Following lunch at the museum, we drove to the Dung Gate and walked through security to the Western Wall plaza.  We had a short time to pray at the Wall and then entered into the shelter and warmth of the Rabbinical tunnel.  It was enlightening to learn of the way these massive Herodian stones were cut and moved into place during the building of this retaining wall for the Temple Mount.  We saw a smaller gate that would have been used by the priests to enter the Temple area near the Holy of Holies.  Women were praying nearby.  We walked on bedrock stones for this street.  Exiting past the water source that supplied both the Antonio Fortress and for cleaning all the blood at the Temple, we walked down a street to the Pool of Bethesda.  This is the place Jesus healed a man who had been lame for 38 years.  Jesus was then criticize for asking the man to pick up his mat and carry it on the Sabbath.  We also visited St. Anne's church, a church honoring the mother of Mary, Jesus' mother.  The natural acoustics in this Crusader era church are amazing.  So we sang several songs and enjoyed.

We ended our day early by going up to the top of the Mount of Olives; got a group picture taken; took a few pictures of the Old City while Reuben talked briefly; then scurried to the bus to return to the hotel.  We were all a little wet and cold and ready for an early return.  We are preparing for what will be an even more challenging day tomorrow.  Reports are calling for 1-3 inches of snow!