Day 153 - Jerusalem

Monday, December 3rd, 2018.

Today I woke up anxious and excited to go to Jerusalem. I have been wanting to go to Jerusalem for many years. Gregory and I even wanted to go to Israel for our honeymoon but everyone advised against it, saying it was dangerous. Well, here we are, finally. I was just anxious to get there but first I had to get everyone out of the house early. I succeeded.

We first took a bus to the Arlozorov bus station and there we took the bus to Jerusalem which took about 45 minutes. When we got there, it was hard to find the station exit. I still can't picture the structure of the bus station because it has 3 stories and no windows. Plus we needed to find out how to get to the old city. We went to the information window where they advised us to get the daily pass for Jerusalem. They sent us to another office where they issued us a bus/tram card with our pictures.

All of this is great if you have all the time in the world but I just wanted to scream and be on our way. It really didn't take that long but after having the cards, we had to go back to the ticket window to put money on the cards and then we were finally able to take the tram around 10:30am.

We arrived at the Jaffa Gate and Daniel immediately said that it reminded him of Dubrovnik. I didn't know what to expect, and I didn't know we had to walk through the market or a bazaar to get to the church of the Holy Sepulchre [Gregory's note: actually, we didn't really know where we were going, but the signage was good, and the closest stop was that church].

When we finally made it, I wasn't excited anymore. I guess I didn't know what to expect but the church it was dark and crowded with no signs indicating what you were seeing. Still, I reminded myself of the importance of the place and continued with the walk. It was also hard to walk around and not know what altar was which and why were some people kneeling in front of a tomb which wasn't Jesus's and I had all sort of questions. We also had to wait in line to go inside and see the sepulcher itself. I told Gregory and the kids to go eat lunch if they didn't want to wait. They did and I stood there for almost an hour. When I finally went in, I don't know what happened but I felt a tremendous amount of energy and emotion and I started crying in front of the sepulcher. I couldn't even pray, I just said, "bless my family and our trip" and the priest outside kept clapping for us to move out and let the next 3 or 4 people in.

After that, I was happy to be on my own because I took my time to wander around the church, go upstairs [to Golgotha] and even see where the cross of Jesus stood. Of course, Gregory is always questioning everything and saying how do they even know it was there? [Gregory's note: well, there's really no way anyone would be keeping track of where events happened 300+ years earlier. There certainly weren't any maps or photos. And it's hard to believe all those sites were so conveniently close.]

Anyway, I finish visiting the church, then texted the family to come meet me. They were waiting outside in the sun. I had my lunch and then we walked to the see the Western Wall, a short walk away.

We washed up our hands and Sunshine and I went to the women's side -- men and women aren't allowed to be together near the wall. At first, Sunshine didn't want to touch the wall, or do anything. I told her to say a small prayer for someone. We heard a woman cry and I felt her sadness. I felt like crying and thought about my mom praying for my father when he was sick and then I wanted to cry as well. I said a prayer for my friend with cancer. I asked God for a miracle to cure her. I also prayed for the McLaurin family who I think will have a tough time during Christmas time without their mom.

After I finished praying, I sat on one of the chairs and observed all the women praying. Some of the girls were very young and were praying, standing, and moving around, putting the prayer book over their faces. Another modern woman was praying with her iPad and davening. There were also prayer books on chairs for you to borrow.

While I was observing women from different nationalities praying and observing, I was thinking that God is within you, not in a wall. Why do people think that this place is more holy than their own hearts? [Gregory's note: there is a sign stating that the Divine Presence never leaves this wall, as the only remnant of the Temple. Make of that what you will.]

I waited many years to come and see this wall thinking that I would find something holy, even feel the tremendous amount of energy that must be here. Instead, I find myself thinking that God is everywhere and that I find God more easily when I'm alone and in silence, more in my meditations.

Gregory was also disappointed. He expected something like I did, and he didn't feel anything.

Afterward, we tried to see the Temple Mount but there were 2 signs, one saying that no visits were allowed due to the holiness of the place, and another saying that access was from 9:30-11:30 and 12:30 -13:30. Since it was 2pm, we walked to the City of David to see the archeological findings incuding David's palace and the house of a wealthy family. There is a tunnel you can walk through down to the Spring of Siloam, but the water was thigh-deep, so we decided not to go in. We sat to have a snack and got lucky to hear a private guide explaining the ruins.

After that, we walked back to the to visit the Cenacle, or room where Jesus ate the Last Supper, which is conveniently upstairs from the tomb of King David. The room of the Last Supper was a simple, rectangular Crusader church, turned into a mosque in the 14th century with the addition of a mihrab and verses from the Koran on the wall. Again, Gregory expressed doubts that Jesus would have eaten here, but again you either take all these things on faith or you don't. [Gregory's note: Being built by Crusaders was the first clue that this wasn't the actual room. Being outside the city walls was another. But maybe this place was built above the spot where a house existed 1200 years before its construction. Again, there are no records and during those years when Christianity was outlawed and Jerusalem was destroyed a couple of times, it would have been tough to pinpoint the house. There is a competing claim from a Syriac church in Jerusalem, as well.]

Arriving in Jerusalem

Waiting for the tram

Clean, modern tram

Outside the walled city on the Jaffa Road

The Jaffa Gate

Selfie with Jaffa Gate -- for our Instagram

Entering the market (Souk)

Those columns are probably pretty old

The church of the old Sepulchre also called the Church of the Resurrection or Church of the Anastasis by Orthodox Christians) is a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.^[1] The church contains, according to traditions dating back to at least the fourth century, the two holiest sites in Christianity: the site where Jesus of Nazareth was crucified,^[2] at a place known as "Calvary" or "Golgotha", and Jesus's empty tomb, where he is said to have been buried and resurrected.^[3] The tomb is enclosed by the 19th-century shrine, called the Aedicule (Edicule).

Crusader grafitti

The tomb where Jesus was buried is enclosed by the 19th-century shrine, called the Aedicule (Edicule). I had to wait in line for over an hour to get in!

The main denominations sharing property over parts of the church are the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic and Roman Catholic, and to a lesser degree the Coptic Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox.

The Anointing Stone, right inside the main entrance. Here is where they lay Jesus after being crucified. We saw people kneeling, praying and putting all sorts of objects on top.

The Rock of Calvary in the Chapel of Adam -- where Adam (of Eden) is allegedly buried

Underneath this altar is a hole where the cross of Jesus stood.

A mosaic of Jesus on the Anointing Stone, a few meters from the stone itself.

They are constantly remodeling different parts of the church.

Kids were getting out of school when we were there and couldn't resist taking this picture!

There were menorahs everywhere!

My kids think that is creepy to take pictures of children but I love it!

The Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount visible above the Western Wall

Love is my religion, as Ziggy Marley would say

The Western Wall, women's side. It looks crowded because the men's side is much larger.

Honestly, it was hard to pray with all the distractions around but I still manage to pray for a friend with cancer and all my family!

Sunshine said that she felt sadness and angry vibes. Interesting

Women praying, reading the Torah and others, crying

Western Wall - men's side. There is a synagogue in the covered area on the left side where more of the wall is visible

Excavations by the wall

While we were walking to David's city, we heard the Muslim call to prayer and caught these schoolboys praying in the street. Very impressive to be in the Jewish quarter and hear the muezzin!

View of the Palestinian village of Silwan seen from the city of David, looking much the same as it would have 2000 years ago. Except for the satellite dishes.

The house of Ahiel built against King David's palace.

Looking towards the Dung Gate from the City of David

We needed a break so we had a coffee and smoothies at the cafe

A view of the Temple Mount from the walls between Dung Gate and Zion Gate

It was hard to picture as the place where Jesus had his last supper because it has been reconstructed so many times -- and there was a mihrab. [Gregory's note: it's hard to picture Jesus having the last supper here because it wasn't built until the 13th century. The street level is present-day, so it's way above where it would have been in biblical times.]