Holy Land Trip Day 10: Jerusalem Day 3

THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER, SCAFFOLDING AND ALL. VIEW FROM THE BELL TOWER OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER.


A MONK IN A DOORWAY INSIDE THE CHURCH

Our last day in Jerusalem started very early. We wanted to be back to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where we had finished our previous day, early enough that there would be few people there. It opens at 4:30, and we managed to make it by about 5:30.

As I mentioned in the last post, the final Stations of the Cross are inside the church itself, which was constructed on the presumed site of the crucifixion and burial of Christ. So, in effect, the church was built on top of Golgotha, and encompassing the tomb at the foot of it.

After passing through the external courtyard, if you turn right inside the door and climb the steep stairway there, you find yourself atop Golgotha. There are three further Stations here:


STATION 11: CHRIST IS NAILED TO THE CROSS. THIS CHAPEL IS OWNED BY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.


TO THE LEFT OF THE CATHOLIC ALTAR IS A SMALLER ALTAR CALLED THE "STABAT MATER," WHICH IS PLACED TO THE RIGHT OF THE SPOT OF THE CRUCIFIXION, MARKING THE PLACE WHERE MARY STOOD AND WEPT.



STATION 12: CHRIST DIES ON THE CROSS. THIS BEAUTIFUL GREEK ORTHODOX ALTAR IS PLACED DIRECTLY OVER THE SPOT DESIGNATED AS THE ONE WHERE THE CROSS WAS PLACED. YOU CAN APPROACH THE ALTAR, KNEEL, AND REACH UNDERNEATH TO TOUCH THE ACTUAL ROCK OF GOLGOTHA, AS I AM DOING HERE.


THE ROCK OF GOLGOTHA. LESS IMPRESSIVE IN PHOTO FORM.

Back downstairs, directly beneath the chapel at the top of Golgotha, there is a smaller chapel, built up against the base of the rock. It is called the Chapel of Adam (early Christian tradition held that Christ was crucified over the spot where the skull of Adam was buried), and you can see there a fissure in the rock of Golgotha that some believe was caused by the earthquake that occurred as Christ died:


THE ALTAR IN THE CHAPEL OF ADAM

Outside this chapel is the Stone of Annointment (or the Stone of Unction), a slab that commemorates the wrapping and preparation of Christ's body for burial. The marble that is there now dates only from 1810, but the spot has been revered at least since the Medieval period. Many visitors display a lot of emotion when viewing this spot, with many kneeling to kiss the stone:



Going another story below the church to the Chapel of St. Helena (the mother of Constantine, the one who discovered the "True Cross" of the crucifixion in the early fourth century and convinced her son to build the first Holy Sepulcher on this spot), you can see not only the scant remains of the first church that remain on this spot, but also many examples of graffiti carved over hundreds of years by devout pilgrims.


THE STAIRS DESCENDING TO THE CHAPEL OF ST. HELENA


THE WALL ON THE WAY DOWN IS COVERED WITH THOUSANDS OF CROSSES CARVED BY PILGRIMS


THIS CROSS ON THE FLOOR MARKS THE SPOT WHERE ST. HELENA DISCOVERED THE "TRUE CROSS"

The rest of the church is filled with small chapels, some of which were open and some of which were not. As I mentioned in the last post, each is owned and maintained by a different denomination. The morning that we were there, early as it was, there was already a mass going on on the spot of the 11th Station, as well as another service that was making full use of the impressive pipe organ. I will try to attach a video below so anyone who is interested can hear it.

We were very glad that we had been able to enter the Tomb of Christ the day before, as it was closed for a service this morning. There were four or five monks inside chanting, although we could not of course see what they were doing.



THE FRONT OF THE SHRINE OF THE TOMB, WITHOUT ALL THE TOURISTS OF THE DAY BEFORE


PETER BESIDE THE SHRINE BUILT AROUND THE TOMB

On the back of the tomb is the smallest chapel in the entire church -- the Coptic chapel on the back of the square shrine. The Copts claim that a stone inside is part of the original tomb, but this is highly doubtful as it is granite and the interior of the tomb is limestone. There is always a monk sitting here, and visitors may light a candle.


LIGHTING A CANDLE IN THE COPTIC CHAPEL. YOU CAN SEE A MONK BEHIND ME.

Behind the square shrine is the entrance to yet another chapel, the very interesting Syrian Chapel. The Syrian Orthodox church maintains this area, which many visitors miss. It is of great archaeological interest because inside, along the back walls, are several tunnels whose sides are covered with Jewish rock-cut tombs that date from 100 BC to 100 AD. This of course proves that this area was used for burial, which somewhat shores up the assertion that Christ's tomb may have been in this area. It also indicates the limits of the area that Constantine dug out of the rock to build his church:


THE ALTAR IN THE SYRIAN CHAPEL


A NOT-VERY-GOOD PHOTO OF SOME OF THE TOMBS. FLASH PICTURES INSIDE DARK CAVES NEVER TURN OUT WELL.

All in all, the Holy Sepulcher is not only the holiest site of all for Christian believers, it is one of the most important religious sites in the world. It is a case study in archaeology, religious history, and the mediation of modern conflicts between religious groups. Definitely a not-to-be-missed site.

From the church, we went back to the Jaffa Gate and walked the second section of walls, the one we had not had access to the day before because it passes the Muslim section of town. Some views:


A VIEW ALONG THE WALL TOWARDS THE DOME OF THE ROCK


SOME CHILDREN ON THE PLAYGROUND AT A SCHOOL. YES, THEY ARE WAVING AT US.


THE CHAOS OF JERUSALEM

The place where we came down from the wall is very close to the church of St. Anne's, which I mentioned in an earlier post. The archaeological excavations that are ongoing on the grounds of this church are fascinating. Archaeologists have determined that this was the site of the Bethesda pool, where the Bible says that people afflicted with various conditions would lie and wait for the waters to move (because they were stirred by an angel). When this happened, the first one into the water would be healed. Here, Christ healed a lame man who had gone to the pool every day for many years, but had no one to help him into the water. The site is most interesting not only because it matches up with the story in John 5, but because excavations below the Byzantine and Crusader churches built on top of the site have revealed an ancient temple to Asclepius, the Roman god of medicine, indicating that the water at the site continued to be utilized for its healing qualities in the centuries after Christ:


THE EXCAVATIONS AT THE SITE ARE IMPRESSIVE. THE TALL RUINS SEEN HERE ARE OF A CRUSADER CHURCH ON TOP OF A BYZANTINE CHURCH


AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA

After St. Anne's, we stopped briefly for a photo op at the Ecce Homo arch, part of a Roman triumphal arch that Christian tradition says is the spot where Pontius Pilate showed Christ to the crowd, who then called for his crucifixion. "Ecce Homo." "Behold, the man." The arch is actually datable to a later period than the crucifixion of Christ, so there is nothing but tradition behind its identification as this spot, which was more likely near the Citadel discussed in an earlier post.


THE SO-CALLED "ECCE HOMO ARCH"

We worked our way slowly out through the Muslim market to the Damascus Gate. There, we paused outside the city to contemplate the sheer number and diversity of the people passing in and out of that famous gate. It really does give one the feeling that everyone, sooner or later, comes to Jerusalem. Knowing that it has been just this busy, with trade and pilgrims, for many hundreds of years, makes it even more interesting:



Having left the Old City, we visited the nearby Rockefeller Museum. The collection here is astounding. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed. The objects range from the first known mask in the world, a painted limestone face found in a Judean cave and dated to ca. 7000 BC, through Canaanite and early Hebrew objects, and into the Christian period. The carved lentils from the doorway of the Holy Sepulcher as it stood before a disastrous fire in 1808 are remarkable. The collection is fairly superb, but a lack of organization and explanatory labels, so common in this part of the world, mar the experience. Still, it should be visited.

From there we caught the servees to Bethlehem. Most of that experience I have already detailed in the first post about this trip, an account of our time in the West Bank. What I did not do in that original post, however, was discuss the Church of the Nativity and the Milk Grotto in any detail, and show pictures of them.

The Church of the Nativity obviously marks the supposed site of the birth of Christ. This is one of the earliest surviving Christian churches in the world, built in the fourth century, although various sections of it were reworked over the centuries. The nave itself dates to the time of the emperor Justinian, in the fifth century. It's interior is fairly astounding, including 44 pink limestone columns, most of them original to the 4th-century church, which were painted with images of saints during the Crusader period.


PETER SNAPPED THIS GREAT SHOT OF PALESTINIAN SECURITY FORCES PATROLLING THE SOUTH AISLE OF THE CHURCH


ONE OF THE CRUSADER-ERA PAINTINGS ON A PILLAR OF THE NAVE

Of course, the highlight of a visit to the church is the grotto beneath the altar, the site of the manger. The precise spot is marked by a silver star on the floor, and tourists (like us) take turns kneeling there.


WE WERE IN THE GROTTO WITH A GROUP OF PILGRIMS FROM NIGERIA.

In the smaller St. Catherine's church next door, stairs lead down to a grotto that is said to have been the study, and the burial place, of St. Jerome, and the site where, in the late fourth century, he completed the Vulgate, the definitive edition of the Bible, translated from Hebrew and Greek into Latin.

As we walked through the town, we stopped to watch some local workmen creating the olivewood sculpture that is prized all over the world:



The Milk Grotto, which I also described in an earlier post, is a modern building (1872) built on the site of another 4th century church. Although the story of Mary hiding in a cave with the infant Christ before fleeing to Egypt is not in the Bible, it was clearly important enough in the mythology of early Christianity to warrant a church. The building there today is somewhat bizarre because of its super-modern appearance:


EXTERIOR OF THE MILK GROTTO


A CHAPEL IN THE MILK GROTTO


THERE IS ALWAYS A NUN PRAYING IN THE GROTTO, DAY AND NIGHT

Since I have discussed the rest of our experience in the West Bank already, I will just take the chance to say again that our trip to Bethlehem was a powerful and moving experience, and I would urge others to take advantage of the opportunity to do so if it arises.

From Bethlehem it was back to pick up our bags at the hospice, then we caught the sunset bus to Tel Aviv (because Saturday is the Sabbath, the buses do not run until sundown). There we were picked up at the station by Ilan, the husband of Tsameret, my fellow Fellow here at the Research Center. Because we would be doing them the favor of escorting their two small children back to Istanbul from Israel the next day, her parents were kind enough to put us up for the night in their home. Tsameret's brother and sister-in-law came over, and we all had a nice family meal and discussed the upcoming Israeli elections (yes, politics over dinner. I know it is risky, but SO interesting!). It was nice after so many nights in hotels and on the move to relax in a family atmosphere.

An Afternoon in the West Bank

As many of you know, Peter and I have had the important opportunity to observe reactions to the war in Gaza while here in Istanbul. Events which are no more than concerning news items to many people around the world have been of vital importance to several of our friends and colleagues here, some of whom have family living in Israel, or even children currently serving in active duty in the Israeli military. The conflict has been the source of discussion, and occasionally some disagreement, among the Fellows here at the Research Institute.

We have also watched with interest and concern the pro-Palestinian rallies that for several weeks took place on a daily basis, sometimes two or three times a day, on the street outside our residence. Many of these had overtly anti-Semitic overtones, as well as elements of anti-American propaganda.

Many of you are also aware that we had planned a trip to Israel and Jordan before the war broke out. We watched the developments closely, wondering whether we should call off the trip or go ahead with it. At the advice of our Israeli friends, and after exchanging several emails with the U.S. Consular offices in Jerusalem, we decided to make the trip. By the time we departed for Israel, the situation in Gaza had calmed down somewhat. Nevertheless, the Consulate told us that although there were no restrictions in place for non-diplomatic U.S. citizens, it "could not recommend" that we do three things (and had forbidden its own staff from doing them): 1) take lodging inside the Old City of Jerusalem, 2) enter the Muslim Quarter of the Old City on Friday afternoon, or 3) enter Palestinian territory in the West Bank. In the end, we did all of these things.

We will write about our experiences in Jerusalem in later posts. But I feel that it is important that we share our experiences in the West Bank first. Partly this is because I want to do it while it is still fresh in my memory, and partly because I am still struggling to make sense of what we saw and experienced, and writing always seems to help with that process. It is not overstating the case to say that our few brief hours there have affected us deeply, enhanced our understanding, but also shifted our viewpoints regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That being said, I am not writing this to forward a particular political viewpoint. I hope that this will be read by many of my friends and family members, some of whom will have very different views of the political situation. I am certainly not wishing to offend anyone with this. I also understand that although this experience has given me a vantage point from which to speak about the situation that I did not have before, I am not an expert on the politics of the conflict. I realize that I am susceptible to emotional manipulation, and that not everything that was told to us by the Palestinians that we spoke with may be completely true, or can possibly be unbiased. But I believe that it is still important that it be heard:

Last Saturday, we took a "servees" (an Arab shared taxi) from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, which is in the West Bank. Since these are vans that regularly carry mostly Arabs with Israeli ID cards, who are free to move between Israeli and Palestinian territory, they may bypass the military checkpoints, which potentially saved us a lot of time spent in a taxi sitting at the border. We arrived in Bethlehem in the early afternoon and had a nice lunch in Manger Square, facing the Church of the Nativity, which commemorates the supposed site of the birth of Christ. The town is pleasant and quiet (at least currently, since tourism is way down). The main public building on the square is the Bethlehem Peace Center. Bethlehem is a town that desperately wishes to be associated with peace.

Our first stop was the Church. Outside the building, as at most tourist sites around the world, license tour guides offered their services. 'Only 40 shekels; (about $10). No, we didn't need a guide. '30 shekels.' No, thank you. '20 shekels.' Only later did we realize how desperate the survival situation has become for many of the Palestinians living here, and we wished we had taken a guide that we didn't need.

Although in other seasons, and in other years, Bethlehem has been a major site of pilgrimage for tourists from around the world, while we were there we saw only a few tour groups: one small group from the United States, some Germans, and a larger group of Nigerians. They crowded into the small grotto underneath the church with a bronze star on the floor marking the site of the Nativity, and sang "Silent Night." This is a scene that is probably repeated hundreds of times a year on this spot, and we could not help but note the irony. "All is calm, all is bright...Sleep in heavenly peace." After maybe an hour in this church and the one next door with a grotto puported to be the study (and tomb) of St. Jerome, the tour groups were hustled back onto their buses and back to Jerusalem.

Leaving behind the tour groups, who never ventured off the main square, we walked further into town to visit the Milk Grotto. Legend has it that this cave was the site where Mary and the infant Jesus hid from Herod's soldiers, before the Flight into Egypt. It is said that a drop of Mary's breast milk fell onto the ground when she was nursing Christ, and turned the rocks of the cave white. The chalky powder scraped from the walls and ceiling is sold as a remedy for lactation problems and female infertility. While we were walking to this church, we were approached by a young Palestinian man who offered to be our guide, no charge, if we would come visit his shop after we were done looking around. I had planned to do some shopping in Bethlehem anyway, being interested in purchasing some of the beautiful olivewood sculptures made locally, so we agreed.

It soon became clear that this young man, Said, was not your average salesperson. Often in our travels we have encountered these "guides" who know the very basic facts of a site, often less than is in the general guidebook, or who are only passing on confused information they have heard from other guides, hoping for a small fee or a visit to their shop. Said, however, was extremely knowledgeable about Bethlehem and the surrounding area, and particularly about the history of the Roman period of Palestine under Herod. He said that he would like to work as a tour guide for all of Israel, but that it is impossible for him to get the papers that would allow him to leave the West Bank.

We left the Milk Grotto and accompanied Said to the small store where he works, where we were greeted by an older man and woman (family?), offered tea, and shown various examples of the local sculpture. While we picked out our purchases, we began talking to the three about their experiences living in the West Bank. What had started as a typical middle eastern shopping experience quickly turned more serious. Tourism is down they said. It was already low before, but now, with the war in Gaza, no one comes to Bethlehem. When they do come, they come only in a group, on a bus. The tour operators used to walk the groups through town, bring them to the small shops on the side streets. They no longer do that, but rush their groups into and out of the two main churches and back to Jerusalem. No one is selling anything. No one has money. They have no way to make money, no way to support their families.

But it is not only the loss of revenue, of livelihood, that concerns these people. As the older shop owner related, 'I love the Jewish people. I speak better Hebrew than I do Arabic. They were my neighbors, my brothers. They were my best friends when I was growing up. We lived next to each other.' Now, the only Jewish people living in the area are in the walled settlements. They no longer have daily contact with the Palestinian people living here. With the division of the land has come a loss of community, and a great alienation for the Palestinians.


ONE OF THE ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS IN THE WEST BANK

Our hosts are eager to know what the view of the war in Gaza is in the outside world. When we tell them that there are many people around the world concerned about the situation, they are happy. Said says, 'This is the only thing that keeps us going -- knowing the world is thinking about us.' Then he asks us if we will come with him to visit the wall. He will call his cousin to come and drive us there.

At first we are skeptical. After all, it is hardly the safest thing to go in a vehicle with someone you have barely met in a foreign country. But we have a good feeling about Said, and he is genuinely concerned that we see the wall, so we decide to do it. While we wait for our ride, I talk more with the female shopkeeper. I ask how the war in Gaza has affected them, since we had not felt during the rest of our trip that it was affecting northern Israel at all, except perhaps in a slight decrease in tourism. "It is peaceful here," she says. "We don't see anything. We only wake sometimes in the morning and hear that soldiers came in the night and took some people."

Said's cousin arrives in a 20-year-old, beat-up white sedan. There is no handle on the passenger door on my side, so I crawl in the other side. The two young Palestinians laugh and call it a "classic car." They drive us across town to the limits of their world, the Israeli wall. It is covered in graffiti, and we want to take pictures. "We can't stop here," Said tells us, "there are security cameras and they will wonder why we are looking at the wall. We'll drive to an area where we can stop."

The wall, of course, is the barrier constructed by Israel beginning in 2002 to stop the suicide bombings and shootings of civilians in Israeli towns that were being carried out by Palestinian terrorists. While the politics of the barrier and its route are complicated, there is no doubt that it has been effective in decreasing suicide attacks, saving the lives of an unknown number of Israelis. The question that must now be answered is whether it is the most effective way to achieve a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine, and at what cost to the Palestinian people. Again, I am no expert on the politics or the history of this conflict, and I am not attempting here to sway anyone's political opinion, but it was clearly of critical importance to Said that we visit the wall with him, and that we hear his story and share it with others. So I will let him speak for himself, and post here our photos of the wall:

"This is the cage of the Palestinian people. You would need wings to get over this wall."


THE BLUE LINE RUNS THE LENGTH OF THE WALL IN BETHLEHEM AND REFLECTS ONE GRAFITTI ARTIST'S DREAM THAT THE WALL SHOULD BE SO HIGH.


THE WALL SEEN THROUGH THE REAR WINDOW OF THE CAR, WITH A STICKER ON THE GLASS







"We have no cars. We have no nightclubs. We have no girlfriends. We have no life."


A YOUNG PALESTINIAN STANDS IN FRONT OF THE WALL.







"We are Palestinians. We can do anything -- we can do it for the entire world. But we don't have the chance."

















Who do the Palestinians blame for the state of their lives? Completely contrary to what I would have expected, we heard over and over, from different Palestinians that we talked to, that they do not blame the people of Israel. Just as the shop owner misses the mixed community of Jews and Palestinians that he once enjoyed, Said says of the current conflict, "It is not the people that cause this problem, but the governments."

Also, contrary to what we have often been told by the media, many of the Palestinians are not buying the line that Hamas is trying to feed the world -- that they are the saviors of the Palestinian people, defending their rights against the Goliath of the Israeli state. Says Said, "Hamas and the directors do not care about any living Palestinian. They only care about staying in charge. They are like gangsters, with guns." He urges us to tell our friends that if they are sending aid to Palestine, make sure it does not go to an organization that will pass any of it on to Hamas. He is convinced that none of that money ever reaches the people. He wishes more people understood that, and that if they want to help, they would send money to organizations like the Red Crescent.

I am sure, of course, that there are Palestinians who feel differently, and the situation may very well be different in Gaza, where the struggle to survive has become even more immediate than for those in the West Bank who are losing their livelihood but not necessarily their lives. But it was very striking to us that continually the Palestinians were talking about a reconciliation with their Jewish neighbors that could be brought about on the level of the people, although they have no faith than any government or politician can, or will, do it (not even Obama, although they are optimistic about him in general). This complete lack of ill will towards the Jewish people on the part of the Palestinians we talked with makes the often anti-Semitic rallies that we have seen in Istanbul all the more tragic. It seems that the Palestinian people are being used as a banner by anti-Israeli groups whose ultimate goals do not reflect what many average Palestinians would wish for.

The few hours that we spent in the West Bank gave us much food for thought, and I certainly have not reached any conclusions yet. I look forward to conversations with friends and colleagues about these issues, and we welcome the posting of any comments that those of you who are reading this may have.