Special April days

With Deb and Shane on the Mount of Olives; Thursday, April 21, 2011

I thought I was quite lucky and blessed to be in Jerusalem for Holy Week and Easter last year--little did I guess at the time I was going to still be in Jerusalem for the same holidays this year! What a double blessing! And, because I had officially finished my volunteer work on April 19th, I was able to attend all the services and events without worrying about shifts!

Obviously one of the highlights of Holy Week is the walk to the Mount of Olives after the service and Eucharist Thursday evening. The evening was slightly cooler than one might expect for Jerusalem at the end of April. It was cool, breezy, and sprinkling every so often. Last year, the walk had been a bit intimidating as I had one arm in a sling and that affected my balance walking down unfamiliar steep roads and stairs in the dark! This year, I didn't have such a situation and could soak in the sights and atmospheres and thoughts without paying so much attention to my feet. :-)

As we walked east towards the Kidron Valley and Mount of Olives, the illuminated south city wall was on our left. The gray dome of the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount is just barely visible on the left side.
A few more steps down the road, the city wall was still to our left, but to our right was the lower Kidron Valley and the Arab village of Silwan. This is looking south, and the twinkling lights were so peaceful in the dark night.
I know, I know, this isn't the best picture in the world, but a few things can be identified. This is looking down into the Kidron Valley. In the center (at the bottom of the valley), the two traditional tombs are just visible. To the left of the picture, the illuminated facade of the Church of All Nations in Gethsemane is visible.
After walking down into, across, and up from the Kidron Valley, we walked past the Church of All Nations in the traditional Garden of Gethsemane. We walk up higher to the Russian Gethsemane; but even this traditional Gethsemane wasn't nearly as crowded as last year. Last year, the steps in front were full of people, but it would seem that the cool and wet weather kept some pilgrims away.
Another dark picture, but it sets the tone a bit . . . this was the path into the gardens of the Russian Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives.
Looking back west at the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock (framed by olive trees).


Good Friday started as a nice, sunny, spring day in Jerusalem--good thing because I had to walk up to the doctor's office yet again (about a 35-minute walk). But, by the afternoon, it had turned cold and quite windy. After service at 2, I stayed in and watched "The Passion." Saturday brought an Easter Vigil service at 8:00pm and then came Resurrection Sunday.

Sunday dawned bright and beautiful. I went to the sunrise service (6:00am!!) and then did some laundry and emails before the later service.

This is looking west--out the Christ Church gate and at the Tower of David gate across the street. The limestone was brilliant in the morning sun and the contrast between stone and blue sky certainly attracted one's attention.
Pictures after Resurrection services . . .

Michelle and Aaron, two of my very best Israel friends

A fellow volunteer and friend--Shane from Australia. This Sunday was Shane's last Sunday in Jerusalem and at Christ Church before returning home and my next-to-last so we were called up together for a farewell blessing. Don't know about Shane, but I was glad to share this with him and not be in the spotlight alone. :-)
After my last day of work, Holy Week observances took up the rest of the week and it flew by. But after Sunday, the count down started in earnest . . . More pictures to come of my special last ten days!

Snapshots of spring

In honor of Resurrection Sunday, thought I would share some of the photos I've taken in the past couple weeks of spring here in and around Jerusalem . . . I'm not a photographer by any means, but these were views and colors that caught my attention--enjoy!












I know a lot of these look like simply grass and wildflowers. While that is true, they are unique in that the green will likely only last another month, maybe two. By the end of June, it will be hot and dry here; the flowers will be gone as will the lush green grass. Hills and roadsides have not been this green and colorful in months, so it is a fresh, new view for those of us living here. The last picture was taken this morning--the bright limestone against the brilliant blue sky caught my attention.

Have a great spring day!

First day on holiday . . .

April 20th on the Haas Promenade in Talpiyot (yes, there was a breeze!)

So, after finishing my season of volunteering here, I wasted no time taking advantage of freedom! :-) The next day, I was up and out the gate promptly for a visit to Rachel's Tomb. Kever Rachel is the third holiest site in Judaism (behind the Temple Mount/Western Wall in Jerusalem and the Cave of Machpelah/Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron). The site has a fascinating history and historical records mention the tomb's location south of Jerusalem, on the outskirts of Bethlehem as far back as the 4th century A.D.

The story is familiar: in Genesis 34, Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob, dies giving birth to Benjamin while they were journeying from Bethel to Bethlehem and was buried on that path. This ancient tomb is located along the "Route of the Patriarchs"--the historical road from Bethel to Ephrath.

While traditions related to this tomb can be traced back to the 4th century AD and the tomb was marked by a pyramid in the 7th century, it apparently lost importance until the Crusaders revived its veneration in the 11th and 12th centuries. At that time the tomb was covered with 12 stones. The tomb is venerated by the Abrahamic faiths and it was controlled and maintained by Muslim rulers beginning sometime in the 15th century. Non-Muslims were barred from the site for a number of years prior to 1615, and in 1830, the Ottomans gave legal recognition to the site as being a Jewish holy site. in 1841, Sir Moses Montefiore purchased the site and obtained the key.

In 1947, the United Nations planned for the site to lie in an international zone, but following the 1947-1948 Israeli War of Independence, the site became part of the territory annexed by Jordan and was under the protection of the Islamic wakf. In 1967, Israel gained control of the West Bank, but Moshe Dayan opted not to include Rachel's tomb within the territory annexed to Jerusalem.

The 1995 Oslo Accords affected the status quo of Rachel's Tomb once again. Located only 1500 feet from the municipal border of Jerusalem, the initial plan placed it in the territory to be turned over to the Palestinian Authority; however, protests led to a reversal and the tomb and entrance road was left under Israeli control. The tomb has since been fortified with an adjacent military post and a 13 foot wall as it tends to be a highly-sensitive area prone to attacks and riots. Interestingly, although the tomb lies on the outskirts of Bethlehem, the West Bank barrier wall was built in a way to include the tomb on the Israeli side.

Okay enough history--now to pictures and my experience! :-) Although often Kever Rachel can only be visited in bullet-proof buses, things have been calm enough lately, I boarded a mostly-normal bus at Jerusalem's Central Bus Station. We traveled through some of the northern neighborhoods of Jerusalem, back south along the Old City, and then down Hebron Road to Bethlehem. Soon, the barrier came into view. Instead of going through the checkpoint into Bethlehem itself, we turned right and drove along the wall for a bit before turning left at a break and down along a road bordered by the same high concrete walls.

The West Bank barrier
On the right, the break in the wall where the entrance road arrives at the tomb complex. On the left, the actual entrance . . .
The modern entrance to Rachel's tomb, surrounded by military fortifications (this is a common flashpoint)
Mural depicting Kever Rachel as it was in the early 19th century. The tomb has become a symbol of God's promise in Jeremiah 31:15-17 that Rachel's children would return to the land.
Once inside the door, one goes down a hallway ...
...before seeing the original pillars, sign and entrance to the tomb on the right. The men's entrance was around this right pillar.
The women's entrance was under the sign, between the two pillars.
The women's hallway was maybe five feet wide--not much space for a lot of people. And it was even more crowded than usual as I visited during the week of Pesach. Rachel is considered the mother of the Jewish people, and women often come here to pray for fertility and easy, successful deliveries.
After getting pushed and jostled down the line, I was finally able to see the cenotaph itself. The stone archway is part of the original building built around 1620 and restructured in 1841, now enclosed within a more modern structure.
The "tomb" itself is actually a rock covered with a velvet drape adorned with 11 stars (for the eleven sons of Jacob alive when Rachel died). Unfortunately, the broad side of this faces the men's section.
I was really glad for the opportunity to visit Kever Rachel--it had been on my list of places I wanted to go for my entire time here. It was quite the experience--so chaotic and noisy. The line in to pray and view the tomb was impatient and full of pushing and yelling.

After catching a bus back up Hebron Road, I walked to the Haas promenade in Talpiyot. I was here once before, but it was so pleasant to be back on my own time on such a beautiful spring day. The views are breathtaking!

On the way, I saw another of Jerusalem's double-decker tour buses. Thought I better take a picture for the record--London, you have nothing on Jerusalem!!

The Haas promenadeLooking north over the promenade grounds and Jerusalem proper in the background
The Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock towards the left, the Kidron Valley running down the middle, and the Mount of Olives on the right
Another beautiful view
A spectacular view of Jerusalem's Old City (the golden dome is the Dome of the Rock on its eastern side). This picture is quite revealing--it shows clearly how much lower the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is than the western half of the Old City. It's always easy going down to visit the Western Wall but returning back home is quite an uphill climb!

After strolling along the promenade, I ducked into a grocery store to get a couple things. At first glance, it looks pretty normal ...
But, this was during the week of Passover. Leavened bread is not the only unapproved item during this week; there is quite a list of non-kosher foods, including cakes, crackers, cereals, coffee blends, wheat, barley, oats, rice, and any liquids containing ingredients or flavors made from grain alcohol or vinegar. Obviously, it would be a massive job to take all this stuff into a back store room for week and then bring it out again, so store managers have come up with a different solution ... shelves containing the non-kosher items are covered up and inaccessable.

I hope you've enjoyed sharing my sight seeing journey of last Wednesday. It was quite a cross section of culture--from the holy site of Kever Rachel and those there to pray, to the promenade where many families were out having lunch and just enjoying the holiday, to the grocery store where Pesach has affected inventory and availability. I really enjoyed this day and all the opportunities to "soak up local color" as Lucy wanted to do when she and Ricky traveled to Europe. :-)

More stories and pictures to come . . .!

Holiday time!!

With Rebecca on my last day of work

After a crazily busy and intense month since the last blog post, I arrived at my final day of work here yesterday. The arrival of this milestone brings a myriad of thoughts and feelings with it. There were times where I wondered if I would make it to that point in time; there is a measure of relief in arriving and finishing. Contrarily to that, there's also a sense that the day ended up coming too quickly. It's the end of a chapter, and I'm sorry to see it close. My time of serving here has been quite stretching, but it's also chock full of so many special moments. I may come back someday, but this special journey is now coming to a close and I guess it's time to look ahead to the next part of the journey . . .

There was a point in time where I daydreamed about a downhill coast to the finish--should have known better! The last month has seen quite an increase in pressure, responsibilities, and requests. The last week was quite busy and saw me do a cleaning shift as well as a breakfast shift. I haven't done those in awhile, and while it was a bit frustrating as I got none of my work done because we were short handed, it was kind of fun to come full circle and end with doing some of the things I did at the beginning 16 months ago. Yesterday evening was a Seder meal and I worked a 10-hour day--both to help with preparations and because I was dragging my feet to see the last day end.

One of my last big projects was organizing a Pesach meal in the desert for Monday evening. We had done this last year (you can probably find pictures in one of my old blog posts) and it was such a memorable experience; I wanted to give this year's volunteer team the same opportunity. In the end, we had 33 people sit down for our Pesach meal, and I think it all turned out okay. It was (obviously) not the same as last year--I did not expect it to be, but kept being surprised when things would take a different turn. But, it was all good and I think everybody enjoyed the evening!

Nathan, Nick, and Joe apparently enjoyed the Dead Sea mud quite thoroughly in the afternoon!
Our Pesach table at dusk (If you think I'm naming everybody in these pictures, you are wrong!)
Our fantastic rector, David, led the evening's remembrance and celebration

With the turning of the calendar three weeks ago, I realized just how short my time left really is and how long my list of things to see remains. I don't have so many days to get places, so I have been cramming quite a bit of sight seeing into my days off, while still trying to make some days off true off days!

On April 6th, I visited the Chamber of the Holocaust on Mount Zion (immediately south of Zion Gate in the southern Old City wall) and then walked back via the Jewish Quarter.

From the Chamber of the Holocaust
The Tomb of Our Brothers--remembering the largest concentration camps and mass murder sites in Europe
The Children's MemorialThe Sephardic synagogue complex--four synagogues are built here; this is the spiritual center for the Sephardim community (the Sephardim are descendants of the Jewish people expelled from Spain and Portugal in the late 15th century).
A beckoning courtyard . . .The Hurva synagogue
Five days later, I planned myself a very full day. First, I walked approximately three miles from the Old City to Mount Scopus (northeast of the Old City) to visit the military cemetery and Ammunition Hill.

Cemetery entrance
Just inside the gate
This is only about 1/4 of the cemetery
Looking down at Jerusalem from the top of the cemetery on Mount Scopus
Ammunition Hill is a strategic location north of Jerusalem's Old City and the site of an important battle/victory during the Six-Day War in 1967 (you can read about it on Wikipedia :-)). It is now both a museum and memorial to the soldiers who fell in the battle for Jerusalem. The main ceremony on Jerusalem Day is held here.

Bunker on Ammunition Hill
"Triangle of Death"
Trenches
From Ammunition Hill, I walked to Jerusalem's Central Bus Station (another c. 3 miles) and caught a bus to Mount Herzl. My plans to visit the Herzl Museum didn't quite work out, but the walk was quite enjoyable and I paid a final visit to Yad Vashem instead.

Northern neighborhoods of Jerusalem
Yad Vashem complexJerusalem neighborhoods, hills, and forest near Yad Vashem
It was quite a full day--I certainly got my exercise (along with a sunburn . . . forgot sunscreen)! But, it was such an enjoyable day. The weather was great and I loved walking the streets of this city . . .

Now you're partially caught up on what I've been doing. There are still the stories of an emergency room visit, a Kever Rachel visit, a walk along the Talpiyot Promenade, and spring in Jerusalem to tell, but those will have to wait until another time. Since my work is finished, these stories may get told quite soon!

It is a beautiful time here in Jerusalem. Spring has arrived and many of the days have been absolutely perfect--sunny, a cool breeze, and crystal-clear blue skies. The birds sing almost every morning in the quiet before the day picks up. I am so grateful to be here and able to live each day to the fullest . . .

Keep a watch out for more posts in the upcoming days!