Jerusalem, Israel March 7--10, 2012

Jerusalem, Israel Mar 7—10

Entering Israel through the Palestinian Territories isn't as difficult as we thought it would be. We breeze through with the help of Guiding Star VIP service, a real help for navigating a border crossing that promises to be as perplexing as it is time-consuming. But it is actually neither, and we are shortly on our way to Jerusalem, passing mounds of sand, grazing camels, and Bedouins in their now-recognizable tents. We actually get to our Jerusalem hotel 2 hours and 15 minutes after leaving our hotel in Amman.

jars containing the Dead Sea Scrolls

Our first stop: Israel Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, and they are as incredible as we expected. The special built building is in the shape of the lid that covered the clay jars that the first three scrolls were found in. In fact, the clay jars are beautifully displayed and are in amazingly pristine condition. The segments of the scrolls are displayed with great explanations and well done display cases, although dimly lit because of the fear of fading. In some cases, the display is of a facsimile, not the real thing, which is understandable. I wish I could read them, but, of course, they are in Hebrew although some are in Greek or Aramaic. Pretty incredible collection to think of their age and significance.

museum building housing the Dead Sea Scrolls

We decide to amble through the Old City and find that it is truly "the city on a hill" as it is called in the Bible. Very narrow streets with shops, restaurants, cafes, coffee and ice cream shops, and beautiful churches. Art shops are scattered around as are antiquities shops and famous sites. We know we can't see them all, but we are excited about going with our guide tomorrow to sites that are well-known to so many people and about which we've heard and read all our lives.

Jerusalem--city on a hill

Jerusalem is all that—and more! Our guide Shmuel shows us an amazing array of sites, among them the Via Dolorosa (the road Jesus walked while carrying the cross—the stations of the cross), the Dome of the Rock (the gold-leafed dome that is a spiritual location for both Muslims and Jews), several churches that were built by the Crusaders, magnificent architecture both ancient and more recent (largely by Barluzzi), the Wailing Wall or West Wall (Jews go here to pray), the Garden of Gethsemene wth its 2000-year-old olive trees, Mary's birthplace and lots lots more, but our favorite spot is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is built over the place that the cross is thought to have stood and contains the stone slab on which Jesus' body was laid to be washed before burial. It also has a cave on one wall where Christ is believed to have possibly been buried). It is very moving and gives the sense that those events of so many years ago are closer than we thought them to be. From the terrace of St. Andrew's Scottish Guesthouse we sit and look across the valley at the walled city of Jerusalem and know that it's going to be a very long time before we can sort out and get our heads wrapped around all that we have seen-- if that's even possible!

West Wall or Wailing Wall

Speaking of the Scottish Guesthouse, we pick up a little brochure that tells us about the find that happened here in 1975. Two tiny silver scrolls from the 7^th century BC, the oldest Biblical text artifacts ever discovered, were found on the property and contained a very familiar blessing in Hebrew. It's the one that says, "The Lord bless you and keep you: the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24 in the Bible quotes the scrolls. Isn't that amazing that they were found on this property?

in front of the Dome of the Rock