27 June 2011 - Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Herodium, Yad Vashem

A 12 hour day today. It was long and tiring, but a good one. The cumulative fatigue of many long days has caught up with all. On the bus at 7 and at the Jerusalem site where historians and archeologists are fairly confident Jesus was crucified and buried. What makes it a bit confusing is that today the site is well within the city walls of Jerusalem. In 1st century Israel it was, of course, outside the city walls and gates. It always amazes me how rare it is - even today - to know for sure exactly where Biblical events took place. They can narrow it down but that's about it. We then walked down the Via Dolorosa (Way of the Cross) and ended up at the Pool of Bethesda and the nearby Crusader built church - Saint Anne's - who was Mary's mother and Jesus' grandmother. The church was empty but we stood at the front and sang Amazing Grace. St. Anne's is considered almost acoustically perfect and we sounded far better than singing in the shower. We then crossed the Kidron Valley and up to the Mount of Olives. We had a group photo on the Mount of Olives and then went down to what is believed to be the Garden of Gethsemene. The area is marked by two churches, but the garden has olive trees easily 1500 years old and some may date back to the time of Jesus. We then headed to the West Bank town of Bethlehem (House of Bread) and after clearing a checkpoint drove up to Herodium - Herod the Great's massive manmade mountain building project (worth googling). It took up about 45 minutes to clear us back through security into Israel - not sure why. Once back in Jerusalem we went to the holocaust museum - Yad Veshim. It was sobering, to say the least. We then visited a Christian ministy that one of our rabbis is involved with - Shevet Achim. We then went back to the hotel for a late dinner. More of Jerusalem tomorrow - our last day in Israel - including a visit to the Western Wall. Our next blog entry will be posted either back in the States or at the Israel airport. Shalom.

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