Holy Land Mountaintop Pilgrimage -- Israel, January 2014 -- Days 11, 12 and 13

Day 11, Wednesday, January 29, 2014 … We are visiting a few sites in and around Jerusalem today.  First to the Our Lady of the Arc of the Covenant Church in Abu Ghosh, just west of Jerusalem, The home of Obed Edom, where the Arc of the Covenant was kept before being taken into Jerusalem by King David. We had Mass here and then Jeff gave a talk explaining with Biblical references

Our Lady of the Arc of the Covenant Church
Abu Ghosh, Israel

how Mary is the New Arc of the Covenant, that God has given us a Mother to lead us to Jesus and to intercede for us.

We doubled back to Jerusalem to Mt. Zion, first visiting the beautiful Dormition Church which is one of the places claimed to be where Mary fell asleep and was assumed into Heaven.  It is a gorgeous church with many mosaic side altars and a holy memorial to Mary in the basement built by the Benedictines in 1900.

We drove to the Upper Room of the Last supper.  The Upper Room has its significance over the centuries with the Christians because it traditionally the place where Jesus had the last Passover Supper when he instituted the Eucharist and the Priesthood.  At one point in history it was also a mosque, and we saw three Muslims in the room praying there facing Mecca (apparently unusual), plus below the Upper Room was used to be a Jewish synagogue … AND below that is King David’s tomb. In the Upper Room we sang a special Blessings over the five priests who have been with us on this pilgrimage.

We went to the Kibbutz Ramat Rachel for lunch ... a kibbutz just on the edge of Jerusalem.  Great sweet  potato soup plus salads.  It has been great eating in Israel … though most meals are similar, there has been a lot of fresh vegetables slivered or sliced or cubed in many different sauces or just plain, all the fixings for a salad if you wish, soups, and usually some meat plus delicious breads.  It has challenged me to be more creative in adding vegetables and fruits to my menus.  We have eaten three square meals a day every day … but, we have eaten very healthy …no junk food!

After lunch we did a brief tour at the Israel Museum, learning about Jerusalem during the time of Jesus.  A huge model of the city during

Replica of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus

the time of Jesus which was done by students several years ago … very interesting to learn where Jesus entered the city, where he taught and performed miracles, where he would have walked the Passion, etc. The Museum also had the Dead Sea Scrolls on exhibit … an exciting and informative archeological find that not only confirmed the Bible narratives with historical facts, but also gave great insight on the life of the Jewish people at that time. 

Next we went to the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem where we had a kind of “’farewell” from Jeff, reminding us of the way to read the Bible to understand our salvation history, gag gifts for the entire tour group, gifts to our guides and bus drives (there has been the Green … us .. and Gold Buses on this trip), another special Thank You to our priests and everyone who has made our trip run smoothly.  Then we had a guided tour through the Museum, which houses many ancient artifacts that have been discovered from as long ago as 5,000 years … civilizations and their cultural and religious practices and how that evolved into monotheism  (Our belief in one God), the evolution of the written word of the Bible up to the 1400’s when the Guttenberg  printed press made it possible to mass produce the Bible and make it available in different translations and quantities that people were able to read it.

We then returned to the Israeli Museum restaurant for an excellent dinner … breads with many different toppings, salad stuff, delicious chicken pieces, salmon skewers with tomatoes, filet steals (first time the entire trip!) … the wine kept flowing, great conversation with those at the table, said our good-byes to Jeff and Emily Cavins …they’ve been in Israel since the beginning of January for the first 2-week

Marcie, Emily, Jeff, Bob

tour and now ours … they return to MN tonight).  Upon returning to the hotel, we had a drink with Jim and Lynn, who are also from MN and whom we’ve gotten to know and enjoy their company.  Tomorrow is a “free day” … we are going to Jericho and Masada … and so are Lynn and Jim … and then directly to the airport to return home.  It’s been a long two weeks … but on the other hand it seems like only yesterday that we arrived here.  It’s been an amazing trip …  we’ve gotten to know people from all over the US … some went on Jeff’s first tour just prior to this; others have been on tours with him in previous years; others, like us, are here for the first time.  Traveling to the places Jesus has been has been the high light of the trip … but so has hearing the Israeli point of view on their history, their deep desire for peace and how they have worked for it, their ingenuity in solving problems, their pride and national spirit … put it all together … simply … God is good, all the time.  All the time, God is good. I am so blessed to be here.

Tomorrow we check out of our hotel … visit Jericho and Masada … back to the Tel Aviv airport for the flight back to the us … where I understand it is quite cold! 

Days 12 & 13 … January 30 & 31, 2014 … Today is a “free day”.    People had different options to choose … we chose to go to Jericho and Masada.  So we packed our bags, had our last breakfast at the hotel, boarded the bus, headed east, past the mount of Olives where we had our last beautiful view of Jerusalem, past Bethany where Jesus stayed many times and where Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead, stopping at the Good Samaritan Inn for our last daily Mass of the pilgrimage.  Around the grounds and in the museum were beautiful ruins of mosaic floors … Can you imagine the cost of doing such detailed work on our floors day??? 

Continuing on, the elevation dropped from over 2,000 feet above sea level at Jerusalem to 1300 feet below sea level at Jericho.  Jericho is believed to be the oldest and the lowest city in the world, as discoveries in the tel have found evidence of civilizations from 9500 years ago.  Israel gave this area to the Palestinians, who now govern the area. Therefore, Jews are no longer allowed to enter the city. There is always good weather here … often called the Palm Tree City.  It is an oasis in the desert, as there are two springs and an aqueduct from the time of Herod supplying water for the town and the surrounding agricultural fields.  Of course we had to stop at the “tourist stop” of the sycamore tree that Zacchaeus climbed to see Jesus … not the actual tree of course, but it did happen somewhere in Jericho!

Greek Orthodox convent/monastery on
Mount of Temptation

View of Jericho from the Mount of Temptation

Then we took a cable car to the Mount of Temptation where it is believed Jesus was tempted by the devil three times.  It is another steep, barren, very warm mountain, and from there we walked up, up, up, up, up, twisting and turning up, up, up to a Greek Orthodox convent/monastery built hugging the side of the mountain during the Byzantine period, 4^th-5^th-6^th-century… Oie-vey! (Hebrew for… oooftah!)  But inside the monastery was a good-sized cave with seats carved along the edge (finally, rest!), with another cave deeper in that had quite a few icons, and with still another cave behind that which one had to back down the steps to get too and which only 5-6 people could fit in at a time … a very quiet place to pray and meditate!  Further down the hall, there is a small Greek Orthodox chapel … very ornate, many mosaics and icons … amazing!  Fr. Chris was with us and pointed out that as Jesus was tempted while in this desert for 40 days, we also are to turn to Him when we are tempted … as we always are!

Lunch in Jericho on a patio with a view of the monastery way up the hill, the breeze and trees around us … chicken on pita bread … yum!  Now we head south along the Dead Sea where we were several days ago, making our way to Masada.  It is in the middle of nowhere with views of the Dead Sea and the surrounding Judean desert.  We take a cable car up to the top … though we saw many people climbing up and down the thousands of steps along the “snake path” !  The winter temperature here today is a comfortable 72 degrees; but the desert can get as hot as 120 degrees in the shade during the summer.

The fortress was built by Herod in 31 BCE as a backup palace, though it is thought that he never actually came to the place.  The engineering and architecture were an amazing feat … elaborate system for getting water, of bath and steam rooms, storage rooms, several stories, etc.  When the Romans burned Jerusalem in 70 BCE, over 900 Jews escaped to Masada and were very self-sufficient on top of this impenetrable hill/fortress.  However, the Romans laid siege to the fortress, making numerous unsuccessful attempts to reach the top.  Finally, they constructed a long ramp up to one of the levels.  The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus tells us: at that point the Israeli’s decided they wanted to either live free or die, not as slaves. With the Roman soldiers pounding on the walls, the fathers of each family killed his wife and children. Then one man was chosen to kill the other men and ultimately commit suicide.  When the soldiers made their entrance, no one was living thus ending the state of Israel until 1948.  They say this is verified by two women and three children who did not agree with the Israeli decision and escaped through the water aqueducts.   Today, all those in the Israeli military, called the IDF, Israeli Defense Forces, take their oath of office on top of Masada, then shout “Masada will never fall again”, the motto of Israel!

King Herod's Masada, Israel

Our last venture was to continue south along the Dead Sea, then head west through the Judean desert, across Israel, as the land gradually became greener with more forestation and fields, to the Tel Aviv airport. Thursday and Friday run together, as we get to the airport about 7 pm, flight leaves about 11 o’clock, and we arrive in Newark at 4:30 a.m. (eastern time … we gained 7 hours); through customs and on another plane to Minnesota at 8 a.m., getting home at 10 a.m. Central time …  Thanks so much to Suzanne for meeting us!  So I slept Friday afternoon and all night Friday … Welcome home!

General impressions: 

***At many of the places we stopped, there were peddlers along the road selling scarves, necklaces, bracelets, umbrellas (on the one rainy morning!), bookmarks, etc.  “One dollar, just one dollar” (put in an accent!) became the standing joke with the group.  One little boy about 10 years old or so was peddling post cards at Petra.  “Two dollars … just two dollars for all these cards.  Just two dollars … make my day.” He was not pushy, but certainly was persistent …  and cute … and of course, we made his day!

***Muslims observe Friday as a holy day and all Arab stores are closed; the Jews observe Saturday as their Sabbath and all Israeli stores are closed; the Christians observe Sunday as their Holy Day and all Christian stores are closed!

***There are McDonald’s all over Israel … but there is also an Israeli competitor that does have tasty food – and much bigger sandwiches too!

***With the price of gas at $8.50 per gallon, all cars are smaller … no vans or SUVs!  They are also working to upgrade the roads throughout the country, as about 100,000 cars a year come into the country … mostly new immigrants.

***There are a few toll roads, but no one has to stop to pay.  They take pictures of the car license and send the bill to the home!

***Salads, salads, salads … served at every meal.  Delicious! Their cheeses are phenomenal. Very healthy!

This certainly has been a spiritual journey … one that has brought my daily readings and studies to life … now I know where this or that place is or I have been there or I understand better what happened or I just WAS where these events took place.  It is also so heartwarming to learn that the intense archaeological findings have proven the accuracy of so many Biblical times and events.  Thank you, Lord, for this great opportunity.

Shabbat Shalom! שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם