Jerusalem visit

[cvbreno]

I have a business trip to Tel Aviv in a couple of weeks, and I will take Friday 3/26, Saturday, and Palm Sunday morning to go to Jerusalem and be a tourist, before I have to go on to Dubai. I found an affordable place to stay at the Pontifical Institute Notre Dame Jerusalem Center (http://www.notredamecenter.org), right next to the Old City and very close to the Holy Sepulchre Church. I only have two days to see the city. I plan to follow the original Stations of the Cross (Via Dolorosa) and visit the Sepulchre church. Have any of you been there? Any other must-see suggestions or tourist traps to avoid?

[SirFlea]

I bet it's amazing to know you're on ground Christ walked on. I would love to see Jerusalem.

[mllevaleur]

That is amazing!! I've never been, but I'd love to!

[Joseph the Worker]

It sounds awesome. I wonder if you could do a "real" Stations of the Cross while you were there?

[cvbreno]

I intend to follow the stations on the Via Dolorosa. At the stations service at our parish this evening, the reader mentioned that he had done that several years ago. He said he was getting irritated by all of the crowds, the souvenir hawkers, and all of the Israeli soldiers standing around with machine guns, disturbing his attempts at reflection and reverence. He said he was getting very grumpy, when a lady next to him pointed out that when Jesus walked down that street for the last time it was Passover and the city was packed. There would have been people selling souvenirs then, and lots of Roman soldiers milling around with swords and spears. That changed his attitude completely.

I imagine it will be the same when I'm there. I'll report back when I get home!

~ Chris

[Joseph the Worker]

That sounds awesome.

[cvbreno]

I just arrived in Tel Aviv today. Spent the last 24 hours getting here from China, so I didn't get to go to Mass today. I did go to mass in Shanghai on Saturday morning before I left for the airport. FWIW, this web site is one of many that are blocked in China, so I'm just now catching up on the past week's postings.

I have sales calls to make around the country for the next four days, then I go "up to Jerusalem" on Friday morning. With all the rock throwing (thanks to Joe and Hillary), I'm staying out of East Jerusalem and the West Bank towns. Bethlehem, Jericho, the Dead Sea, Hebron, Galilee, Gethsemane, etc., will have to wait for another trip when things will (hopefully) be calmer.

More later...

[mllevaleur]

this web site is one of many that are blocked in China

How interesting!!

Looking forward to hearing more!

[la bella vita]

I haven't been to Israel, but I have been to Dubai - I recommend visiting the Jumeirah Mosque if you get a chance, it's a special mosque that gives tours and provides information to non-Muslims. Its programs are not at all designed to converted visitors to Islam, but to promote understanding between religions.

[cvbreno]

Update --

Yesterday the distributor's sales rep and I drove up the coast and inland to visit a couple of customers. The first was only two miles from Nazareth, but we didn't go into the town itself. I could see the ancient (and still operational) monastery at the top of Mt. Tabor (Tavor). It seemed really strange driving through this large and green valley, and then seeing the road sign indicating that it was Megiddo (as in Armageddon). Yes, these are real places, not just stories. (I know that's obvious, but it's interesting to see what they really look like on the ground, not just on a map in the back of your Bible.)

We had lunch in the old crusader fortress at Akko, north across the harbor from Haifa. It's a real town with a peaceful mix of Jews, Arabs, and Christians. People live in narrow and ancient winding alleys, and it has not been restored or "Disneyfied" at all. (Fishermen yes, art galleries no -- but with an outstanding seafood restaurant). I told the sales rep about the contest between Elijah and the priests of Ba'al which took place near Haifa. She was raised in a non-observant Jewish family and knows very little about the Bible. We had dinner in old Jaffa (Joppa), just on the south side of Tel Aviv. It has a lot of stone buildings (now restored as art galleries and restaurants, of course), but they are mostly Ottoman, "only" 200-300 years old.

Today we drove south to visit a couple of companies operating in kibbutzes (kibbutzim?) very close to Gaza. (No rockets today, fortunately.) As we drove along the coastal plain past Ashdod and Ashkelon, I told her about the Philistines, which she also didn't know. She told me about growing up in the kibbutz.

More later...

~ Chris

[Joseph the Worker]

This is cool. Thanks for keeping us updated.

[mllevaleur]

So interesting, what a wonderful experience to have. Look forward to hearing more!

[cvbreno]

Another update --

Yesterday I went to Jerusalem to meet with a guy at Hebrew University. I didn't get into the Old City, but tomorrow I will go back to be a tourist for the weekend. Along the way, we drove past Azekah, where the Israelites camped when David killed Goliath. I saw the small stream where David picked up the stones for his sling. It is near the large town of Beth-Shemesh, which is where the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to Israel by the Philistines (I Sam 6). We turned off the road to visit a small monastery on a hill, called Bet Gemal. It's a lovely setting with centuries-old olive trees and vineyards. They produce olive oil and wine, but a local Bedouin family provides the labor. The church of St. Stephen was originally built in the 5th century, but it fell into ruins over the centuries of Muslim occupation. The monastery was established in 1873. The site of the original church sits on the family estate of Gamiliel, the rabbi who taught Paul and (probably) St. Stephen. Gamaliel brought Stephan's body there for burial, and later he, his son Abibod, and also Nicodemus were buried here, but their remains were returned to Jerusalem sometime in the 6th century. The monastery is run by the Salesians of St. John Bosco, but there are only 5 elderly brothers remaining. The two we met were both Italian, and one of them showed us around the place, as he pushed along his walker (he is 89 years old). They used to have a school for local boys but it closed some years ago. There is also an adjacent convent with about 25 contemplative nuns. The original Byzantine church was discovered by archeologists and re-built in 1917, in the same style as the old one. It is quite lovely, and many pieces of the original mosaics remain. The brother was very kind, and explained all about the work there. He said has been there since 1939. It is really a timeless and peaceful place. I hope they get some younger brothers to take over soon.

Today we were back making sales calls in the north, but our appointments were over in the early afternoon, so I prevailed on my host to take me to Nazareth for a couple of hours. I visited the Basilica of the Annunciation, which is a large and modern (and kind of ugly) concrete church built over the ruins of a small Byzantine church, and below that, in the center of the basilica, is a grotto containing the traditional site of Mary's house. 80 yards away in the same complex is the church of St. Joseph, which sits over a grotto with the remains of Joseph's house and carpentry shop. Other remains of first-century houses, grain stores, cisterns, and mosaic floors can be seen in archeological excavations below and between the two churches. Nearby is a small 12th-century church on the site of the original synagogue where Jesus taught.

I'm off to Jerusalem tomorrow, so I'll let you know how that goes.

~ Chris

[cvbreno]

Jerusalem weekend report --(actually, I learned that the Jews pronounce it Yer-u-sha-LA-eem) --

Finally, I got to be a tourist (or rather, a pilgrim) in the holy city. It's so easy now -- I complain about having to fly in economy class (company budget cuts), and then I think of the medieval pilgrams who took years to make the round trip on foot, sleeping in the straw at monasteries and at hazard from robbers and hostile Saracens, etc. I'm already back in the States, sitting in the airport at Dulles waiting for my connecting flight -- the only hazard is that the Starbucks on this concourse is closed for remodeling.

I arrived Friday morning, and walked around a little bit to get oriented. I did my best in only two days, but I was not able to see everything I had hoped. I didn’t realize, for example, that the wall-top walkway is open on Saturdays but you can’t buy tickets on Saturdays, so you have to get them in advance. You also have to order tickets in advance for the Western Wall tunnel tour. I also missed seeing the Ottoman Citadel (erroneously called the "Tower of David"), because I came at 2:15 in the afternoon but it closed at 2:00. Seems strange for a major attraction, but lots of things are like that in Jerusalem. Besides the Christian sites, I walked all over the Old City, and visited the Archeological Exhibit just south of the Temple mount, which shows layers of different ruins going back in time for 5000 years -- through Ottoman, Crusader, Byzantine, Roman, Israelite, and back to Canaanite eras. It was interesting to see the dozens of little pools for ritual bathing of the Jews just in front of the South entrance of the Temple. Some were designed with divided steps down and back up -- so those who were purified would not touch those waiting to go in. The ruins of the main Temple entry steps are there, but of course the doors have been walled up since the Dome of the Rock was built. Many huge stones lie around the outside of the walls where they fell when the Romans pulled them down. One piece was from the top southwest corner of the temple. It had a two-foot wide niche carved in it with the Hebrew inscription "house of blowing" -- this is where the priest stood with the shofar (or trumpet) to blow at certain times every day.

Because of the recent unrest over new construction in East Jerusalem, I didn't try to see the Mount of Olives, Bethany, or Bethlehem.

On Friday afternoon, I fwalked the Stations of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa, following the Franciscan monks who led the prayers, taking turns in five languages. There were well over 500 people in the group, so it was hard to hear what they were saying at the front sometimes, and certain parts of the walk were so narrow that it took a long time for the crowd to get through. Just as our prayers began at 4 pm, the loudspeakers began to blare the Muslim call to prayer at full volume, too. The first several stations are in the Muslim quarter. The final stations are inside the Holy Sepulcher church, so that was very crowded too. I went back on Saturday to see everything better, but I still could not get into the actual tomb of Christ due to the long lines. I attended daily mass at the Notre Dame Center in the evening, followed by the buffet dinner which was pretty good. FYI, I HIGHLY recommend the Center for all Catholic pilgrims to Jerusalem. It's not particularly luxurious, but it's spotlessly clean and the staff is top-notch, friendly and helpful, kind of like staying at a Ritz Carlton. It's right across the street from the New Gate and very convenient to the Christian holy sites. It's also a very peaceful and comfortable place to stay, with priests and nuns everywhere, daily Mass, and many tour groups from parishes all over the world.

There are lots of tour groups all over the city, of course. Sometimes the crowds traveling together can clog the narrow streets and get annoying. The most annoying are generally the protestant groups, sad to say. They sing loud hymns on the street and they even break into song inside the Catholic and Orthodox churches where people are praying quietly. I also saw a group sort of take over a part of a museum, praying out loud and singing hymns. Enthusiasm is great, and they weren’t bad singers, but they should be more considerate of others and not act like the whole city is their private worship space. Since they sang well in four part harmony, I was tempted to ask if they were from the CoC. I held my tongue, however.

It was also remarkable to see the great number and variety of priests, monks, and nuns of all kinds: Franciscans, Jesuits, Dominicans, various Eastern Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Syrian, Coptic, etc., plus several different Jewish sects that wear strange clothes. Unfortunately there are about six different Christian groups that share custody of the Holy Sepulcher Church, and they have been known to get into fist fights with each other over their “turf” and privileges (e.g., the exact position and ownership of a chair on the roof).

Early on Sunday morning, I went back to the Holy Sepulcher church to try to get into the tomb, but it was already too late. The procession for the Catholic Palm Sunday mass was just starting. I told my choir director back home that I didn’t miss out on the lengthy Palm Sunday chants after all. We (about 50 Franciscan brothers, 40 priests, two bishops, a cardinal, some high-ranking knight (Hospitaller?) wearing a Jerusalem Cross medal on his cape, a couple of hundred attendees, and me) did the WHOLE THING (Tridentine Latin Mass) for three hours. They handed out paperback books for the liturgy, with translations in 5 or 6 languages, and all the chants and hymn music, so I was able to participate in the chants. The scripture readings were in Arabic, but I assume they rotate languages for different masses or different years. At times it was impossible to hear the readings, due to the VERY noisy Greek and Coptic masses going on simultaneously -- imagine loud bells and gongs, drums, chants in several languages, shaking of palm branches, and women ululating at a scream volume, all in a stone church that echoes. I guess it’s unusual this year that the Catholic and Orthodox are having Easter at the same time, but you would think they could sit down and hammer out a schedule to share the church at different times!

The Catholic procession went around the Holy Sepulcher several times through all the dozens of verses of the antiphons, and then crowded into the Franciscan corner of the church for the full mass. Apparently the cental part of the church is controlled by the Greek Orthodox. Anyway, we were all jammed into this corner, so I was only about 20 feet from the altar. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t receive a palm branch or communion, but the traffic flow was very confusing with the crowd surrounding the altar in all directions, and all the priests concelebrating, and the friars blocking the aisles, etc. Still, it was a great experience. I did have communion at the Saturday vigil mass the evening before.

After mass, I had to leave for the airport. As I waited for the shuttle bus, a parade stopped in front of the ND Center, led by Arabic Christian Boy Scouts and a very good drum and bagpipe corps. They were going up to the Mount of Olives to lead the big procession into the city that afternoon.

Overall, it was a very moving experience, that I wish you could ALL have at least once in your lives. I will certainly try to go back with my wife after our kids are grown.

Blessings to all of you during this Holy Week!

~ Chris