Melinda Martin – At breakfast time this morning, there was an omelet station outside on the patio. The chef with his white hat and white coat had two frying pans, a number of dishes with two eggs each, and dishes with onion tops, chopped peppers, mushrooms, and cheese. He asked what you want in your omelette, put those things with the eggs, squirted a little olive oil into his pan and poured them in. He didn’t have an egg turner or anything. He just slid the omelet around by jerking the handle this way and that little bit, and then he started slipping it around, more and more, and suddenly he flipped upside down without using a turner. He let it cook for a bit, slid it around a bit more and flipped over again, just to make sure both sides were finished, and then he flipped out onto a plate. Quite intriguing to watch.
This morning they also had a fresh honeycomb, besides the usual eggs and cheese, fruits, veggies, dates and baked goods. The spread is amazing.
By 7:50 we were all on the bus except for our guides—Andrew, Julia and Aaron. When it was getting to be 7:57 and still no guides, we began to wonder if there were some problems that to be ironed out, but within a short time they both arrived and there was nothing wrong. We were off for the day.
We went first of all to Temple Mount where we went in at a small gate beside the Dung Gate. We had to go through metal detectors to get in and then we had another checkpoint again later. Two checkpoints to get into the Temple Mount proper. We found a shady spot, and Aaron went over the building of the temple, the destroying of the temples and what that all means to the Jews. Aaron invited a group of people that was going through the temple on their own to join us while he “unpacked.”
They took our group picture (Aaron included) on the stairs going up to the Dome of the Rock.
We walked around the golden dome, which is the Muslim’s place of worship. The whole place belongs to the Muslims. They believe that the place was given to Ishmael, not Isaac. After the Muslims took over, until recently, the Jews were not allowed there.
We skirted along the perimeter of the Temple Mount and came close to the eastern gate (which was closed up by the Muslims). Here we had our own little worship service up on the Temple Mount. It was the first time that Andrew did such a thing. We were not supposed to really look like we were worshipping up there, because only Muslims are allowed to worship on the Temple Mount. We were not allowed to take any Bibles up there. If they would’ve found any in our bags, they may have confiscated them and we would’ve had to pick them up on the way out. Single papers are allowed, so David had a photo copy of the scripture he wanted to read. At one point a Temple police came up to us and said, “Are you Jewish”” We said, “No, Christian.” “OK,” he said and turned and left. I guess he caught on that we’re having a service. We had to keep our eyes open to pray, because only Muslim prayers are allowed up there, but Aaron said if we don’t appear to be praying, we may do it. Aaron pushed the line a little bit. He was pretty sure we could get away with it, and we did. A special experience to be worshipping close to the temple!
From there we walked through the Lions’ gate. We walked the Via Dolorosa (Way of Agony) — part of it at least.
We went to the Wailing Wall or the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. Here is where the is the Jews gather to pray. It is segregated — a court for men on one side, women on the other side of the wall. We had about 10 minutes to touch the wall, pray a bit, and come back up to the appointed meeting spot. There were a lot of school girls in pink and black uniforms in there, so it was very crowded right up by the wall.
The guides had planned to go to the Pool of Bethesda and the church there, but it was closed so we could not do that. Instead we continued on to Hezekiah‘s tunnel that his men dug to bring water into the city. Hezekiah‘s tunnel was a long ways down. I didn’t count how many steps but it was down and down and down and down. At one point we all stopped and put our wet shoes on, and our walking shoes into our backpacks. Farther down we stopped again and saw the water tower that covers the spring whose water flows through the tunnel.
The entrance to the tunnel was a little steep. It wasn’t long, probably 2 foot slope. And suddenly we were thigh high into the cool water. Not terribly cold, because it never gets really cold here. The water was very refreshing but not icy. After 10 meters the water was just a little more than ankle deep. There’s no lighting down there, so everybody needed their own light.
Andrew said the strong ones should be mixed with the weaker ones, so that if there’s any trouble, there’s a strong person right there. Orville and Jean Graybill are the oldest couple with us. This celebrated their 52nd anniversary. I escorted Jean through. Their daughter Glenda came behind her father to make sure that he was OK. I was ahead of Jean. We took it at their pace, nice and slow.
The tunnel itself is very narrow. At the narrowest point I could not go through with my arms at my side. It was a little bit wider at shoulder high, than at hip high. I had to bring my arms up so that they could go through. At the shortest point I had to crouch down, my hand on my knee and lower my head just a little so as not to bump. I’m sure the biggest people in the group had a little bit of a challenge in some of those spots. The last part of the tunnel, a third maybe, was very tall, like they had to chisel it deeper at one point. Maybe after they had the tunnel nearly completed they realized that they didn’t have enough slope. Andrew said it slopes about a foot from one end to the other. I think it’s 500 meters long. At one point we stopped to sing one verse of “Open the Wells of Salvation.” There was another group coming from behind so we couldn’t stop long, there’s no passing anybody in that tunnel or not without quite some work. They started digging at both ends of the tunnel and where they met there was a bigger area that maybe two people, maybe three people, could stand in one spot. Otherwise it was single file. We also sang “Channels Only” and “Rock of Ages” as we walked along. It rang beautifully. When we exited the far end we came out at the pool of Siloam. They’re doing excavations there to discover the whole pool. There are some of the original steps going down to the pool that have been exposed.
Tarek picked us up after the pool of Siloam and drove us up to the gate of the Old City. The Old City of Jerusalem is divided into four parts—the Muslim Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter and the Christian Quarter. We entered by the Armenian quarter and walked to the Jewish quarter and had lunch there. There was a variety of shops to choose from.
After lunch we went to the Shorashim Shop, where the shopkeeper locked the door, kept other customers out, and gave us all stools to sit on. He explained a few things about the orthodox Jews. The reason that some of them have those long forelocks is because of the Bible verse that says they should not shave the corners of their beard. Instead of just not shaving the corners of their beard (sideburns) some people choose not to trim that hair at all, they just let it grow. He admitted that it looks silly, but that’s their interpretation. He gave a chance for anyone to ask questions.
Next we walked to the Hurva synagogue, which means “ruined.” It has been rebuilt and reopened in 2009 for the third time. The architecture is beautiful. Aaron took us up the stairs, through the women’s section, and then up another flight of stairs, out onto a roof top, and up a circular set of wrought iron stairs built around a center pole, up to the catwalk below the roof, around the round dome of a roof.
We jokingly coined a new phrase for ourselves this trip. Instead of breathing down each other‘s necks, we breathe down each other’s heels. Often we are at head to heel level, going up stairs, climbing up mountains, up trails, one person’s head is at the heels of the one he is following.
We had a walk around the outside. We had a beautiful view of the city of Jerusalem before we went inside. We had a view way down into the synagogue. There were men praying, and it looked like maybe some men and boys were studying the Torah. I don’t know for sure what they were all doing. While we were up there, Tova came in. She had been a guide for Andrew and Julia on one of their first visits. She wanted to take us to a special overlook of the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives.
She guided us down, through some private residences, and up to another overlook where she explained the temple some more. She had about five minutes for what she wanted to say. We took a group picture up there and then she led us down many flights of stairs again, along the path that we were going to take to the southern stairs, but she stopped off at the Aish synagogue to have us look at the blown glass piece of art there.
Tova left us there, and Aaron was our guide again. We walked to the southern stairs. The gate Beautiful at the head of the stairs is shut up. Some of the stairs have been reconstructed since Herod’s temple, but there are still some of the original stairs, so we had the chance to walk where Jesus walked; place our feet where He placed His. We sat on the stairs, and Aaron expounded on things that happened at that spot. He believes that this could be the spot where the Holy Ghost was given. He brought out comparisons between the first Passover, and the giving of the law 50 days later, and then fast forward to Jesus’ time, the Passover and 50 days later the giving of the Holy Spirit. In the giving of the law the commandments were written in stone with the finger of God, and according to tradition it was manifested as a flame of fire. The Holy Spirit descended and was evidenced as tongues of fire.
After we sang “Come Gracious Spirit,” we could explore around the steps a little. Next we went to the Robinson arch where we could see the original Western wall at the north corner of the Temple Mount. The wall is more of the original stone structure than elsewhere. The original blocks of stone were probably 4 feet long, averaging 2 to 3 tons. Each block has a frame chiseled around the edges.
Have I ever mentioned that all of Jerusalem is built with a sandy white limestone? And the sun is very direct, so it makes for a very bright city, very bright surroundings.
We also saw where there were rocks that were still left from when the temple was destroyed, and pushed over the edge of the temple mount. These stones were just helter-skelter. They were on top of each other, but not the way they were supposed to be. Not placed nicely. Reminded us of what Jesus said, that “one stone shall not be left upon another.”
We had a little bit of time to explore the Mikvahs (ritual baths) that were around there. There are many. There is one well preserved ritual bath where they would walk down the stairs on one side, walk through the water and then walk back up on the other side of the stairs, in a cleansing ritual.
We made our way back to the street out through the Dung Gate. We waited for our bus to come. Right about then there was a lot of traffic – a lot of people, school children, police girls —girls that were training to be police —that were in the bus stop area.
There were a few buses that were just sitting there, waiting for passengers but their passengers were nowhere around. By the time Tarek came, there was a spot right in front of us where he could pull in and pick us up and bring us back to the hotel.
We got back to the hotel around 4:15, some of us weary to the core. Lafaye clocked 14,300 steps, 4.8 miles today.
Supper was served in yet a different dining room than what we had supper in before. I heard one of the managers say, “You have to eat dinner in a different room every night. It improves the appetite.” After supper the ladies all gathered out on the patio and the men gathered on the opposite side of the glass wall, and we had a time of visiting and sharing together. We all shared what was special to us, and highlights of the trip. It was very enjoyable.