Melinda Martin – We rode into Jerusalem in the dark last night, but we could see the lights of the city as we entered. We saw protesters like a flock of penguins in their black-and-white suits, (an Aaron joke) leaving the city by the scores, by the dozens, by the hundreds they were flocking to the buses.
This morning after a breakfast similar to the other hotels — several kinds of eggs, many kinds of cheeses, lots of different kinds of fruit, a variety of baked goods, we set out for the day.
We drove to Tel Shiloh in the daylight. It was a beautiful view, uphill, and downhill. Some hillsides were terraced. Tell Shiloh is where the Tabernacle was set up when the children of Israel settled in the land of Canaan. The Philistines destroyed the tabernacle in the prophet Samuel’s day. This is also where Andrew has been helping with the archeological dig and has helped uncovered a corner of what they believe is the Tabernacle foundation. It was interesting to hear Andrew describe how the archaeological dig is done, how they brush with fine brushes, and sift the dirt to find small objects.
From Shiloh we went to Bethlehem. It was probably a 60-minute drive. On the way Aaron told us about the sacrifices. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. He also expounded why the Jews will not eat blood — because the life is in the blood. He explained how they make it practical.
Entering into Bethlehem was quite an experience. Tarek again showed his expertise, going downhill on winding streets that were just barely wide enough for a bus and a car to meet without scraping each other, or the limestone buildings on either side.
We went to a restaurant for lunch. Our food was preordered. Our group was the only people in the restaurant. They said they haven’t had business for two years because of the war. They depended heavily on tourism before this. It was a delicious meal, with the salads and french fries, grilled chicken and what I believe in Bulgaria would be called kebabpChi – a delicious sausage shaped, spiced ground meat.
When we arrived at the restaurant, a man Aaron introduced as Dio climbed on the bus. Aaron gave him the mic that hangs around his neck and told us that he was going to be with us for the afternoon. I had seen a sign on the way into Bethlehem that said that Israelis are not permitted past this point, but Aaron went in so I didn’t think anything much of it, but apparently he did go back to the hotel after we were done at the Olive factory because Israelis are not permitted in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is under Palestinian authority and therefore Israelis are not permitted there.
After lunch, we went to the olive factory close beside the restaurant. The grandson of the founder showed us how they carve olive wood into figurines. Hand carved items can take up to four months to complete. They also have a copy machine that they can make copies faster than that. In the gift shop they were high-pressure salesmen to some of our group. It was beautiful work but expensive in some ways. They did also have some things that were not wood carvings. I found a bottle of Spikenard there like Mary anointed Jesus’s feet with. Supposedly anyway.
After the olive wood factory, we went to a Basilica where, in the basement, they have what they claim is the cave where Jesus was born. It is a basilica that three denominations claim — the Armenians, the Greek Orthodox, and the Roman Catholics. In the Armenian section there were beautiful mosaics on the wall with gold on it. Each denomination has their own auditorium so to speak, so it is a very large building. Also the cave that Jerome translated the Vulgate Bible in, is in this huge expanse of a church. It was something very rare—the keeper of the key unlocked the cave and allowed us to go down into the cave so we could see it.
From there we went to the Shepherd’s Fields, where the Catholics also built a cathedral. We were going to see some other things there besides the cathedral, but it was busier there and we would have had to wait in line so we did not get to see the other things. And right now, I can’t remember what they were, but we saw the cathedral and sang two songs in there. When we were singing “Silent Night” another tour group came in and joined in to help us sing. It was beautiful.
Then we had to hurry back to the restaurant where we had lunch, get freshened up, and go to David and Devorah Katz’s place for a Shabbat meal. On the way there, a police officer pulled Tarek over because they claimed he had run through a red light. He is sure he had not, and the police did not give him a ticket. Tarek figured probably it was because it’s Shabbat and the policeman wanted to go home. Then we had to stop at the checkpoint because we were going into the West Bank, which can be a hotspot. The army official spoke to Tarek but did not come onto the bus.
The Katz family lives in a gated community. Only Jews live in their community. We got off the bus outside the gate and waited for David to come meet us. We walked with him past their house where his wife joined us, then to the synagogue. When we arrived at the synagogue, the ladies walked up a ramp, and the men went in at the bottom. We went to their balcony. And sat on pews—chairs actually —that flipped down to be sat upon, and as soon as you stand up, they flip back up. We were there for their singing and prayers, but when the rabbi was going to speak they ushered us out.
We went back to their house and had a lovely meal together. First, they poured wine into little individual cups and had a blessing prayer over them and passed it out. Then they had a blessing over the bread and passed the bread out. With the bread there was hummus, and eggplant salad, pepper salad and olive oil. After the bread was eaten, they brought out soup—chicken broth with a little bit of carrots in it and a nice big, walnut size dumpling. After the soup, they served a rice and quinoa salad, kebabpChi, and chicken. After visiting a while more they brought brownies and cookies for dessert.
Some time along the line, they asked us to sing two songs. One was “The Lord is my Light and My Salvation.” The other was, “Oh Lord, my God…” They seemed to appreciate it. Their two oldest children were both at home, the three youngest were not. The oldest son was in the special unit that was deployed first on October 7, when Israel was attacked two years ago. He suffered trauma when 9 out of 14 people in his unit were either killed or wounded. But he was uninjured.
It was arranged that we would be meeting Tarek and the bus at 8:30, so soon after we were done eating (and done drinking tea for some of us) we needed to head back to the bus. The whole family walked us out to the bus and said goodbye to us out there. The bus could not come into the community. We needed to walk a few blocks outside the gate to meet the bus.