Nov 25, Fri:
Yad Vashem Museum-Ein
Karem-Old City of Jerusalem-Via Dolorosa-Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Our day began with breakfast in Hotel Arthur’s lobby. As the Sabbath had come around again, things
would be closing by 3.00 pm that day. We steeled ourselves for our visit to the
Yad Vashem (or Holocaust) Museum as we knew that it would not be easy.
Visit to Yad Vashem Museum:
All over the world, Jewish Holocaust
Museums have sprung up in addition to the conversion of former concentration
camps into museums. Over the years in our travels, we have seen a vast number
of Holocaust Museums (Paris, Berlin and Washington for instance) and we have
also visited two concentration camps (Dachau in Germany and Auschwitz-Birkenau
in Poland) where we have actually seen the gas chambers and the crematoria that
were used to exterminate the Jews as part of Hitler’s ‘Final Solution to the
Jewish Problem’ from 1942 onwards. Israel was established in 1948 and within a
few years, it was decided, that a museum ought to be built to remember both
those Jews who had perished in World War II as well as those “Gentiles” who,
without thought to reward or their own safety, helped in saving Jewish lives (e.g.
Oskar Schindler). A site was chosen on Mount Herzi and the architect selected
was an Israeli-Canadian called Moishe Safdie.
The modern structure clings to the
hillside. Inside, the building is shaped like un overturned boat. It is narrow
and dark—a structure that hopes to depict the despair of the inmates of the
camps. As you move from room to room, you receive tons of information through
multi-media resources of the history of Jewish persecution from the beginning
of time to the present. It also traces the history of the creation of Israel.
There is a wonderful Hall of Remembrance which is dome-shaped and covered with
black and white pictures of the departed and a Children’s Memorial which has
been designed in such a way through multiple mirrors that a single candle flame
is replicated thousands of times into infinity to reflect the numbers of
children that were killed during the Shoah (the Jewish Hebrew word for
Holocaust). The grounds are filled with sculpture created by Jewish artists
from all over the world. These were some of the highlights of the museum that
remain with me.
We
spent the entire morning in the Museum and had lunch in the cafeteria. Llew and
I chose to eat a full lunch of rice with two side dishes—we chose a chicken
stew and a vegetable. It was all delicious and we were glad we filled up as
there was no opportunity to eat again until dinner.
Visit to Ein Karem (Village with Church
of John the Baptist and Church of the Visitation):
Our next stop was the small village
of Ein Karem which has gained significance as the site of two important
Biblical happenings: the birth of John the Baptist marked by the Church of John
the Baptist (run by the Franciscans) which is quite ornate with a beautiful
crystal chandelier inside and mosaics on the wall. The priest was closing up
for the afternoon but he permitted us to descend the stone stairway leading to
a cave which is supposed to be the one in which John the Baptist was born.
Up on a hill, a little away from
this church, is the actual Church of the Visitation built on the spot at which
Mary arrived to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was married to Zacharias. The
Bible tells us that when Mary and Elizabeth met, Elizabeth who was pregnant
with John the Baptist felt him leap in her womb. At this occurrence, Elizabeth is
supposed to have told Mary, “Most Blessed Art Thou Among Women and Blessed is
the Fruit of Thy Womb.” These words, of course, are now part of the Hail Mary as well as of the Magnificat, which is the most well-known
of the Latin hymns to Mary. Unfortunately, we did not have the time to make it
to this church which is also a must on many pilgrimage agendas. Instead, Moti
spent quite a bit of time, using maps, to explain to us again the complicated
history of Middle Eastern politics.
Shopping in the Old City:
There was not a lot of time left, so
Moti led us into the van and back into the Old City of Jerusalem so that we
could do some shopping. Members of our group bought all sorts of things from
ceramics to olive wood carvings and soon it was time for us to move on again.
Visit to Church of the Holy
Sepulchre:
Moti then led us on foot to another piece de resistance of our travels—our
visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is built exactly on top of the
spot that is recognized by Roman Catholics and the Orthodox Church as Golgotha
(also known as Calvary). We found our way there and entered the church. It is an
imposing edifice of huge proportions built in yellow sandstone with domes,
Greek Corinthian pillars and striking Gothic arches. Had we realized how
difficult it would be to see the Tomb after the Stations of the Cross, we would
have opted to get to that spot before their commencement. As it turned out, all
we did was enter the church and go directly to the marble slab upon which Jesus
is said to have been laid after his death. The interior of church is ornate and
elaborate and once again impressive in its Byzantine architectural design. We
knelt down and kissed the slab and we were also able to nip upstairs, up a
flight of curving stone stairs, to the spot which is recognized as Golgotha.
However, we barely had a few minutes there when we were ushered out again to
make our way to the spot where the Stations of the Cross commence.
Re-enacting the Way of the Cross:
One of the highlights of the trip
for me was being able to undertake a re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross
exactly as they might have occurred two thousand years ago. The commencement
site is just outside the Umariya school in a courtyard inhabited by Franciscan
monks at the Monastery of the Flagellation. At exactly 3.00 pm, the procession
began with a few prayers outside the church. Unfortunately, the entire service
was in Latin, but we were able to follow with the small guide books that we had
purchased for a dollar.
The procession winds its way through
the 14 Stations that are mainly to be found on what was the road to Golgotha or
Mount Calvary (where all crucifixions took place)—what is today the Via Dolorosa
or the Road of Sorrows. Because there is a microphone system throughout the
Way, you can hear the service no matter where in the procession you might be.
The Via Dolorosa today is a busy thoroughfare, exactly (I am guessing) as it
might have been in Jesus’ days. So although it was crowded and narrow and busy,
it seemed to be a very authentic re-enactment of the situation as it might have
been at that time when all prisoners who were sentenced to be crucified, were
required to carry their own crosses all the way to Golgotha.
Today, there are shrines and small
churches at every one of the Stations which reminded me, of course, of the
various decades of the Rosary. Eventually, during the last few decades, we left
the Via Dolorosa and entered the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
when all participants followed the monks to the top floor up the narrow winding
stone steps. The last two Stations were upstairs under the grand mosaic-encrusted
Byzantine ceiling that was covered with medallions depicting the saints and the
Blessed Mother. There was a great deal of incense and the ringing of bells—it
was all very ritualistic.
At the second last Station, when
Jesus dies on the cross, we move to another niche which was absolutely
elaborate and has a wooden cross right above a small marble altar. As in
Bethlehem, at the spot of Jesus’ birth, here too, there was a small marble
niche under a marble altar, to mark the spot of Jesus’ death. You had to bend
down and literally crawl into the niche in order to kiss the spot where the
cross would have been affixed. The last station involved going down the same
winding stairs to the marble slab where he was laid out after his death and
attended to by his mother, Joseph and St. Nicodemus who then prepared his body
for burial. At this point, we moved to the last station, the laying of Jesus in
His Tomb. When we entered this small side segment of the church, I found it
once again to my enormous disappointment) to be fully enshrouded by
scaffolding. What are the odds that two of the most significant sites—the place
of Christ’s birth and of his Resurrection—would be under renovation at exactly
the same time and just during our visit???? I simply could not believe it!
Anyway, we then had to join a long
and winding queue to get a glimpse of this final resting place where a majority
of Christians believe he was laid to rest and from where he rose on the third
day. This line led to a highly ornamental altar richly clad in variously colored
marble—I managed to catch a glimpse behind the shrouded sheeting. I can only
imagine how gorgeous it must be (and later I caught postcard glimpses of it).
Llew and I found our way into the queue and finally arrived at the hidden
niche. No photography was permitted inside which made it impossible for me to
record one of the most significant parts of our pilgrimage. We did eventually
get to the spot and managed to kiss it, but we barely had a few seconds in
there before we had to move out again. I found the crowds deeply annoying and
very distracting—but I had been warned about this by most people who said that
the crowds diminished the entire experience for them. The general chaos
completely robbed me of the spirituality of the moment and I felt deeply
‘cheated’ (even though I had been warned about this). Since we had the time, I
then circumnavigated the entire church and was amazed at its intricate
architecture as well as the multiplicity of altars and niches and shrines that
have been carved out of it
Dinner at Ditn:
We made our way almost directly back
to our hotel after what was a very eventful and significant afternoon—although
not quite as solemn and prayerful as I had hoped it would be—and returned to Hotel Arthur. Moti had made reservation
for us for dinner at a place called Ditn,
located at a railway station of a former railway line that is no longer in
use—known as the First Jerusalem Railway Station. The entire area has been
reconfigured to include restaurants, amusement arcades, etc. Moti’s partner
Ruthie was also present and we ended up having a really good (if very pricey)
meal. There were a few toasts and Thank-yous said (which took me by surprise as
I did not realize that this was going to be our last ‘formal’ meal). Since we
still had one more day to go before our tour ended, I had assumed that the next
night would be our last dinner and the one at which we would say our Farewells
and Thank-yous.
It was not long before we got back
into our van and got back to Hotel Arthur
for the night.
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