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Thursday, December 8, 2022
We spent the morning at the market. We need to stock up before the weekend because everything is closed from early Friday afternoon until Saturday evening. We got enough to tide us over for a few days.
We’ve found a wonderful vendor for cheesecake. Often cheesecake can be dry and flavorless. The topping is usually the best part. This cheesecake is soft and creamy and has a wonderful flavor. There’s vanilla and something else that we just can’t put our fingers on. This time we bought a large piece.
Friday, December 9, 2022
There are several museums near our apartment but since it’s Friday they all close at 2:00 pm. We decided to go to The Shrine of the Book. It’s only open for four hours but It’s fairly small and something we could easily manage. To save some time we took the bus.
The Shrine of the Book is actually part of a museum complex that includes The Israel Museum and a large campus with some other things of interest. Our ticket included everything. We qualified for senior tickets that were about $11.50 per person and that included an audio guide. Credit cards are accepted.
As we walked to the Shrine there were several exhibits that were on our audio guide so we stopped to listen. The most interesting was a scale model of the city of Jerusalem at the time of the second temple. That was when the city was at its largest.
The Shrine of the Book, a museum dedicated to The Dead Sea Scrolls, has a very distinctive design. It is all white and in a shape that is meant to resemble the tops of the jars in which the scrolls where found. When you enter you must traverse a long tunnel that is meant to suggest a cave. There are exhibits along the walls – a couple of scroll fragments, pottery, and artifacts from the Essene community that lived near Qumran.
The scrolls, which are about 2,000 years old, are the oldest version of the Bible text ever found. They have been dated from the 2nd Century BC to the first Century AD. Initially three scrolls where found in a cave near Khirbet Qumran in 1947. By 1956 fragments of over 950 scrolls had been discovered. Most were written in the version of Hebrew used during the period of the second temple and some were written in Ancient Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek.
The museum is circular and on three levels. The initial level has displays of texts from different scrolls. Some are biblical, some sectarian, and some apocryphal. There are extensive explanations in several languages including English. The top level displays the book of Isaiah. It is one of the largest and most complete scrolls from the entire collection. Initially the actual scroll was on display but for conservation reasons it has been replaced with a copy. Small portions of the actual scroll can be seen on the initial level. The pages on display rotate. No photography of any sort is permitted within the museum but I managed to get a few decent snaps when no one was looking.
The lower level is dedicated to the Aleppo Codex. Written in the 10th Century AD it contains traditional pronunciation, spelling, punctuation, and cantillation. For many generations it was the standard for the interpretation of law and for subsequent copies. It very closely resembles the version of the Bible that is in use today.
The codex was originally written in Tiberias, near the Western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Subsequently it was taken to Jerusalem, Egypt, and then to Aleppo, Syria. It was smuggled back into Israel in the 1950s. Originally the codex had almost 500 pages but by the time it returned to Jerusalem only 295 had survived.
We walked to the other side of the complex and visited the Israel Museum. It is dedicated almost exclusively to findings within the State of Israel. It starts off with some pre-history and then quickly moves on to the 13th Century BC where we saw a group of coffins with human faces made out of pottery. The museum did not go in strict chronological order.
After seeing a number of interesting artifacts from 6,500 BC found in the Judean Desert, we saw Roman era glass and then displays on ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Mesopotamia. There were some amazing steles with Cuneiform writing and some very colorful Egyptian pieces made from clay and wood.
Next we moved on to the Greek and Roman eras. One of the more interesting things on display was the Ossuary of Caiaphas the High Priest. His palace and family cemetery were both in Jerusalem and have been thoroughly excavated. Another interesting piece was a large limestone block with Greek lettering from Theodotos’s Synagogue. Dated from the 1st Century BC it confirms the existence and use of Synagogue even during the Temple Period.
There was a lovely display of Iranian works from the 12-17th Centuries. They had colorful watercolor based works depicting stories from Arab traditions, mosaic tiles, and a full Mihrab made up of colorful tiles (a Mihrab is usually the most decorated portion of a Mosque that indicates the direction of Mecca).
Hanging on the wall was a large mosaic from the floor of the Synagogue of Rehov. Written in Hewbrew and Aramaic it is the oldest know copy of a Talmudic Text. It dates from the 6th Century AD.,
Saturday, December 10, 2022
In consideration of the fact that the transportation systems are all closed we decided to stay in today.
Sunday, December 11, 2022
We took the day off
Monday, December 12, 2022
A very busy day. We started out by taking the bus to the Tomb of the Virgin. According to Eastern tradition Mary died a natural death and on the third day her body was resurrected. The church over the crypt has been built and destroyed many times over but the crypt below has essentially remained intact.
To enter you descend several flights into a large cave-like structure. Everything is decorated in the Eastern Orthodox style. There are several chapels built into niches around the crypt and near the center is a small stone building that holds a sarcophagus. You must duck down low to get inside. It’s a small shrine. The coffin is empty except for some sand. In 451 a delegation was sent by Emperor Marcian to obtain relics from the tomb. The tomb was empty. Only her shroud had remained. The next year the shroud was sent to Constantinople where it was kept in The Church of Our Lady of Blachernae.
Next door to the church you will find The Grotto of Gethsemane. This is the place where Jesus came with the Apostles after The Last Supper and it is thought to be the place where he had his encounter with Nicodemus. It is where he received a traitor’s kiss from Judas, and where he performed his last miracle, healing the ear of Malchus.
The Grotto is not very large. It measures less than 60×40 feet. A chapel has existed there since the earliest days of Christianity. Possession was given to the Franciscan’s in 1392. In 1757 the Ottomans granted control to the Eastern Orthodox.
Next door to the Grotto is a small garden: The Garden of Gethsemane. Entry is forbidden but you can easily see it through the fence. The garden is populated by a number of ancient olive trees. The name Gethsemane is actually derived from Aramaic and means Oil Press. This is the place that Jesus spent in agony over his fate and prayed before he was arrested.
Next to the garden is the Church of All Nations sometimes referred to as The Basilica of the Agony. It was built in 1924 with funds from 12 different countries on top of a 4th Century Basilica that was built by Emperor Theodosius I in 746 AD. It is in the Byzantine style. In the center, just in front of the main altar, is a large flat rock. It is there that Jesus is said to have prayed before he was arrested.
According to Google the Dominus Flevit Church was just an eight minute walk away. What it failed to mention is that it was a very steep climb and almost halfway up the Mount of Olives. The name Dominus Flevit means The Lord Wept. It is from here that Jesus stopped to admire Jerusalem and prophesied the destruction of the Second Temple.
Along the road you can see a vast Jewish cemetery. The hill has been used as a place of burial since ancient times. Ancient Kings and modern notables, such as former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, are interred there. It is estimated that there may be as many as 150,000 graves. It has always been a popular burial site as Bible prophesy says that the general resurrection will begin from this place.
When we finally got to the church, and caught our breath, we admired the fantastic view. The Old City was clearly in the foreground and the modern city is easily seen behind it. The Dome of the Rock dominates the view and the Temple Mount.
Before you get to the church you can see a small necropolis. It contains numerous small stone ossuaries. It was used from 136 BC to 300 AD.
The church itself is rather small. It’s just one room. There are places on the floor where you can see the original 7th Century Byzantine tiles. The present church dates from 1955. Behind the altar is a large window with a sweeping view of Jerusalem behind it.
After enjoying the view for a while we walked down the hill and then back up to the Lion’s Gate. It was time to do all of the Stations on the Cross in Order. We had several references that we found on the web that showed us the path. We thought it would be easy. It was far from it.
Each of the stations is marked with a small black dome with the station number. The street that runs from the Lion’s Gate is effectively the start of the Via Dolorosa. All of our references told us that the first station was near the gate. It wasn’t. We walked up and down the street several times looking for the black dome but it was nowhere to be found. It turned out to be quite a ways from the gate.
Before we got to the first station we found a small place of veneration near The Church of Saint Anne. Like the church It claims that this is where the Virgin was born. Similar to the church we descended into some caverns where small chapels have been set up. It’s surprising to us how many well known events from history seem to have occurred in multiple locations.
Near Station Two is a small church that you can see through plexiglass doors. It is called Basilica De l’Ecce Homo and sits near the Ecco Homo Arch. It is said that Roman soldiers wagered on Jesus’ clothing on this site.
Before getting to the next station we found another interesting site called The of Holy Monastery of the Praetorium. This is one of several sites that claims it is was where Jesus was held prisoner before he was questioned by Pontius Pilate. We descended into a labyrinth of caves and passages. We saw the cell where Jesus was imprisoned as well as two others where the thieves he was crucified with were said to have been kept.
By this time we had made friends with a family from England. They too were on a quest to find all of the stations. Together, with some difficultly, we found stations three and four. Four is in plain sight. Three is just next to it on a corner and is easy to miss.
At this point the family stopped for some food and we began to follow a tour group that was also hunting the stations. We followed them from stations five through seven. After that they veered off in another direction. Station eight was just a bit further up the road. Station nine was almost impossible to find.
We walked up and down many of the streets that connect to The Church of the Holy Sepulcher many times. We just couldn’t find it. We consulted our guides and they mentioned something about a narrow stairway but we never saw anything of the kind. We asked a number of shopkeepers. All seemed to know but gave wildly different directions.
Eventually we saw another tour group in the area and watched as they turned onto a very small street. We followed them and found the narrow staircase. Eventually we turned onto Saint Helena Street. This was all very promising. They stopped in a square on the back side of the church. The guide spoke for a while and before they moved out I asked him where the ninth station was. He indicated the way we had come. We went back and searched the street for a while before a kind gentleman in a nearby chapel located it for us. It had taken about 45 minutes but we finally found it.
Stations 10-14 are all in the Church of The Holy Sepulcher, which we’d been in many times. For good measure we’d also visited The Garden Tomb just to cover all of our bases. We feel confident that we’ve seen them all.
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
Today we just wandered around the old city. We started with the Temple Mount, peeked into several churches, and checked out quite a few of the shops. On the way back we stopped at the Post Office and got our Israeli stamp, bought a bunch of things at the market, and were home in time for lunch.
One of the more interesting things we bought at the market was a spice called Za’atar. It was mixed in with some of the humus that we’d purchased in the supermarket and we immediately fell in love. It’s an Eastern spice mix whose primary ingredients include sesame seeds, dried sumac, and salt. There are usually a few other things thrown in as well. Ours has a good bit of oregano too. We’d originally discovered sumac in a Turkish restaurant in Bulgaria in 2018. We’ve been big fans ever since.