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| Celebrating Shabbat tonight with Rifka, an Israeli Mom, and three of her four daughters. |
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| Breaking bread |
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| Shabbat dinner held at our guest house |
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Anna-Lee slept most of the day, so managed well at the dinner.
Off to bed.
Friday, 30 October 2015
Shabbat Shalom - Part 2 of our day
S
A lovely time of worship, fellowship and food.
Anna-Lee slept most of the day, so managed well at the dinner.
Off to bed.
Anna-Lee slept most of the day, so managed well at the dinner.
Off to bed.
Images of Old Jerusalem
Anna-Lee is pretty run down this morning so our guide took us to a clinic nearby on Greek Street to see a doctor. The clinic was closed. Also clinic number 2 was closed and so was the pharmacy.
It is Friday - some getting ready for Shabbat. Others take it as a weekend day. Some open late.
We decided today to just take it at our own speed, so we did not go with the majority of the group to the Jewish market on this our first free day..
Instead we wandered the nearby area of Old Jerusalem catching some images.
Taking time to rest.
Sounds of Old Jerusalem through our guest house window.
church bells
cats meowing
Muslim call to prayer
Hebrew language
birds
...And on the street
It is Friday - some getting ready for Shabbat. Others take it as a weekend day. Some open late.
We decided today to just take it at our own speed, so we did not go with the majority of the group to the Jewish market on this our first free day..
Instead we wandered the nearby area of Old Jerusalem catching some images.
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| The money changer is quite active here in Old Jerusalem. We need NIS - New Israeli Shekels.Money changers seem to be on every street corner, but this is the one we were told to trust by our guide and guesthouse. Granny getting some shekels for lunch time. |
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| Shop owners opening up by putting their wares on display. This is in the Armenian quarter. |
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| Jewish men in black and motorcycles - both very common. I think the Orthodox Jewish men walk even faster than our tour guide! |
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| Within Old Jerusalem there is an upscale outdoor "mall." Names recognizable in our Canadian malls, very posh, Also lots of cafes. Sculptures for sale at the door to every store. |
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| Columbia, Adidas, Nike, Mango, Shoppers Drug Mart, American Eagle, Clark shoes... |
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| And of course everywhere are the soldiers. Some Israelis we think were in training at this location, as groups of men were carrying huge back packs with rocks in them. |
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| One of the more amazing sculptures |
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| Granny with her latte. |
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| This surprised me. A very common sight to see the Orthodox Jewish men pushing the strollers. Definitely not out for a leisurely stroll though. Before you can click the camera, they are gone. |
Taking time to rest.
Sounds of Old Jerusalem through our guest house window.
church bells
cats meowing
Muslim call to prayer
Hebrew language
birds
...And on the street
- many languages - Hebrew and Aramaic, and Greek for those who live here, and then for tourists, every language, tongue and nation.
- shop owners coming out to ask you to come be their "first customer" or "let me show you my store" or "where are you from?" or "what do you need?" or "what is your favorite thing in my store?"
- Men standing on the streets asking "do you need a guide?"
- Taxi's driving by asking "taxi, taxi, do you need a taxi?"
- scooters zooming by
- Muslim call to prayer
- church bells
Thursday, 29 October 2015
Mount of Olives, Cats, and Tombs
OK. Some of our posts have been a bit heavy because quite frankly, Israel is a place of depth.
It is also a place of cats.
We have not gone anywhere where we have not seen feral cats.
Speaking of this tomb... this was fascinating for me. It is not at all what the Bible pictures I have seen portray.
In the Old Testament, the tombs would have had the bodies stacked up on top of one another. In the first century, there was a family tomb which you see here. But, in each tomb there are these nicches ) the holes in the walls). This is where bone boxes would be put. Sounds all dreary and gross but wait.
First, they lay the body in the tomb wrapped in clothes and spices. On the third day they would normally come back to check on the body and make sure the person was really dead. Think Lazarus. Dead for four days. Very important because they would have already checked to make sure he was really dead.
Now think Jesus. The women come back on the third day as is custom to check that the body is dead. And it is gone!
But also think Jesus. Not having the family tomb.
Just as a PS, the body then stayed in the tomb for one year, then once decayed, the bones would be put in a bone box into one of the niches.
Our guide tells us we can tell a lot by a culture by their burial customs.
As Greek mentality came into this area, the wealthy started to get their own coffins and become more separate from family.
We were up on the Mount of Olives today with lots more teaching, however here is a quick taste of some of the sights.
Anna-Lee is feeling pretty sick tonight with her cough and aches and exhaustion so she is unable to blog tonight.
The weather changes, from warmish in the sun, then it clouds over and the wind picks up and rains. T-shirts, to sweaters to jackets and raincoats...
It is also a place of cats.
We have not gone anywhere where we have not seen feral cats.
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| At every hotel including wandering the dining rooms, sleeping on a patio chair, and waking us up in the night with their cat fights. |
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| on the roads and even on the wheel of a stopped tour bus we walked past |
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| and in a first century tomb we looked at. |
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| Looking at a first century tomb minus the roof. It would have been a cave |
First, they lay the body in the tomb wrapped in clothes and spices. On the third day they would normally come back to check on the body and make sure the person was really dead. Think Lazarus. Dead for four days. Very important because they would have already checked to make sure he was really dead.
Now think Jesus. The women come back on the third day as is custom to check that the body is dead. And it is gone!
But also think Jesus. Not having the family tomb.
Just as a PS, the body then stayed in the tomb for one year, then once decayed, the bones would be put in a bone box into one of the niches.
Our guide tells us we can tell a lot by a culture by their burial customs.
As Greek mentality came into this area, the wealthy started to get their own coffins and become more separate from family.
We were up on the Mount of Olives today with lots more teaching, however here is a quick taste of some of the sights.
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| We don't have a sign like this outside our church! But here, signs like this are common. |
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| Line up for garden tomb view. Not the tomb of Jesus though. In case you think no one is coming to Israel because of the "situation." We have seen tours from Florida, Nigeria, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Italy, France.... |
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| Devotional time with Alan Gilman, our tour leader, at the Garden tomb location. |
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| View of Old Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives |
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| There are 8 gates in the Jerusalem wall. This is the Eastern gate - the only one that is closed. |
Wednesday, 28 October 2015
Yad VaShem - The Holocaust Museum
Itinerary Change - happening quite often
Hello all,
From Anna-Lee-
I did it! I did not think that I would be able or allowed to do this museum. It has age restriction where you can't go ten or under. We had originally planned that my mom and I would explore the grounds and look at the garden of the righteous gentiles.
Our group leader though said that my mom should definitely go and that he would wait with me, my mom said that would be fine. I also said that was fine as I know their family personally (their family own Arise School of Dance). But somehow the word got out to someone who had recently been and he said that it would be fine for me to go. It is not that gruesome it is mostly telling about how it came to be and how it ended.
Now I will give you my view of things, my views might be different than most peoples but that is because I am young. I got most of it but I also found things touching mostly about the people. the children who suffered great loss and struggles.
How the museum is built is truly amazing Interested in architecture I found how much it can mean to people. You walk in and see a longish hallway - at the end there is a movie slide thing playing. It shows the Jews in Poland before the war, how happy they were and how painless life was for them. Then you walk a bit to a hall where they have two murals with piles of dead body`s all skinny, wounded, and some even with bullets stuck in them. That part shows the end of the war and all the Jews that had died because of being murdered.
You then enter the first room having some sort of understanding of how a dramatic change occurred to the people in Europe. There in the first room you see Hitler being elected you see people cheering and shouting Heil Hitler, and long live Hitler. You then walk into the next room and see Hitler starting to hate the Jews and just the beginning of the murder. You see him taking them to ghetto type places to keep them away from all other people.
In the next room you see the Nazis start to do their rounds taking more and more Jews you see them get more and more mistreated as the war goes on. The next room really hit me it was the room that they started to make death camps and concentration camps. Here is where you see people with nothing, they are wearing their striped pajama "uniforms" but it is caked with blood and mud. You see people with guns aimed right at them. Something I had forgotten is that the Jews would actually dig their graves and then be shot and put in right after they finished. They had TVs with people talking about their life at the camps. They were telling of the horrors how they would have to steal bread from others to be able to live. One man said that he lost his hat and if you don`t have a hat then the Nazis will kill you, so he stole someone else`s hat and witnessed that person dying instead of him. I did not understand what this lady said except that she was shot in the head and did not die. Of course she pretended she was dead until the Nazis left but yes she did not die.
The next room you see Auschwitz and all the other camps, you see the 500 pairs of shoes that were found in Auschwitz, and a real uniform that someone wore. the uniform was made out of leather like rough fabric and the coat that they would have been given had the star of David on it.
The next couple of rooms show the good guys slowly defeating the Germans and the war being over you see the people that defeated the Germans going into the camps and finding all those dead bodies all the sickness and uncleanliness.
At the end you walk out and see Old Jerusalem and New Jerusalem with all the children playing people just doing what they need to do going to work, buying supper, and cleaning their houses.
Right now we are back at our hotel. We have the rest of the day off and tomorrow we are headed out for a full day touring. We are going to the Mount of Olives, and we will also see a sound and light show. That sounds interesting!
I am glad I could write lots because I am not tired or not very tired yet. I hope to be able to tell you about the Mount of Olives tomorrow.
Anna-Lee
There are so many things that you would never do now that they did back then.
From Linda
It is amazing to read the Anna-Lee's impressions because otherwise I would not know how impacting this museum had been for her.
She is right that the architecture added to the experience. The museum is like a long pathway through darkness, narrow, unending, and no way out. Once you start you cannot get out until the end.
We could only take photos outside so there are few pictures in this blog.
Yad VaShem - meaning hand and name. Taken from Isaiah 56:4-5
“I will give them in My house and in My walls a place [to memorialize] their deeds, and thus their name (“shem”) [will be continued].”
This museum, although a history lesson to the extreme, is personal. It treats each person who died in the Holocaust as an individual - rather than an event that caused the death of 6 million. It also has recordings of testimonies of Holocaust survivors - each with their story. Very powerful.
The Children's memorial was a pitch dark room - you hang on to a bar as you walk around it, and listen to a person speak the name of a child, give the age and country they were from. Each child named died in the Holocaust.I said it was pitch black. Well, not quite. They had candles lit with mirrors all around to make it look like over one million candles. A million and a half children were killed.
There were some national points of light in the main museum as well. Very few, but that makes them seem that much brighter. A Bulgarian Greek Orthodox priest who refused to hand over Jews to the Nazi's and saved many.
Fishermen from Denmark who hid Jews in their boats and helped them escape.
Finland handed 8 Jews over and then said no more.
Our tour guide asks the question what would we do? His answer I found was very good. How do we handle the little moral choices each day. If we can't handle the little moral decisions, we would probably have succumbed to the Nazi pressure too.
Hello all,
From Anna-Lee-
I did it! I did not think that I would be able or allowed to do this museum. It has age restriction where you can't go ten or under. We had originally planned that my mom and I would explore the grounds and look at the garden of the righteous gentiles.
Our group leader though said that my mom should definitely go and that he would wait with me, my mom said that would be fine. I also said that was fine as I know their family personally (their family own Arise School of Dance). But somehow the word got out to someone who had recently been and he said that it would be fine for me to go. It is not that gruesome it is mostly telling about how it came to be and how it ended.
Now I will give you my view of things, my views might be different than most peoples but that is because I am young. I got most of it but I also found things touching mostly about the people. the children who suffered great loss and struggles.
How the museum is built is truly amazing Interested in architecture I found how much it can mean to people. You walk in and see a longish hallway - at the end there is a movie slide thing playing. It shows the Jews in Poland before the war, how happy they were and how painless life was for them. Then you walk a bit to a hall where they have two murals with piles of dead body`s all skinny, wounded, and some even with bullets stuck in them. That part shows the end of the war and all the Jews that had died because of being murdered.
You then enter the first room having some sort of understanding of how a dramatic change occurred to the people in Europe. There in the first room you see Hitler being elected you see people cheering and shouting Heil Hitler, and long live Hitler. You then walk into the next room and see Hitler starting to hate the Jews and just the beginning of the murder. You see him taking them to ghetto type places to keep them away from all other people.
In the next room you see the Nazis start to do their rounds taking more and more Jews you see them get more and more mistreated as the war goes on. The next room really hit me it was the room that they started to make death camps and concentration camps. Here is where you see people with nothing, they are wearing their striped pajama "uniforms" but it is caked with blood and mud. You see people with guns aimed right at them. Something I had forgotten is that the Jews would actually dig their graves and then be shot and put in right after they finished. They had TVs with people talking about their life at the camps. They were telling of the horrors how they would have to steal bread from others to be able to live. One man said that he lost his hat and if you don`t have a hat then the Nazis will kill you, so he stole someone else`s hat and witnessed that person dying instead of him. I did not understand what this lady said except that she was shot in the head and did not die. Of course she pretended she was dead until the Nazis left but yes she did not die.
The next room you see Auschwitz and all the other camps, you see the 500 pairs of shoes that were found in Auschwitz, and a real uniform that someone wore. the uniform was made out of leather like rough fabric and the coat that they would have been given had the star of David on it.
The next couple of rooms show the good guys slowly defeating the Germans and the war being over you see the people that defeated the Germans going into the camps and finding all those dead bodies all the sickness and uncleanliness.
At the end you walk out and see Old Jerusalem and New Jerusalem with all the children playing people just doing what they need to do going to work, buying supper, and cleaning their houses.
Right now we are back at our hotel. We have the rest of the day off and tomorrow we are headed out for a full day touring. We are going to the Mount of Olives, and we will also see a sound and light show. That sounds interesting!
I am glad I could write lots because I am not tired or not very tired yet. I hope to be able to tell you about the Mount of Olives tomorrow.
Anna-Lee
There are so many things that you would never do now that they did back then.
From Linda
It is amazing to read the Anna-Lee's impressions because otherwise I would not know how impacting this museum had been for her.
She is right that the architecture added to the experience. The museum is like a long pathway through darkness, narrow, unending, and no way out. Once you start you cannot get out until the end.
We could only take photos outside so there are few pictures in this blog.
Yad VaShem - meaning hand and name. Taken from Isaiah 56:4-5
“I will give them in My house and in My walls a place [to memorialize] their deeds, and thus their name (“shem”) [will be continued].”
This museum, although a history lesson to the extreme, is personal. It treats each person who died in the Holocaust as an individual - rather than an event that caused the death of 6 million. It also has recordings of testimonies of Holocaust survivors - each with their story. Very powerful.
 |
| This is the path to the Children's memorial. The sculpture represents children who's lives have been cut off as they are broken off pillars. |
There were some national points of light in the main museum as well. Very few, but that makes them seem that much brighter. A Bulgarian Greek Orthodox priest who refused to hand over Jews to the Nazi's and saved many.
Fishermen from Denmark who hid Jews in their boats and helped them escape.
Finland handed 8 Jews over and then said no more.
Our tour guide asks the question what would we do? His answer I found was very good. How do we handle the little moral choices each day. If we can't handle the little moral decisions, we would probably have succumbed to the Nazi pressure too.
 |
| The trees you see in the background are oaks. Each one planted for a righteous Gentile. One who sacrificed to protect the Jewish people. Each has a name plaque. Interestingly, the two that were right here where we started were both people Anna-Lee and I had read biographies about before we came to Israel. |
Tuesday, 27 October 2015
Old Jerusalem
Old Jerusalem = Stairs
I'm thinking we did about 400 stairs today. Maybe more.
The only flat part of today was the Temple Mount and there were even some stairs up there.
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| Think airport security. All bags searched and scanned, and walk through the detector. Israeli military police everywhere as well as Muslim. |
Other than the stairs to get there, the line to get in (that's why our guide wanted us up and running so early), it was completely non eventful.
We saw and learned about all the different areas such as the treasury where Jesus would have turned over the tables, outer courtyard, Gentile area, women's area, men's area, and lots of history.
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| 240 ton rock |
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| We walked the entire length of the Western Wall underneath |
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| Overlooking the Western Wall (men's section) |
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| At the wall - women's section |
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| The two of us outside the men's section. Very soon after this it began to rain. It is very strange weather right now. |
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| Outside our guest house here in Old Jerusalem |
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| Couldn't resist this one of a parrot at the entrance of one of the Muslim shops |
Hi,
Today was a very interesting yet intense day. We did lots of walking and lots of learning.
Today we went to the Temple Mount in old Jerusalem. It was interesting trying to get in with all the security. I felt as if I was back at the airport. When we were there, as we walked around, there were a lot of police and soldiers walking around.
We saw lots of old buildings and learned a lot about the first temple and the second temple built by Herod.
We also learned lots about the Muslims and we saw their shrine the Dome of the Rock. It is truly an amazing building and the colours they used are breathtaking. I always thought that the Dome was a mosque but it is really just a shrine though some Muslims do pray in there.
Next we left the Temple Mount and up a flight of stairs and another and another and another... to get to a delightful coffee place for a snack, I had a lava cake (brownie with chocolate sauce inside) and a hot chocolate, my mom had an apple pie tart (mini apple pie)!
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| Overlooking Old Jerusalem. We had lunch here too. |
Then we walked back down the steps we came up to go to the western wall tunnels. They are mostly high cavernous stone cave like things though at some points you might not want to go if you are claustrophobic. Even I who am not felt like it would be very nice to have some fresh air. Some of the stones were huge and by huge I mean longer then your living room. Don`t forget though that they would have been moved only by animals and people they did not have machines back then.
I don`t really remember much after that, I was very tired and it had started to rain. I was wet, tired, and not feeling very good with all my coughing.
We went to a museum and saw some of the Saducees' houses or villas as they are called. We saw lots of dishes and cups and such. Also something our guide said was that they had mosaic floors because they are on Herod`s side. I had never really thought of it that way!
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| The remains of a Sadducee's home - very large |
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| Example of the real mosaic flooring of a Sadducee's home |
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| A model of one of the Sadducee's homes |
I am going to say goodnight,
Anna-Lee
Monday, 26 October 2015
Shiloh, Archaeology, North Bethlehem, and the Herodian
From Anna-Lee
Hello everyone,
I am sorry that this is going to be short but I am very exhausted and tomorrow sounds like an amazing nightmare.of busyness.
I will tell you about our day and leave the mystery of tomorrow for the end!
Shiloh was very interesting, it is an active archaeology sight. I saw lots of pottery from all the way back to the days of Samuel the prophet. We watched a movie where Hannah prays for a son. I found that quite powerful. Then she has Samuel and comes back to the temple to let him be raised by Eli the high priest! Then you see Samuel grow up, but that was the most powerful part for me.
We went shopping at a town north of Bethlehem - that was quite the task. I got some amazing stuff that was all made here in Israel.
I will mostly leave the Herodian to my mom as I am starting to feel pressed for sleep.
Tomorrow we are needing to get up at quarter to 6 in the morning to get to breakfast at 6:30 and make a mad dash to the temple mount. If we don`t get there way before opening then we are in danger of not getting through there high tech security.
I will be amazed if I am almost faint when we get back to the guesthouse tomorrow.
Anna-Lee
From Linda
One thing I had wanted to see while in Israel but didn't really think I would, was an active archaeological site. Today, we got to see two of them!
Anna-Lee already explained Shiloh, but we also got to see the Herodian - Herod's Palace just outside Jerusalem. He had 6 palaces to escape to just in case.
It was quite the hike to the top. Very steep. My legs are stiff! And then to get down, we climbed down into the water tunnel. Lots of stairs.
Alright. We spent a lot of today in the West Bank. Actually our hotel last night was in the West Bank. Today we went into Occupied Territory. But really, we are safe. No matter the news you hear back in Canada, there are very specific targets in very specific location, and our guide is very careful not to take us in areas that he is not sure are safe. I am glad we did not miss today.
By the way, I've been meaning to mention how Israel is feeling about the Canadian election.
In case you think Canada is not important to Israel or that Stephen Harper did not have much influence...
The day the results came in three Israeli people we came in contact with all said things such as "We are sorry to hear of your election results."
Today they are still talking of it. Our guide at Shiloh said they were actually afraid because Stephen Harper is no longer in power.
And finally...
We did not go to "Bethlehem." The touristy Bethlehem. Instead we went to a section in north Bethlehem. A likely little known site of a first century home in this area. You know - "knock knock, there is no room at the Inn."
Here is what the homes looked like and how they were used. Revelation.
Hello everyone,
I am sorry that this is going to be short but I am very exhausted and tomorrow sounds like an amazing nightmare.of busyness.
I will tell you about our day and leave the mystery of tomorrow for the end!
Shiloh was very interesting, it is an active archaeology sight. I saw lots of pottery from all the way back to the days of Samuel the prophet. We watched a movie where Hannah prays for a son. I found that quite powerful. Then she has Samuel and comes back to the temple to let him be raised by Eli the high priest! Then you see Samuel grow up, but that was the most powerful part for me.
 |
| Our guide who was very funny, showed us where the Temple that Eli and Samuel would have been. He showed us a picture of what it would have looked like. |
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| Olive press that was excavated |
We went shopping at a town north of Bethlehem - that was quite the task. I got some amazing stuff that was all made here in Israel.
I will mostly leave the Herodian to my mom as I am starting to feel pressed for sleep.
Tomorrow we are needing to get up at quarter to 6 in the morning to get to breakfast at 6:30 and make a mad dash to the temple mount. If we don`t get there way before opening then we are in danger of not getting through there high tech security.
I will be amazed if I am almost faint when we get back to the guesthouse tomorrow.
Anna-Lee
From Linda
One thing I had wanted to see while in Israel but didn't really think I would, was an active archaeological site. Today, we got to see two of them!
Anna-Lee already explained Shiloh, but we also got to see the Herodian - Herod's Palace just outside Jerusalem. He had 6 palaces to escape to just in case.
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| Herod took part of a mountain away and added it to another to build his palace higher. |
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| In the reception area of the Herodian palace. |
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| Walking together in the water tunnels. No water. |
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| Outside the Herodian |
By the way, I've been meaning to mention how Israel is feeling about the Canadian election.
In case you think Canada is not important to Israel or that Stephen Harper did not have much influence...
The day the results came in three Israeli people we came in contact with all said things such as "We are sorry to hear of your election results."
Today they are still talking of it. Our guide at Shiloh said they were actually afraid because Stephen Harper is no longer in power.
 |
| The infamous wall - has actually decreased terrorist attacks significantly. |
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| Flying the Palestinian flag. |
And finally...
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| Lunch in an Arab town. Very friendly, very nice. And we had shwarmas. |
Here is what the homes looked like and how they were used. Revelation.
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| Walk into the home and find a small cave. This is where they would bring the animals inside in the colder weather. It helped not only the animals but the warmth of them warmed up the home for the people too. Up some stairs to the main living area where they cooked and slept and stored all their implements. Above that was a small loft. They used this area for company. Every home had one, and it was open to travelers - or not - no room in the "inn" if it was in use already. Instead, perhaps Mary and Joseph were offered the cave part of the home where the animals stayed with a fresh manger of hay. Makes really good sense to me. |
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| Entrance to the animal cave part of the home |
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| Listening to our guide explain the Bethlehem house |
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