Behind the Wall

Even though I've returned home, there are still a few important posts I want to make.  First and foremost on my mind was my experience in Palestine, in the town of Bethlehem, behind the giant wall that separates the West Bank from Israel.  I'll do the touristy sites here, and the political implications of what I saw in the next posting.

Our guide for this day trip was Dr. P, an archaeologist and  professor of Old Testament who teaches tour guides in Israel how to discuss Biblical issues with tourists.  Dr. P is also the missionary for the joint United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) mission agency.  He and his wife, N, agreed to meet us at the outskirts of Jerusalem and take us across the border into the West Bank.

Our first stops were tours of some of the main sites, and then we got down to the very real, very serious political situation.

First stop: the Herodium, another of Herod the Great's (who was really more ruthless than the Bible depicts) system of fortresses.  He built a castle, then moved all the dirt and soil from the top of the mountain next to it, and built up a mountain around his castle so that no one could find it.  (You know, except for the strangely flat mountain next to it that might draw some suspicion.

The Herodium.  The big mountain used to be a little mountain, and the little mountain used to be a big mountain.  I'm pretty sure Herod didn't do any of that work himself...

The holes in the cave behind us lead to "bedrooms"

Next: Shepherd's Fields, where the shepherds received the news of Jesus' birth.  This is one of the best preserved sites in the area.  You can still go into the caves that the shepherds likely lived in, and the churches that were built there haven't been completely eradicated or rebuilt.  There was also an olive tree that was over 2000 years old, which means it was there during the shepherds' experience!  Dr. P said that this is also one of the areas that we have the most evidence was actually THE place where something that was said to have happened in the bible actually did happen.

A star carved into one of the cave ceilings at Shepherd's Fields.

The church that was built at the Fields (because, of course there are churches built there) is relatively new and actually quite gorgeous.  It has a dome whose top has crystals in it to mimic stars, and it has some of the best acoustics I've ever heard.  Dr. P and N. led us in singing Silent Night, and we all sounded like angels!

The church at Shepherd's Fields, with the dome that makes every voice sound magically ethereal.

We even saw an actual shepherd and his sheep nearby -- did you know that sheep and goats are herded together?  So, separating the sheep from the goats is actually something someone might need to do!

Sheep and goats!  Can you separate them?

Next: the Milk Grotto, a lesser-known site (certainly to me, who'd never heard of it), where supposedly Mary was breast-feeding the baby Jesus, and as they were rushing to leave to flee Herod's order to slaughter all newborns, a drop of blessed milk fell off of her breast and landed on the wall of this grotto, turning it bright white.  Now, it is a shrine where millions of women from all faiths (Dr. P. said he's seen Christians, Muslims, and Jews, among others) come to pray for fertility and blessings on their wombs.  Samuel even knew a woman it had worked for.  To be safe, I said a prayer for friends of mine who I know are trying to

conceive.

The wall at the Milk Grotto is SO white that it blotted out Kelly's and my faces!  Behind us is a portrait of the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Christ child.  Samuel says this portrait is the only one of Mary that shows her breast.  I'm not so sure about that...

After that: The Church of the Nativity -- the place where Jesus was born.  If you go into a giant church that has been there since the 5th century, ruled by Christians, then Muslims, then Christians again, and now shared by five different Christian sects, and you go down into the shrine in the center of it, you'll get to the actual cave where Mary gave birth (How do they know this?  They don't.  But tradition says it's true).  Then, you can stand in line and put your hand on a silver star that marks the actual spot where Mary gave birth.  Then, you can turn around see where the actual manger was.  It's all pretty much covered up by gilding and lamps, so you just kind of have to trust tradition on this.  What's perhaps more interesting to me is the status quo agreement that allows these different sects to negotiate 6 worship services a day at different chapels in the same church.  There's a sermon in that, I imagine...

Jesus was born RIGHT HERE!

Finally, it was lunch time, and we ate in The Grotto, a restaurant styled after Bedouins.  It seemed to be the custom to dress up as a Bedouin before eating, so the restaurant owner dressed Kelly (a fellow UCC'er who joined us for this leg of our trip), Coretta, Noemi, and me as Bedouins. (Funny, I don't seem to have that picture...)  Then we ate a Dee-Licious lunch and learned about the situation in Palestine, which I will post next...