Flowers in the Negev

Flowers planted by our Interfaith pilgrims during our visit to the Hagar Association in Beer Sheva last spring.

Lauren Joseph, Development Director of the Hagar Association, tended the garden along side us.

A fine family photo

From right to left, Lauren, Shira and Saul Joseph hard at work at The Hagar Association school in Be'er Sheva where Lauren is the Director of Development.

Four children in Jerusalem

Another photo courtesy of Sheila Smith.

Four school children in Jerusalem.

The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.

Here is a photo from the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem courtesy of Sheila Smith.

The Garden Tomb, an Anglican site, is one of two sites in Jerusalem claiming to be the burial place of Jesus after his crucifixion. The other is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a Roman Catholic site in the old city.

Photos from Jordan II - Courtesy of Peg Bassion

Peg forwarded these awesome photos with minimal comment. I will provide the caption where I can.

A local girl in Petra.

Petra Treasury - camels and all.

Another view of the Treasury in Petra.

The end of the Souk in Petra, Jordan.

Another photo from Petra.

Peggy, Paul and Peg at Petra.

The Temple at Petra, Jordan.

Another shot from Petra.

The Treasury in Petra.

Photos from Jordan I - From Peggy Ulrich-Nims

A series of photos, with explanation, courtesy of Peggy Ulrich-Nims.

A giant hand at the Citadel. If the rest of the statue were in scale, the original would have been 30 feet high -- the hand of Hercules, perhaps?

 A classic Roman "cardo," this one in Jerash.  The cardo was the main street of any city built by the Romans.  We first saw one in Caesarea Phillipi near the northern border of Israel, and the old city of Jerusalem is another example we saw.  There would have been awnings for shops on either side, supported by the columns.

The great triumphal arch built for the Emperor Hadrian when he visited the area around 130 C.E.

One of the amphitheaters of Jerash, complete with bagpipes and drums.

The ancient Byzantine church in Madaba, just south of Amman, has the oldest floor map of the known world - done in around 400 C.E.

Here's a key to the ancient floor map.

Moses stood on Mt. Nebo in Jordan where he was permitted to see the Promised land but not to enter.  This key at the top of the mountain shows where to look to see the Promised Land.

Shira and Saul with the Promised Land behind them.

A sign left by Beduins providing directions or the like.  We added a few stones of our own -- hopefully they won't cause someone to go left instead of right.

As we approached the castle perched on the top of the mountain, we found that not everyone was excited to see the ruins...

... but we were!

This is a first view of the stunning Treasury at Petra, which appears suddenly at the end of the walk down the long, narrow "souk," a well-defended winding passage through a gorge between two steep cliffs.  The Treasury is actually an elaborate grave, presumable for royalty, and it is entirely carved out of the sandstone of the cliff behind it.  The columns, too, are carved, not constructed.  This technique is typical of almost all of the graves in Petra, of which thre are hundreds.

We started into the park soon after it opened at 8:00, some on foot, some in carriages that went the souk directly to the Treasury.  The walk took about 45 minutes - though we also paused for explanations from our guide.

The streaks of minerals running through the carved sandstone are one of the most remarkable aspects of the carved tombs of Petra.  

Crossing the border from Jordan to Israel  on Saturday 4 p.m. Why do they make us cross hundreds of yards of asphalt in the blazing sun?

Some scuba divers are more excited, some less.

Under water, everyone is gorgeous.

How would you like to be caught in the jaws do a shark?  Then again, Jonah managed to survive when he set off from Joppa so he wouldn't have to warn the citizens of Ninevah -- Israel's great enemies -- that God would destroy them unless they repented.  Of course, he encountered a great fish, not a whale -- and certainly not a shark!

The view from inside the Underwater Observatory in Eilat, a viewing platform some 50 feet below the surface of the Red Sea.  Here there are no tanks, no constraints on the fish, and a forest of live coral.  After building the observatory, the coral structures that had been damaged by the construction were repaired with a special glue and wire, and the coral came back to life.  The fish seem to like the observatotry, too.  Thousands swarm around all of the windows.

And here our adventure ends - we're taking of Monday at 6 am after a grueling five hour drive through the night from Eilat to Ben-Gurion Airport.

Thursday, May 3, 2012 - Jordon Day 1

Thursday, May 3, 2012 Today our little troupe of 17souls split up to go off in three directions.  Six of us returned to the States on a VERY early flight (as in, out of the hotel at 2a.m.). Three remained in Jerusalem for some quieter visits there and in Tel Aviv, and the rest of us headed across the Allenby Bridge to Jordan to continue our travels fora few ore days, this time on the east bank of the Jordon River with Petra as our ultimate destination.  After the usual formalities at the border, we said a affectionate goodby to our Israeli guide Amir and got on the our Jordanian minibus.   Our first stop Thursday was north of the crossing in the ancient ruins of Jerash (known to the Romans as Gerasa).  The city was among the Decapolis - the ten cities built by the Romans in and around ancient Palestine.  at the entrance, you first see an immense arch erected in honor of a visit by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in about 132 C.E.  The arch was built well outside the city gates because the leaders hoped the city would expand that far, though it never did.  Instead, there was a hippodrome where gladiators once wrestled, horses raced, and other games were held.  We passed on the opportunity to watch a re-creation of the ancient games, though we did have a chance to see some of the costumed actors as we left.  The city was ultimately destroyed and abandoned on 749 C.E.,when a great earthquake destroyed many ancient cities, churches & so on in Jordan.  There were also two amphitheaters, one of which featured a traditionally-dressed Arab playing a series of familiar tunes on a bagpipe accompanied by a drummer.  We were puzzled about when bagpipes might have been introduced in the area - by the British, no doubt. From Jerash we went to Amman, where we had the opportunity to drive through the city and see a number of neighborhoods, including one of the Palestinian refugee camps.  We the. Went up to the Citadel on the top of o e of the hills overlooking Amman.  This site was strategically located on a defensible hilltop and contained artifacts from as early as 2500 B.C.E.  the most impressive item was a giant hand, apparently from a statue.  If the hand was made in proportion to the rest of the body, the statue itself would have been 30 feet high - from which some archeologists suggested that it might have been an image of Hercules. We need our rather tiring day with dinner at the Chams Palace Hotel, where we were fortunate to be joined by James Bowker, a member of Second Parish and a student of Arabic at Tufts who has been studying Arabic in Jordan since January.  We found it very helpful to be able to talk to someone who's been living in the area and getting to know both the people and the realities of daily life and politics in this part of the world.  We peppered James with so many questions that we had to lay off abut so that he could finish his dinner.

Monday, April 30 (we fell  behind!) We started the Day with a lecture  by Khaled Abu Toameh, who describes himself as an Isreli Arab Muslim Palestinian.  He is a journalist and video producer who is currently a columnist for the Jerusalem Post; he has written for many publications over the past 30 years, including the New York Times and the Washington Post! As well as producing for NBC.  He feels that the peace processes increased the Simons while propping up an incompetent and corrupt Palestinian Authority (P.A.) regime.  He feels that the peace process has actually reduced freedom of the press in Palestine, and that the best policy for now is to manage the conflict with as little violence as possible rather than seeking a near term resolution.  He feels that the present situation is tolerable and that work should be focused on continuing cooperation while maintaining the status quo. After the lecture, we went on a bus ride to view the security wall Alta number of places, and to take route  433, which connects Jerusalem to Tel Aviv while traversing P.A. Territory.  We were led by Dany Tirza, a retired Colonel in the IDF who participated in the Oslo and Annapolis peace negotiations, and who was the officer responsible for the construction of the barrier between Israel and the West Bank (which consists mostly of barbed wire fences and lookout posts except in urban areas, where it is cement walls).  The barrier was started in 2002 built in response to escalating violence which started when the Second Intifada broke out in 2002.   We spent the rest of the day in Tel Aviv, having lunch in the Old Port area, which is being renovated in somewhat the manner of the Quincy Market area in Boston.  We looked over a model of the original town of Tel Aviv, founded as a suburb of Jaffa by 60 families in 1909.  It included the first Hebrew high school anywhere in the world.  We then visited Independence Hall to learn about the declaration of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948.  President Harry Truman recognized Israel immediately; the U.Swas the first action to do so. After Independence Hall, we drove through modern Tel Aviv to RabineSquare, where our guideAmir described the day Yitzak Rabine was assassinated on November 4, 1995, by a right wing fanatic who opposed the 1993 Oslo peace process.  It was at the scene of a massive demonstration in support of the peace process and Rabine's leadership. We visited the old city of Joppa, visiting the overlook looking toward Tel Aviv, and seeing some of the gentrification happening there.  We ended the day in the Yemeni quarter with dinner at the Magando restaurant, and the n returned to Jerusalem.

More photos from Wednesday, May 2

Here are some photos of the Chagall windows in the Orthodox synagogue within the Hadassah Medical Center. Each window depicts the blessing given by Jacob on his death bed to his heirs - the namesakes of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
As they are in an Orthodox synagogue, photography is strictly forbidden. So, I didn't take them - and, you aren't viewing them.
So enjoy what you aren't viewing.

Location:Jerusalem

Wednesday, May 2 in pictures

On Wednesday, May 2, we began the day on the Mount of Olives.





This is the view Jesus and his disciples would have had of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. We are east of Jerusalem looking west. The wall in front of the Dome of the Rock is the Eastern Wall. The Western Wall, known to Christians as the "Wailing Wall," is behind the trees to the left of the Dome of the Rock. The Temple in Jesus' day would have stood where the Dome of the Rock is today.
Difficult to discern are two domes behind the Dome of the Rock. It is there that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is located.





Looking at the Kidron Valley from the Mount of Olives. At the top and right of the photo is the junction of the Eastern and Southern walls. at the top left of the photo is the ancient city.





The Church at Gethsemane.





The olive grove in the Garden of Gethsemane.





Another view of the Garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane means oil press.





The mural to the left of the main altar in the Church at Gethsemane. Based on Luke's Gospel: "Would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?"





The mural above the main altar. Based on Luke's Gospel. Jesus is in such agony that he sweats blood.




The mural to the left of the main altar. Based on John's Gospel. Jesus asks who they seek. They answer Jesus. When Jesus responds "I am he" - they all fall away.





This one is for Father Tim Schenck. I think this is the coffee shop you have longed for. Forget Red Eye Roasters. Here in Bethlehem is Star & Bucks Cafe.





Ruins of the Byzantine church in The Shepherds' Field.





The present day church. While we were inside a group of nuns from Korea did a wonderful job singing "Angels we have heard on high" and "Silent Night" in Latin.





A side altar in the Church of the Shepherds in the Field.





The main altar in the Church of the Shepherds in the Field.









The entrance to the churches - a space shared by Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Roman Catholic churches - of the Nativity.





A silver star in the cave below the church which is said to be the spot where Jesus was born.





Another view of the silver star. As you can plainly see, this is in the part of the church controlled by the Greek Orthodox.





The spot when the manger is said to have been - before the Crusaders removed it and took it to Rome.





The altar beneath the Roman Catholic Church. Saint Jerome is buried here.
There are two sayings in the mosaic tiles. On the left it says "Domus panis" (house of bread) in Latin. In Hebrew Bethlehem means house of bread. (In Arabic it means house of meat.) On the right it says "Panis Vitae" or bread of life.





The interior of the Roman Catholic Church.





Bethlehem is under Palestinian control. Israel considers it to be a foreign country. Here we see the security wall at the Palestinian checkpoint leading back out of Bethlehem. The larger white text is written as though it can be read from the other side. It spells "whatever" backwards. Notice that the yellow writing at the right says "Wheaton College."

Location:Jerusalem and Bethlehem