Friday, August 14th - Bethlehem

The Hashimi Hostel, where I am currently staying, became “overbooked” last night… Nonetheless, they graciously set up a place for me to sleep on the roof . Despite that small setback, I decided to attend a trip to Bethlehem (the birthplace of Jesus!), which is on the West Bank. Though most of you probably associate this with suicide bombers and Hamas, it was not this way at all. After passing through a security checkpoint, we made it over to the center of the city where the Church of the Nativity, Milk Grotto, main market are.





Church of the Nativity – Oldest Christian Building (also founded by Constantine’s Mother), which contains a chapel with both the place Jesus was born and the manger in which he stayed. Notice how you can see the church was altered multiple times by the different entry sizes?
Milk Grotto – This is a relatively new monastery that is said to be built on the place in which Mary used breastfeed Jesus.
Market – Unfortunately on this day most of the shops were closed because of it being a Friday (the Muslim Holy Day).

Though I have been fortunate to come to Israel at a time of calm (minus their issues with Irans nuclear power…), it seems hard for me to believe that the only news here in the Middle East is the bad, which we seem to hear about on a weekly basis… Many people around the world have probably written off this place as a destination because of its seemingly inherent political problems, but I can’t imagine never having seen what I have simply because of a distant fear of a people that I had never met. There are no bombs dropping next door to me or sirens going off in warning… At this time I’m proud to say I can only sense a tense coexistence among race and religion that contains little threat because those that live here in Jerusalem have far to much to lose. It seems to me that the outliers are those that cause danger, and therefore the reason security is stiff.

I also took a walk along the “Ramparts Walk” which is a walking route along the top of the old city walls. It doesn’t make a complete loop because of the Dome of the Rock area being off limits to walk into (without security checks that is). It gave a great opportunity to look in upon the city from above and also out to see how the defense system worked. On part of the wall there is a citadel area that is also known as David’s tower, named after King David. Following my walk around the walls, I stopped at the Church of the Dormition (supposed place where Mary fell into her eternal rest), Room of the Last Supper (happens to be above King David’s tomb and was converted into a mosque during Ottoman rule), and a Holocaust memorial. The museum had a collection of over 2000 stones that communities from around the world donated to represent the persecution of Jews in their cities which are positioned throughout the museum. This was a very heavy moment in my trip. Obviously we learn about what happened during WWII and specifically the genocide that was taking place around Europe, but to see photographic evidence of these terrible acts and to be in a building that was designed like gas chambers and ovens was terribly difficult walk through.