October 7 and October 8 - Israel

After thinking about it for a while, I decided that I couldn’t include the history of the places we’ve been on these two days because there is so much.  Instead I’ll tell you where we’ve been and then give some of our impressions.

On Tuesday we docked in Haifa, the third largest city in Israel, and the gateway to northern Israel.  We set out on our tour to Nazareth, the River Jordan, the Sea of Galilee, and Capernaum.  We had a wonderful guide named Monette who gave us more history and information than I can possibly remember.  We stopped first in Nazareth to visit the Church of the Annunciation.  It was on that site that an angel appeared to Mary to tell her she would bear a child named Jesus.  Almost next door was the Church of St. Joseph built over the carpentry shop belonging to Joseph, Mary’s husband.  It was in Nazareth that Jesus grew to manhood.

Grotto where Mary was visited by an angel (in the Church of the Annunciation)

Next stop was the River Jordan.  As we drove through the fertile valley we passed Cana, where Christ performed his first miracle changing water into wine.  The Jordan was nothing at all like I imagined.  It was a small stream, very peaceful, with flowers growing along the banks.  I dipped my feet in the water for a moment.  There were people going in to be totally immersed.  The river is full of many fish including some huge catfish which don't hesitate to come and nibble on you.

A view of the Sea of Galilee from actual sea level.  The Sea is several hundred feet below sea level.

The River Jordan

We were off then to the site of the feeding of the multitudes along the shores of the Sea of Galilee.   Al walked down to the sea and touched the water.  The Sea is really a very large lake.  This peaceful place may or may not be the actual location but it is known for certain that it was in this proximity.  After a nice lunch in a restaurant at a kibbutz, we proceeded to the site of the Sermon on the Mount.  Again it was a peaceful place in view of the sea.  One could imagine Christ standing and speaking the Beatitudes to a vast throng of people sitting on the side of the hill.

Church built on site of the Sermon on the Mount

Al at the Sea of Galilee.  The Golan Heights are on the opposite shore

From this peaceful side of the Sea of Galilee we could see on the opposite shore the Golan Heights.  Before the 6 day war in 1967, that height was Syrian and the Syrians were lobbing shells and rockets to the Israeli side.  Now it’s in Israeli hands and is a vast minefield. The mines were laid by the Syrians.  The Israelis have never removed them thinking that at some point they may have to give the land back.  Tensions run high there.  In fact, Monette told us on the second day we spent with her that there had been some trouble ton the heights the day we were nearby.

For our final stop in the Galilee we went to Capernaum, the home of St. Peter.  This small city has been well-excavated, and it is easy to see the outlines of the homes that people like Peter the fisherman lived in.  Next to the houses are the excavated ruins of a very early synagogue.

Excavated ruins of Capernaum with a very old synagogue beyond

We rode back to Haifa and before we could return to the ship Monette took us to the top of Mt. Carmel.  From a promenade there we could look down to the port.  More interesting though were the beautiful hanging gardens of the Baha’i.  The Baha’i is an ancient religion which began in what is now Iran.  Apparently the leader believed Haifa to be the gateway to heaven so he built his headquarters there.  His followers built a series of 19 terraced gardens down the slope of Mt. Carmel.  In the middle is the tomb of the leader of the faith.

Seabourn Odyssey from the summit of Mt. Carmel

View of some of the terraces of the Baha'i Gardens. The structure with the golden dome is the tomb of the Bab, the leader of the group.

View up Mt. Carmel with the lights of the gardens slightly right of center

Wednesday morning bright and early we went ashore in Ashdod, our gateway to Jerusalem.  Ashdod is very close to Gaza so not too long ago rockets were being fired in the vicinity.  Monette was our guide again and we started our hour long bus ride to Jerusalem.  As we drove along she pointed out where the boundary of Israel was prior to 1967.  Much of the road we took passed through what would have been Jordan then.  As we entered the Judean hills we could see what we thought were small cities built along the hillsides.  Turns out they were some of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank area that we hear about on the news.

Jerusalem is an almost indescribable place.  The history, of course, is incredible.  When telling about it, Monette mentioned people from David and Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, Pontius Pilate, and, of course, Christ.  We stopped first on the Mount of Olives where we had a panoramic view of the city.  It’s small by modern standards.  The city is divided into a Muslim quarter, a Jewish quarter and a Christian quarter.  They are side by side and the differences couldn’t be more obvious.  The Muslim quarter was much dirtier than the others.  The focal point of everything in the city is the Temple Mount.  It was there that the Temple of Solomon was built and destroyed.  The second Temple was built only to be destroyed by the Romans.  On the site is the El Aqsa Mosque where Mohammed supposedly ascended to heaven.  And of course, Christ confronted the moneylenders in the Temple.  On our way to the Wailing Wall we passed a growing demonstration of Palestinian men who were shouting and shaking their fists.

Panoramic view of the walled city of Jerusalem from Mt. Olive

The Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall

Another view of the Dome of the Rock

We entered Jerusalem through the Dung Gate, one of the five city gates in the old walls.  We stopped at the plaza by the Wailing Wall.  Before we could go down to it we heard a series of pop-pop-pops and saw Israel soldiers and police moving to an area above the Wall.  Monette hustled us along.  When we looked at the news that night we saw that a violent demonstration had broken out with a number of injuries.  Good that we moved on.  We didn’t want to be part of the news.

A view of the Jewish bazaar

We walked through the narrow streets of the Muslim and  Jewish quarters and entered the Christian one to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  It was on this very site, which was outside the city walls of Jerusalem nearly 2000 years ago, that Christ was crucified.  The Church was built on Golgotha which was the actual spot of the Crucifixion.  This Church’s parts are administered by different sects of the Catholic church.  For example on one level is the slab of stone on which Christ’s body was laid.  That’s administered by the Greek Orthodox.  A tiny chapel in which a stone on which Christ’s head was laid when he was taken off the cross is administered by the Ethiopian Christians.  In a bit of irony, the keys to the Church were given many years ago to two Muslim families who have responsibility for opening and closing the doors each day.  I could not help but feel something very spiritual in this place.

The facade and entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built atop Golgotha

My companion on the bench was one of the Muslim key keepers of the Church

A breadman selling special breads for the Feast of the Tabernacle

One of many aquafarming fish ponds along the breakwater in Ashdod

Our tour ended as we exited through the Jaffa Gate.  As we rode out of Jerusalem we passed the Knesset, Israel’s parliament building.  I forgot to mention that today was the beginning of the Feast of Tabernacles, a Jewish religious holiday.  We surmised that was probably the reason for the demonstration and riot, since the Palestinians traditionally do things like that on Jewish holidays.

Now some observations about this country.  As we drove around we were never more than 40 or 50 miles from the border of another country.  In the north we were close to Lebanon, home of Hezbollah, and Syria, where ISIS and Al-Nusrah have been fighting very close to the border.  Jordan is a stone’s throw away from Jerusalem with hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees.  The country is literally surrounded by millions of people who want nothing more than to see the Jewish state washed into the sea.  It’s easy to see why the Jews there would become paranoid.  Every house has a safe room built in it of reinforced concrete  and in some parts of Israel they are literally seconds from a rocket landing.  I would find it very difficult to live under those circumstances. This summer's troubles with Gaza had a tremendous impact on Israeli tourism.  Usually 30 cruise ships stop in Israeli ports.  This year there are only 3.  Land based tours were also cut by 60 %.  It's such a shame not only for the loss of revenue for the people who rely on tourism, but also because people won't get to see this very interesting and spiritual place.

On the other hand, it’s almost impossible to see how there can be a resolution to the problems.  The Israelis have offered some compromises but apparently the Palestinians have rejected all of them.  Some in the US want Israel to go back to its pre-1967 borders.  Even we who are not military or geo-political experts can see that would be an untenable situation for Israeli survival.  I think nothing short of a miracle will help.  Perhaps that will happen, as it is a country where once many miracles occurred.