Biblical Israel

For the most diverse sightseeing options we chose a combination of historical sites for two of our days in Israel (see last weeks article) and for the other two we focused on the Biblical locations.  Although these sites are spiritual pilgrimages for many travelers, we approached them with a more academic leaning.  As a result we found the outcome to be both enlightening, educational and enriching.

Our first tour was in Jerusalem.  Because of a snarl of traffic delays our time was cut short so a democratic decision determined that we would forgo a visit to the Mount of Olives and shorten our time at the museum.  It was a good decision as the museum staff were on strike and it was only the sharp negotiation skills of our tour guide Ryan that got us in at all.  This is the reality of tourism.

We all really wanted to see the Dead Sea Scrolls while at the Israel Museum, and luckily we had time for just this one stop.  The oldest known copies of Biblical text, dating back around 2000 years, were found in cave in the mountains by a Bedouin shepherd in 1947.

From there we made our way to Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum located on Mount Herzl, the Mount of Remembrance. Located predominately below ground, the museum is a silent, sobering reminder of the deadly toll suffered by all Jews in the Second World War.  Above ground we passed through the Avenue of the Righteous, a joyous monument to everyone who harboured Jews during the same period.  Although we were unable to find it quickly, Oskar Schindler, famously portrayed in the 1993 film Schindler’s List,  is memorialized there.

We then travelled into the city centre for our walk through the Old Town of Jerusalem.  Entering through the Java Gate in the Christian sector we started our tour at the“end” with a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, identified as the being built on the traditional site of both the crucifixion and the tomb of Jesus. This beautiful church, which should be admired for its architecture and art as well, contains the final four Stations of the Cross, or Via Dolorosa. We continued down Via Dolorosa to view other stations as our guide respectfully described their significance.

Our final stop on this tour was at the Western Wall where Christian, Muslim and Jewish religions intersect. Here our group split so that the women could visit the wall separately from the men.

On our second day in this port we toured outside of the major cities of Israel to see additional sites mentioned in the Bible.  On an earlier drive we had passed the field where David slew Goliath.  Our first stop however was at the Church of the Annunciation which contains a cave believed to be where Mary lived and was visited by the angel.  The church is adorned in portraits of the Mother of Jesus donated by countries around the world and display Mary as a woman of many cultures, including a haunting portrait by Canadian artists C. Lafleur and M. Denis.

From there were travelled to a number of important biblical sites such as Capernaum, where Jesus lived as a child, and where he fished with his friend Peter.  St. Peter’s house has been excavated and a new church built over top of the site with a glass floor that allows worshipers to look down upon it.

Later we watched at the River Jordan as hundreds of faithful pilgrims were baptized in the same waters as Jesus.  We stopped in at the Church of the Loaves and the Fishes to see the rock altar from which Jesus fed the multitudes before sitting on the bank of the Sea of Galilee, the lowest fresh water lake.   Our final stop on the whirlwind tour was the Mount of the Beatitudes, which now features a church, a monastery, a girl’s school and stunning vistas of the surrounding countryside.

Our guide Dikla strove to humanize Jesus and his life, his mother and his friends which for us was more inspiring than the stories from our childhood we had accepted based on faith alone. It was a day as spiritual as it was educational.

As mentioned last week we used Guided Tours Israel for both of these excursions and I would highly recommend them.  Reach out to Leo at https://www.guidedtoursisrael.com/ for both land tours and shore excursions.