April A to Z Challenge: W is for the Western Wall and Water

W is for the Western Wall

When we went to the Western Wall (some of you may have heard this called the Wailing Wall but the correct terminology is Western Wall) in 2016, it was raining. We stopped in a coffee shop and someone shared a piece of paper with me and I jotted down some prayer requests. We went to the wall and I prayed and crammed my pieces of paper in amongst the others – soooo many prayers are stuffed into those walls. It was a meaningful experience but it was not all it could be.

sitting in the café

writing our prayers on

slips of paper while

it is cold and rainy

outside

This year, I went prepared. I had been reading the scriptures about the sites we would visit. I had taken the time to pray about the trip and pray about what I wanted to write on my little slips of paper and I went prepared to meet God at that wall . . . and I did.

The men and women are in different locations and never the twain shall meet – EXCEPT there are chairs along the wall on the women’s side and you can stand in those chairs and peek over the wall.

view from over the fence

yes, I was standing in a 

plastic wobbly

chair

another view of the men's side

Women are praying at the wall. Women are praying in plastic chairs. It is a powerful place.

I will tell you a “funny” story – two years ago, I wrote my daughter’s name and my heart’s desire for her to meet not just “Mr. Right” but for her to meet the right man – the man whom God had picked for her. This year, when I returned to the wall, I was able to give thanks that she will be married this year!

these photos were taken

this year - 2018 and the

sun was shining

you can see how you lay your

hands on the wall to pray

if you look closely, you can see the white

slips of paper in the nooks and crannies

there are so many women praying - see all

those white plastic chairs??

What exactly is the Western Wall? It is one of the last remaining walls of the ancient Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. There is an open square in front of the wall where people gather to pray. This open square faces the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.

The temple steps where we sat earlier are on the southern end of the western wall (southern wall).

The temple was destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans and much of what remains of the original structure is this external supporting wall.

You have to understand that right there is the Temple Mount but Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount is completely forbidden. Muslims are free to pray on the Temple Mount, however Christians and Jews can only visit the site at limited times and only as tourists. During times of political tension, on Fridays, and on holy days, admission is limited to Muslim men over a certain age.

W is for Water

Have you ever wondered about drinking the water in Israel? In our hotels, the water is totally safe to drink. You can brush your teeth, drink a glass of water, etc.

During the day, our tour bus provides water for $1 a bottle, which is a good deal. At the front of the bus, a bin is built into the “dashboard” and it is filled with water and paying is on the honor system.

There is another interesting thing about water in Israel. As you drive around, you notice black towers on top of apartment buildings. These are water tanks.

As I was researching, I found this article on stanforddaily.com. The article is from 2014. “You can see evidence of separate and unequal treatment of Israelis and Palestinians. You can determine the distinction between Palestinian villages and Israeli settlements in the West Bank by looking at their roofs. Palestinians have multiple black water towers peppered all over every roof. The Israeli settlements either have no water towers at all (they have 24/7 access to water) or they have small white storage tanks/water heaters.”

The article goes on to say that Palestinians gather water in these tanks to use when they don’t receive their water from the Israelis (about once a week).

When there is an attack, these water storage units are often attacked.

look on the right side of

the photo - you can see one of the black

water towers/containers

this photo came from Stanforddaily.com like the quote
above

April A to Z Challenge: V is for Valley of the Wind and Doves; Via Dolorosa

V is for Valley of Wind and Doves

Valley of the Wind and Doves is another of my favorites (every time I type that, I laugh out loud – “another of my favorites”). This valley is 22 miles long and connects Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee.  It was the main thoroughfare between these two cities. Think of the feet that have trod this path. It literally took my breath away. This spot was so very peaceful – there were no crowds. There were no ruins. Our guide, Rafi, handed me his headset and his phone with a scripture pulled up and asked me to read. I felt like the Psalmist himself. I must admit that it was a very profound experience. 

My pictures don't do a very good job of showing how TALL Mt. Arbel is but it towers above.

I really want to write about the deep feelings I had and the incredible beauty and peace of this place but I simply cannot put it into words.

It was a GORGEOUS day

that is not a mountain goat on that steep hill

that is a COW!

Alan, friend and fellow traveler, taking it all in

Here I stand reading the Psalm

V is for Via Dolorosa

I purchased a brochure when we were walking the Via Dolorosa and some of the words below are mine and some are straight from that brochure:

The Via Dolorosa, or “Way of Sorrow” winds along narrow streets of Jerusalem’s Old City. This is where tradition says Jesus walked. Some of the stops along the way are in the Bible and some have been added. This is the path from Pilate’s Judgement Hall in the Antonia to Golgotha, the site many think is the site of the crucifixion.

Along this route are the “fourteen stations of the cross.” Each station marks an event of sacred memory.

I think I mentioned in an earlier blog post that we actually walked it backwards (14-1 rather than 1-14) this year (on purpose) due to the crowds. The streets are narrow. There is a lot of noise along the way. I do have to wonder how it would have been when Jesus walked a similar path on that day.

This is Station 3 - Jesus falls under

the Cross for the first time

This is in a Polish chapel - look at the

artwork and all of those angels looking

down at Jesus

This is Station 4 - Jesus meets his mother

Tradition says that Mary stood by the road in order to

see her son. This is above the door of a small

Armenian Catholic chapel where you 

can go inside and sit and reflect.

Even though this might not be an actual spot or

may be tradition -- this spot makes my own "mother's

heart" ache with grief

The 5th Station remembers how Simon of Cyrene was

forced to carry the cross.

This picture and the one below are Station 7

these are the doors to a Franciscan chapel

and the picture below is taken of the wall

Station 7 - where Jesus stumbled

and placed his hand against the wall

I love the old streets but

you can see how small they

are and with large tour

groups walking through among

those who live and work and

shop there makes for

quite a crowd

These Via Dolorosa pictures are all

from our 2016 trip. This is the 9th station

of the cross where Jesus fell

again

The last five stations are all within the walls of the

church of the Holy Sepulchre

this art work is on the wall

behind the men in the picture below

Station 13 - Jesus is taken down from the cross

and laid on this stone - it is called

the stone of anointment

April A to Z Challenge: U is for Unseen, Upper Room, Ultra Religious

Continuing on with April A to Z Challenge - sorry in advance for the photo overload!

U is for Unseen

Have you ever been somewhere and felt totally unnoticed or totally unseen? I actually noted an event in my little travel journal that was quite bizarre. I was in the restaurant of the hotel in Jerusalem one morning and I was totally ignored by the wait staff. They were all men and I watched them bustle around serving other tables but not a single one approached my table. Breakfast is served buffet style so I had food but no one ever asked if I needed coffee (which I didn’t) or any other thing. Not one of them even looked at me. It was the weirdest thing! Has anyone else ever experienced something like that?

Since I was unseen . . .I have no photos :-)

U is for Upper Room

I’ve told y’all a million times about things that were my favorite but this one was NOT. It was fine and interesting but for some reason it was a tad disappointing to me. When I read I have a tendency to make pictures in my head of what something should look like. On both trips, I tried to go with no expectations – no preconceived notions but I couldn’t shake them for this space. I know that this space has been rebuilt on top of whatever used to be there so I wasn't expecting "original" - it just wasn't what I thought it would be. One cool thing is that they told us the tomb of King David is underneath the building!

statue of king david who is

missing his nose

someone did this to him!

people praying in King David's tomb

The Last Supper was taken, according to old belief, in the big room below. One Byzantine column still stands from the Crusader reconstruction. There is a pillar in one of the corners which has a pelican motif. What does a pelican have to do with the upper room? An old story says that the pelicans bill has a crimson tip, and the contrast of this red tip against the white breast probably gave rise to the tradition that the bird tore her own breast to feed her young with the blood. Since we celebrate the Lord’s Supper using grape juice or wine which represents the blood of Christ, I guess this is the stretch between the two.

above and below - shots of the pelicans on the pillar

U is for Ultra Religious

Our tour guide used this reference often – Ultra Religious Jews.  I read on one website that these gentleman do not like to be called Ultra Religious or Ultra Orthodox. If this is so, someone please tell me. I certainly would never want to offend anyone.

This is from the Jewish Center for Public Affairs:

Israel's Jews are not divided into two groups but into four: ultra-Orthodox, religious Zionists, traditional Jews, and secular. Some 8 percent are ultra-Orthodox. These are the strangely (to Western eyes) garbed, black hatted Jews who are featured in all the pictures, despite the fact that they represent only 8 percent of Israel's Jewish population. Both years of travel, our flight from Newark to Tel Aviv and back, was populated with many Ultra Orthodox or Ultra Religious Jews. These are the men in the big black hats and big black coats with “boxes” on their arms. These “boxes” are Tefillin. They are actually two small black boxes with black straps attached to them. Jewish men are required to place one box on their head and tie the other one on their arm each weekday morning. This practice comes from the scripture, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your might. Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a frontlet between your eyes. (translation from Jewish Virtual Library . . .which has been a great resource).

The flight from Newark to Tel Aviv is about 12 hours and these gentlemen are up and down several times during the night praying.