Wednesday, 11:58 pm local time
Memory.
The number six million means nothing to me. It is incomprehensible. I’m a math/science guy at heart, so I appreciate the quantifiable, but to contemplate the extermination of six million people…it’s unthinkable. Literally – I cannot think about it, I cannot wrap my head around it. Even visiting Yad Va’Shem today, the Israeli memorial to the victims of the Holocaust – in Hebrew, the Shoah – it doesn’t help. I’ve been to Holocaust museums. I know the history, both the geopolitical and the religious, and it only does so much.
Wednesday, 7:15 am local time
Light.
A trip like this takes a toll on you. There’s so much to say, but never enough time to say it. I’m a seminarian, so I’m used to staying up late writing and waking up early for lectures, but the intensity of this journey has made me tired – has made all of tired. We’ve listened to six passionate people in the last two days talk about their struggles and joys and woes and fears and it’s getting to me. This is our last full day in Israel, though. The space between now and our first jaunt to Tel Lakish is simultaneously too vast and too narrow to measure, and much has fallen through the cracks. And we’re not done yet.
Tuesday, 12:30 am local time
This morning we headed out on the bus for Bethlehem. The drive is just about a 10-minutes from Jerusalem and yet Jewish Israeli Citizens cannot cross into Bethlehem. Bethlehem is in the West Bank and cars filled with tourists and Palestinians (Arab speakers from the West Bank) must go through a series of checkpoints to enter Jerusalem from Bethlehem. The newly erected 25-foot wall between these two cities effectively makes these neighboring cities feel and interact like two separate countries.
Monday, 1:10 pm local time
Sadness.
We met this morning with two groups working on the Palestinian problem in the town of Bethlehem. Christians know Bethlehem as the site of the birth of Christ, and we will indeed be visiting the Church of the Nativity later this afternoon, but for many Palestinians, Bethlehem is merely another part of the Occupied Territories.
Sunday, 11:59 pm local time
Centuries.
Two things need to be noted: first, the header for this post is a picture of the group in front of Qumran Cave 11; Emma and Matt unfortunately got cropped out of this shot, but you will be able to see the whole picture on the Day 9 pictures page. Second, I’ve waited to post pictures from Days 7, 8, and 9 in anticipation of contributions from other people. It’s been a long trip, and we’ve all been going to sleep earlier in the last few days. I’ll post all three days’ worth of pictures tomorrow.
Sunday, 11:45 pm local time
After we visited the Temple Mount, we had some free time, so a few of us went to see the Western Wall. I could not imagine a visit to Jerusalem without seeing this most sacred place. My feet hurt, I was thirsty, and really wanted to go home, but I did not want to take it for granted that I would get another chance before we leave on Thursday morning. When we arrived in Jerusalem it felt like we had all the time in the world to see the city, but now I am counting the hours and thinking of all the things I still want to do.
Sunday, 8:40 am local time
Anger.
Brace yourselves, I feel a rant coming on.
Today is Sunday, and some of us elected to worship at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher this morning. The church houses some of the most important sites in the Christian narrative, including Golgotha and the Empty Tomb. Pretty holy, right? The church is humongous, too, encompassing at least as much square footage as Princeton’s quad. Thousands of worshipers visit every day; we saw the church yesterday, remember, but we decided to come back early this morning – 7 am – to view some of its sites before we worshiped on our own. Fewer people, more room – good idea.
Saturday, 9:56 pm local time
Sovereignty.
The city of Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged twenty-three times, attacked fifty-two times, and captured or recaptured forty-four times. In 1948, it became the capital of the new state of Israel; in 1967, Israel annexed divided East Jerusalem. The city covers 125 square kilometers; the Old City covers less than one square kilometer. It is a holy place, and a wholly other place, and a place that yearns to be whole. It is, in name – but not in spirit.
Friday, 11:58 pm local time
Sabbath.
Now we’re on the other side.
Kefillit Yadidiah is a modern Orthodox synagogue about 20 minutes from the Jaffa Gate of the Old City, a 15 minute walk from where we’re staying here at St. Andrews. “Modern” Orthodox means that, although they seek to follow the laws of the Torah, they try to be more egalitarian than their ultra-Orthodox brethren. Women are separated from men by a screen down the middle of the synagogue, but it separates left and right rather than front and back; women are equidistant from the holy ark that holds the Torah and from the ‘pulpit’ from which most of the praying is done. Women give sermons and pray and sing, so as far as Orthodox synagogues go, this is pretty feminist, says our guide Debbie. Debbie is the president of the council on Jewish-Christian relations here in Jerusalem; we will be meeting with her more in depth later in the week.
Yavo Shalom Aleinu
Thursday, 10:40 am local time
Tomorrow.
Once upon a time. All the best stories start with once upon a time, and this one does too. Once upon a time. In the beginning. B’rashit bara eloheinu. Every story starts in time, actually: once upon some time that is not this time. There’s a story in the Godly Play curriculum about the way the Church counts time, and it starts with Christmas, the “end that is a beginning, or maybe the beginning that’s an ending.” Time is circular. We come back to that once upon a time, sometimes.
Click here to keep reading about Tomorrow…
from → Commentary