Gallivanting Grandma

Tuesday – October 17, 2017

I woke up early at 5:45, showered, and went downstairs to breakfast at the Manger Square Hotel in Bethlehem.  The large room reminded me of a “church hall social.”  There were long tables neatly set in rows with noisy smiling pilgrims milling around, talking, and eating.  Sunrise view of Bethlehem from my hotel room:

Soon we were on our way to the West Bank city of Hebron, one of the four Holy Cities of the Jewish faith, along with Jerusalem, Tiberius, and Tsfat (Safed) because of its association with Abraham.  Hebron, means “friend” in Hebrew,  and is translated to Al-Khalil or “friend of God” in Arabic.  Hebron is an ancient city with its history reaching back 5,000 years.  Today, Hebron is prosperous and thriving with a population of about 250,000 people.  It’s the largest city and the commercial capital of the West Bank.

The sign in the photo above reminded me of the division of the West Bank into three “administrative areas.”  Area A is exclusively administered by the Palestinian Authority; Area B is administered by both the Palestinian Authority and Israel; Area C – which contains Israeli settlements – is administered by Israel.  The sign informed us that we were entering Area A.

Our first stop was the Hebron Glass & Ceramic factory owned and operated by the same family since 1890.  The city is famous throughout Israel and Palestine for ceramics and glassblowing, among other trades.

After we watched the glassblowers at work, we continued to an archaeological site called Bir Haram Al-Rama (Mamre) which was first excavated in the 1920s.  It is believed to be the site where Abraham received three angels announcing the future birth of his son Issac.  It might also have been a resting place for Joseph and Mary on their way to Egypt.

King Herod the Great built an impressive complex on the site during the Roman period.  A century later, the site became one of the main market places in Palestine.  By 614 AD, a monastery was built here.  A roofed cistern with stone basins is visible in one corner of the site.

The happy sounds of school boys playing soccer in a playground behind a wall, echoed across the archeological site and reminded me of the present.  I wondered what the boys thought about the site, since it was part of their daily experiences.  What is history, after all?  History is supposed to inform, support, and enrich the present.  (?)

The Old City of Hebron was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in July 2017.  Given its geographic location at historic crossroads in the center of Palestine, Hebron/al-Khalil was a major center of trade and culture throughout history.  What better place to see commercial enterprise than The Souq in the Old City?

We walked through the Souq Eskafiya in the Old City, which means “Cobbler’s Market” named for the shoe industry which flourished here for many decades.  Unfortunately, the souq was mainly closed.  It was sad to see so many shops boarded up.  One of the shop keepers who spoke English described tensions with Israeli troops posted nearby.  I imagine living there is stressful for everyone.

Checkpoints, security fences, and heavy secure turnstiles are a way of life.  A small community of a few hundred Zionists settlers, driven by their faith and the importance of not abandoning the burial site of their patriarch, live above the market.  Walking down the quiet street indicated discord between two communities.

We walked through a metal detector and numerous heavy-duty turnstiles to arrive at our destination: Abraham’s Mosque.

The building that houses the Tomb of the Patriarchs is divided into two parts to serve Jewish and Muslim worshippers.  The tombs are located in a holy site under a Crusader church whose foundation walls are made of “Herod’s Stones.”  The stones have decorative carved borders and were quarried during King Herod’s reign.  We saw the same 2,000 year old stones at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

We passed through the guarded entry of Al-Haram al-Ibrahimi (Abraham’s Mosque) and climbed the stairs to the main door.

Non-Muslim women have to cover-up in order to enter the mosque so were given blue cloaks.  We all looked pretty funny.

This is the fourth holiest site in Islam and the second holiest site in Palestine.  The Prophet Abraham resided in Hebron about 4,000 years ago.  He chose the city as a burial place for himself and his wife Sarah, his son Isaac with his wife Rebecca, and his grandson Jacob with his wife Leah.  They are also considered the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish people, which is the reason the building is divided in half with a mosque on one side and a synagogue on the other.

According to tradition, a cave and adjoining field were purchased by Abraham as a burial plot.  The Cave of the Patriarchs is located beneath the building complex which houses the mosque and synagogue.  Four cenotaphs (empty tombs) are visible to worshippers and the general public.  Below is a photo of the stone canopy above the visible entrance to the caves, which are not accessible.

We left the mosque and walked around the building to the entrance of the synagogue.  Jacob’s and Leah’s tombs are located on this side.

We saw the other side of Abraham’s Tomb (actually empty) and a lovely library.

We walked through another section of the souq which seemed more active.

As we left the Old City, I noticed graffiti on a wall:

We had a tasty lunch at a restaurant in Hebron called Dome of the Rock which had a beaded model of the monument in Jerusalem.  Then we drove out of the city into the desert to the home of a Bedouin family.

The family had been resettled in cinder-block houses.  The boys in the extended family met with us; some were brothers, others were cousins.  They shyly practiced their English skills and a couple of the younger boys sang songs in English. One of the mothers joined us for a short time.

“And now for something entirely different….” as Monty Python used to say, we drove to one of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank named Efrat,  which was named after the biblical place Ephrath.  The settlement was established in 1983 and currently has a population of about 10,000 people.

We joined a large group from Grand Circle Tours and walked up the steep hill to one of the synagogues.  An American-born man from Pennsylvania described his experiences as a long-time resident of the settlement.  He said a majority of residents are Americans.

This was a typical house which we passed on our climb up the hill:

Unfortunately, he was defensive and arrogant when asked questions about Palestinian lands and settling on the West Bank.  He spoke of entitlement.

My head was full of inconsistencies, conflicts with no easy solution, differing opinions, and personal contacts with real people.  The tour bus drove us back to Bethlehem for a quiet evening.

Monday – October 16, 2017

I enjoyed another good breakfast at the Cinema Hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel before gathering in the lobby with four other intrepid travelers.  Today was the beginning of a 5-day extension to the OAT Israel Tour which ended yesterday.  Five of us would continue to travel through the Palestinian Territory also known as the “West Bank.”  I had mixed feelings: excitement to explore a new destination but concerns about safety and unrest in the region.

Rafi Rozanes, our Israeli tour guide, was there early to help us board a new bus and get us going on another adventure.  Thank you Rafi!  We drove from Tel Aviv to the town of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem in the West Bank.  On the side of a dusty road, we switched buses and met our Palestinian tour guide, Hisham Ikhmayes.

Very soon, we were introduced to one of the contentious issues between the Palestinians and Israelis.  This was the “Israeli West Bank Barrier” aka “The Wall” aka “Security Fence” aka “Apartheid Wall.”  The wall was begun in September 2000 by the Israeli government as a temporary security measure at a time of heightened tensions.  It is now seen as a future political border between Israel and Palestine.

75% of the population of Beit Jala is Christian, mostly Greek Orthodox, and about 25% of the people are Muslim.

The photo below shows the landscape around Beit Jala – the city of Jerusalem is in the distance.  We were only 10 kms (6 miles) away from the “Holy City”.

Our bus stopped in front of the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. Theodosius.  Hisham had noticed traffic in front of the building and told us that the monastery was rarely open for tourists.  He said we were lucky as we walked through the gates and entered the grounds of the monastery with a group of Greek pilgrims.

The Monastery of St. Theodosius was founded in 476 by Theodosius the Cenobiarch and contains his tomb.  A cave on the monastery grounds is supposed to be the place where the three Magi took shelter during the night after delivering gifts to the newborn baby Jesus.  Access to the cave is inside the small building pictured below.

We watched as an old woman dressed in black passed keys to an elderly monk in front of the building.  He opened the bronze doors and allowed the Greek tourists to enter and climb down the stairs.

We followed them down and entered the cave.  The walls were covered with stucco and filled with icons and paintings of saints.  There was a small altar on one side.  The pilgrims lined up and took turns to touch, kiss the icons, and pray.  We were indeed lucky to witness this amazing sight.

We left quietly and continued along the road through the desert to Mar Saba Monastery in the Kidron Valley.

The monastery of Saint Sabba was founded in 483 AD and is an Eastern Orthodox Christian monastery.  Today the complex houses less than 20 monks and is considered to be one of the oldest inhabited monasteries in the world.

The facility still maintains many of its ancient traditions including the restriction of women from entering the compound.  The only building women can enter is the Women’s Tower, high on a hill away from the monastery.  It’s the building on the left in the photo above.

It is believed that this monastery will host the last Divine Liturgy on earth before the second coming of Christ.

We walked to the Women’s Tower and climbed up the stairs to have a better view of the monastery.

We drove back toward Bethlehem and stopped at Shepherd’s Field.  This is the place where the angels first announced the birth of Christ.  There are two sites near each other, which are claimed by different Christian denominations to be the actual “Shepherds’ Field.”  One belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church and the other to the Catholic Franciscan Order.

We went to the Catholic Chapel of the Shepherd’s Field whose history dates back to the 5th century.  The present chapel was built near the ruins of an ancient monastery in 1953. Under the chapel there was a large cave which we also explored.

Adjacent to this site were the excavations of a 4th – 6th century Byzantine church and monastery.  We walked past and snapped a few photos.  It seems that everyone wants a piece of the “tourist pie.”

Afterwards, we had a delicious shawarma-in-pita-bread lunch at a restaurant nearby and then continued on to the city of Bethlehem.

As luck would have it, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of The Church of the Nativity was under major reconstruction and completely covered (inside and outside) with scaffolding and canvas.

Of course, this did not deter the huge crowds of tourists who traveled thousands of miles and waited in long lines in the sanctuary to finally gain entry into the very small cave under the church and crawl under the altar to touch or kiss the silver star that marks the birth site. Two million visitors go to Bethlehem every year!

It was single file down a stairway and through a short narrow portal in order to gain entry into the Grotto of the Nativity.  Underneath an altar there was a 14-point silver star mounted in marble which supposedly marked the birthplace.

Across the “cave” was another small area which is the “Grotto of the Manger.”

The Church of the Nativity is a complex of churches and chapels administered jointly by several Christian denominations: Armenian Apostolic, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Syriac Orthodox.

The Church of Saint Catherine is adjacent to the Church of the Nativity and they were holding a mass when we looked in.  We left the churches and crossed the plaza and entered 21st century Bethlehem!  That’s The Mosque of Omar in the photo below.  It is the oldest and only mosque in the old city of Bethlehem.

We walked into a narrow alleyway and I felt immediately comfortable in the medieval middle-eastern city.  It reminded me of the back streets in Turkey.

We were on our way back to the Manger Square Hotel and we passed an interesting building on a steep hill.

This was the Church of the Mother of God, Syrian Orthodox Church.  Many Syriac Orthodox families had migrated to Palestine and settled in Bethlehem as a result of the genocide in 1915 by the Ottoman Turks.  The Syrian Christian community built the church between 1922-1928.

We were lucky again because the caretaker of the church was standing outside.  Hisham spoke to him and he opened the door and led us into the beautiful sanctuary.  The caretaker very proudly showed us the ancient illuminated bible in front of the altar.  The Syrian Orthodox Church traces its roots to one of the oldest communities of Antioch and was established as a congregation by the Apostle Peter in 37 AD.

The Manger Square Hotel was a short walk away.  We checked in and found our assigned rooms.  Dinner was in a large dining room with many tables set up and reserved for groups with religious affiliations: “Mother Fatima’s Group,” “Evangelical Pilgrims Group,” “Faith Ministry Group,” etc. etc.  We ate an interesting self-serve dinner of bright-green soup, lamb stew, rice with peas and beans.  The soup was a Middle-Eastern favorite  and comfort-food and made from a plant called molokhia or mulukhiyah, also called Jew’s mallow or jute.  It was delicious.

Below are two views of Bethlehem from my room window.  It had been another incredible day!