A Priest and a Rabbi…
Shalom from Jerusalem!
We have been in Israel for about a week now. Had a bit of a rough start with a 9.5 hour wait at the Taba border. To start things off, Chris’ bag was pulled out of the luggage scanner with some very grave faces opening his bag. Don’t know how they saw the actual book, but they weren’t thrilled to see “The Way of Truth” - a book with a rather serious looking Islamic elder on the cover, that discusses Islam and talks about the similarities between it and other faiths. We were given the book when we were in Syria (strike two) visiting the Mosque at the university. I got through and watched Chris wait around while a young border guard talked on her walkie talkie, obviously referencing the book and Chris. She then questioned him…
“Do you know any Muslims?” — “yes”
“How many and who are they?” — “………..(bewildered look only)..”
“In Israel?” — “oh, no, none”
“What do you know about Islam?” — “….(flabberghasted)..um, there’s Mohammed…”
“Why do you have this book?”
And on it went, lots of odd questions without waiting for answers. Another young guy (American) was stopped for having “A History of Arab Peoples”. In the end he was allowed to pass. Once we got to the passport control, more questions and then we were asked to take a seat. Both questioned independently (more a concern at this point over the Syria stam in our passports). 9.5 very boring hours later, we were given our passports and shown the door to Israel. Not a great first impression, but happy to say it has been uphill since then.
After leaving the border we felt like crap - no real food since early that morning, tired, grumpy, with 40 shekels in our pockets (about $10 Canadian). No bank machines anywhere nearby, we got into a cab and he took us to the only hotel we could remember from what little research we had done on Eilat (the resort town that borders Egypt). Reception there was closed for the night (approx 11pm at this point), so we headed to our own sort of oasis (appropriate, being in the desert), The Sheraton. We planned to stay two nights as there was a mall nearby… we were in serious need of some clothes that wouldn’t fall apart as soon as we put them on (first mall we have been in in months, with brand names that are legit and everything!!! oh glory!!). Two expensive but great days passed, and we had booked a ticket to Jerusalem for the next day. That day I wake up sick, and know fairly soon that there is no chance of being comfortable on a bus for 4 hours!!! Solution: another night in the Sheraton. No wonder we have slightly overspent on this trip!!
Next day we headed to Jerusalem and made it to the hostel near the Jaffa Gate. We are on our third day here and it is very clear that this is a very special city. It seems that the city oozes religion from every corner. In a five minute span you can see a group of young Hassidic boys with their black keppis and ringlets; a Catholic priest; hear the Muezin calling Muslims to prayer from a nearby Minaret; and the list goes on. The city has many sites of interest and we’ve seen a lot so far. Today we walked on the Via Delarosa (Path of Suffering) that has the stations of the cross from Jesus being judged to him arrising from the tomb. We were a part of a large group following a group of Franciscan Monks… it was very cool to hear them singing and to see the procession of “pilgrims”. The path ends in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is on the site of Calvary (or Golgotha). In the church there is an area that marks where the crucifixion happened, where the body was prepared for the tomb, and the tomb itself. Regardless of what you believe about the Bible or the Jesus story, it is an amazing place to see. Crazy ornate chapels from all sorts of denomination including Greek Orthodox (the fanciest), Coptic Christian (burned down during an earthquake in the 30’s and they didn’t have the money to restore it), Ethiopian Jewish monks, Armenians, etc… It is a pretty amazing place. We also took in some other sights including the Garden of Gethsemane, the Tomb of Mary (hmm, thought that was in Selcuk, Turkey…), and of course the Western Wall.
Funny enough, we had a great sushi meal last night in the new city. What a cool downtown area! Cool restaurants and bars everywhere, and a really good vibe in general. We have both missed sushi a lot, and though it wasn’t as good as home, it was still great to taste miso, soy, and the clean taste of good raw fish (oh yeah, and an Asahi too!).
It is now about 4 minutes to Shabbat. We are in an internet cafe in the Muslim quarter and expect to see a bit of a ghost town when we leave here. Apparently there is no public transport during the Sabbath and most restaurants and stores are closed up tight.
Thats about all for now. Long posting, sorry about that.
I hope that all is well at home.
Paula
xoxoxox
June 22 2007 04:10 pm | Egypt
June 22nd, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Amazing story!
June 22nd, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Hi Paula
I read your article about Jerusalem. I also live in beutiful Jerusalem and i hope you enjoyed visiting Jerusalem.
When you return to your county (Canada?), you can still be in contact with Jerusalem: you are mostly welcome to visit sms2wall web site: http://www.sms2wall.com and send tour prayer request to the western wall in Jerusalem.
June 26th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
Hey,
was just looking through your pictures - they are amazing!!! Brings back memories… I was in Israel in 1987.