The Holocaust Memorial, the Dead Sea Scrolls and Bethlehem

Day 5

Another early departure time, so I found it difficult to get through the usual massive breakfast I feel obliged to have.  There really is everything you could want from porridge and semolina pudding to lasagne and gefilte (?) fish and everything in between, except of course bacon.

Today we went to visit the Holocaust Memorial, Yad Vashem, entering via the avenue of the Righteous.  These were Gentiles who are honoured for helping the Jews in some way during the Holocaust eg Oskar Schindler.  The memorial building is a long hallway with steeply sloping walls leading to a pointed skylight with nine rooms depicting the stages of the persecution from the creation of ghettos, the confiscation of property, the rounding up of children, the mass shootings and of course the extermination camps.  I think most people are acquainted with the facts and have seen photos but what was particularly moving was the numerous video screens throughout the memorial with survivors giving personal testimony of what they had seen and experienced.  Every year on Holocaust Day at 10am everyone in Israel goes out into the street to observe 2 minutes silence when the siren sounds.  The school children are always dressed in blue trousers and a white shirt is considered a sign of respect.

There is also a separate memorial to the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust.  It is a beautiful place, a dome, completely dark except for mirrors reflecting the candles everywhere.  The name, age and place of birth of each child is read out continuously day and night, every day of the year except Yom Kippur and amazingly, it takes three and a half years to read out the list.

The outside of Yad Vashem.  I didn't take any photos inside.

 On then to the Israel Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls.   But in the grounds outside that, there is a huge scale model of the old walled city of Jerusalem.  There was the Temple of 65 AD ( the acronym CE common era is now used to denote AD and BCE before common era to denote BC) two temples of Herod the Great, who being only half Jewish was not allowed in the Temple, the Antonian Tower, garrisoned  by the Romans and the residential areas, poor area with flat roofs near the Kidron Valley, the middle class area with tiled roofs on higher ground and the Roman garrison area.  The place where Jesus was crucified ( top left hand corner) was inside the city walls but outside the Jewish area and located near the burial grounds for the city.  

The scale model of Jerusalem

Explanation of the history of the Temple

The Scrolls were found by a goat herd boy in caves overlooking the Dead Sea.  The climate had preserved them for 2200 years.  They were the entire Old Testament written by a sect, the Iceans, who seemed to live by the same rules as modern Jews and their importance is that it establishes that Jews were living in this land and have a right to it therefore.  Prior to finding the scrolls, the earliest written account of the Old Testament was the Aleppo Codex, copies of which I have seen in the British Library in London.  The museum like many of the places of historical interest, is very sympathetically built.  It was in the shape of a beehive, dark inside, quite plain but a good backdrop to the exhibits.  However you couldn't say that about the city.  The upmarket areas are attractive but the modern parts are utilitarian looking, uniformly rectangular, mostly with flat roofs and in the same shade of concrete grey.  Each roof has solar panels which is compulsory by law.

We drove past the Knesset, the parliament building, which was also nothing to write home about (but I appear to be doing that anyway).  It has recently been extended to accommodate the 8 assistants that each MP has.  Our guide was not complimentary about the Government. 

Two interesting facts.  Jews here are not allowed by their religion to pierce or tattoo the body, except for earrings.  There are no censuses  (censii?) in Israel as God promised Abraham that the children of Israel would as numerous as the stars in the heavens and the grains of sand on the seashore so to count the people would be doubting God's word.

At lunchtime we crossed into Palestine into Bethlehem and stopped for lunch at a Bedouin style tent restaurant overlooking the field where the shepherds were keeping watch.  We didn't eat much as we are having a big breakfast and evening meal and so don't need much midday but it did look really good.  We went down then to the shepherds' field.  Legend has it that this is the same field which was owned by Boaz and where Ruth came to glean.  David was a descendant of their marriage and Jesus a descendant of David.  There is a collection of caves in the hillside next to the field and artefacts were found there from the first century.  It also overlooks a hill on the other side of Jerusalem where the shepherds crossed to take lambs to the Temple for sacrifice.

The Shepherds' field.  The line  through the middle is an electrified fence, denoting the border between Israel and the Palestinian West Bank.

There is a church as usual built over the grotto where Mary gave birth to Jesus.  There is a beautiful fresco behind the altar in the Greek Orthodox style.  Sadly the queue to see the grotto was 3 hours long and we didn't have enough time to wait so we went in the neighbouring grotto which was said by the guide to be very similar.  I was disappointed and though I listened to our guide on the headphones provided, I couldn't feel particularly inspired.  I wandered off down a narrow passage which came to an end with a big wooden door but I noticed there were 2 holes in it.  Being nosey, I said unto myself, have a little look.  And there it was, the altar of the grotto.  It was beautifully decorated and people were filing past, some falling to their knees and kissing the ground.  So happy that I stumbled on this wonderful sight.

The "similar" grotto

The secret passage

The peep hole view of the birth place of Jesus.  You can see the bright colours of the fresco and someone on his knees kissing the ground, actually it's his bottom facing you.

Our guide in Bethlehem was a Palestinian Christian, as our Israeli guide was not allowed to cross into Palestine.  He explained the Palestinian side of the political dispute to us.  One issue was water.  The climate is dry and often there is severe shortage of water as none can get through from Israel.  There is no airport and they are not allowed to fly from Israel, they are not even allowed to cross the border without a special permit.  There is no British embassy, so they need to get into Israel to visit a British embassy to get a visa to visit the UK. But mostly the problem is the Israeli settlements which continue to be built on Palestinian land.  There is a wall between the two parts of Jerusalem in urban areas and an electrified fence in the rural parts.  Sadly the tomb of Rachel which is a holy site for all three religions is now almost hidden between parts of the wall. 

On the coach ride back, there was a big police presence at the Bethlehem crossing.  Some Palestinian youths had started throwing stones at the wall and tourist buses so we had to make a detour to another border crossing which meant that the Sabbath had started by the time we got back to our hotel.  The hotel is next to an ultra orthodox area and we could see the Jewish men in their long black coats and big hats walking down to the synagogue.  No one was driving a car as the roads in that area were closed off for Sabbath.  In the hotel, the food was mostly preprepared casseroles etc although the Christian and Muslim staff continued to work as normal.  Strangely, one of the 4 lifts was designated a Shabbat lift with preset stops at all floors so that Jewish guests could get in and not have to press the floor button which would have been forbidden.

The busy days are taking their toll and we found ourselves heading to bed at 9.30 ish.  No discos tonight then.