Today was another packed day. We’re not used to doing so much in one day as, up until this tour, we’ve pretty much taken it easy. But the good news is that we’re not doing anything but climbing in and out of the bus and going where Tazchi tells us to go.
The day started at a few museums. Our first stop was at a 1:50 model of the old city of Jerusalem at the time of the 2nd temple (about 70AD). It’s made of Jerusalem limestone and was very impressive.
The next stop was at an adjacent museum where we saw the dead sea scrolls. The story of finding these ancient documents is very similar to how the Lascaux caves were found. In 1946, a Bedouin shepherd boy reached into a large opening in a rock where his young goat had disappeared. The boy pulled out a jug which he gave to his father who opened the jug and found the scrolls. Long story short, the jug eventually made it into the hands of people who understood what it contained, and the rest is history. Eventually, several other jugs were found in 12 different caves. The scrolls date back to 3rd century BC to 1st century AD. No photographs were allowed but here’s one I found online.
Then it was off to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum on the Mount of Remembrance. The first part we saw was the Garden of the Righteous Among Nations dedicated to non-Jews who saved even one Jew from the Nazis.
Every person or group who assisted Jews in the Holocaust, has had a carob tree planted in this garden. When the Garden was dedicated in 1996, over 14000 Righteous had been honored. There aren’t that many trees as some of the trees are planted in honor of groups, like the Danish Resistance, who, in 1943, transported over 7200 Jews to Sweden. Two of the most well-known Righteous are Raoul Wallenberg and Oskar Schindler.
The next part of the museum we visited was the Children’s Memorial in remembrance of the 1.5 million children who were murdered by the Nazis. At the entrance of the underground cavern where the Memorial is located, is a sculpture of pillars broken at various heights. They symbolize the lives cut short by the Holocaust.
In the first room of the Memorial was a wall of photos of children who were murdered.
The main room of the Memorial is completely mirrored and reflects the light of five candles, so it looks like there are a candle for each child. As we walked through the dark room, names of the deceased children and adolescents, with their age and place of death, were recited by a looped tape recording. The recording takes about three months to list all the casualties. It was an incredibly moving experience.
Just outside the Memorial is a statue of Janusz Korczak, the head of a Polish orphanage. In 1942, he was exterminated in Treblinka Death Camp with his orphans because he refused to let them leave without him.
The final stop was the main museum which gives the history of anti-Semitism and tells the story of the Holocaust. It was very well done but due to the crowds and lack of time, we only did a quick walk through. We could have easily spent 2-3 hours, but we only had about 40 minutes.
I took these pictures before I realized that photographs weren’t allowed. The first exhibit told the story of over 2,000 Jews in Estonia were murdered as the Nazis were fleeing the advancing Soviet Army. They didn’t have time to burn all the bodies, so the Soviets found papers, pictures, and other personal effects on the bodies of the victims.
The complex was very interesting and well-worth the visit. After a quick lunch in the museum cafeteria, it was back on the bus for the short drive to our next stop, Mount Zion and the room where the Last Supper was held. There is some doubt among scholars that this is the actual place where Jesus had his last meal, but it is considered to be one of the holiest sites.
During the bus ride it started pouring rain and, while it slowed a little before we got off the bus, it was still too wet for Peter, so he stayed on the bus. I’m so glad he did because the pavement was way too bumpy for the wheelchair, and it was too slippery for him to walk. Besides, we were moving very quickly to try and get out of the rain, and he would have never been able to keep up.
There were a couple of beautiful glass windows.
This room is located on the upper floor of the building that also houses the Tomb of King David, of David/Goliath fame. He reigned between 1010 and 970BC. This was the only time that we were separated by gender to see a site. The men were given paper yarmulkes and went to the right to view one end of the tomb, while the women went to the left to view the other end.
Here’s a picture of the entire building.
The next picture is of Zion’s Gate in the wall. You can clearly see the bullet holes from one of the battles between Israel and Jordan during the Six Day war in 1967.
Our final stop for the day was only a mile away from the Tomb of King David but it took almost 45 minutes to get there. The traffic was ridiculous! Once again, Peter stayed on the bus while the rest of us visited what some scholars believe is the site of Calvary where Jesus was crucified. Our local guide gave a convincing presentation of why this is the site, but other scholars believe the actual site is at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which we will visit on Wednesday. So, no matter which one is the actual site, we have our bases covered.
The site isn’t terribly impressive as it’s actually a parking lot.
Then a short walk from here was the site of what Stuart, and a bunch of other people, believe to be the tomb of Jesus. Again, he listed all the reasons why this is the original site.
I’ve been trying for 20 minutes to get the last 2 pictures to upload but it isn’t happening and I’m very tired. So, I’ll include them at the beginning to tomorrow’s post. Thanks for understanding. Talk with you soon.