Last Day, Jerusalem

Well, soon this rampage through Israel will be over.  We get up tomorrow and pack up and then after visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, we will all head to the airport with some flying back to the US and myself and 15 others will go on to Jordan for a day (Sunday) to see Petra.  I will probably not be able to write again until Sunday night, we'll see.

What an amazing opportunity I have had to be on this trip...I mean it is such a fantastic gift Jeff has given me by willingly taking over all parenting duties while I have been away.  I thought possibly while I was away my family would appreciate more all that me as their mom does for them, but truly the converse has happened.  I am over the top appreciative of what my family does and has done for me.  I miss them like crazy!!  I can't wait to hug you all next week.

Our day was emotional.  But first, educational.  Before, when we visited the Qumran caves, I have to admit, I was a little confused about why there was very little mention of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which I assumed was because they didn't want to add a religious bent to the exhibit, but it was weird because in Israel, everything has a religious bent.  I should have known that the scrolls were too big to be contained at the Qumran site, so far removed from access to the general public.  I missed the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Science Museum, and now I really wished I hadn't because we went to the Israel Museum (which is near the Knesset (Israeli parliament building) and other Israeli governmental buildings and it was just cool driving to it) where there is an awe inspiring exhibit called the Shrine of the Book.  We had something like 30 minutes to try to take everything in at the Shrine and because I have an addictive disorder in which I am compelled to read everything (just ask Jeff about this problem during Vikings home games, in which I keep getting distracted from paying attention to the game because the Popcorn box has writing on it and must be read) 30 hours should have been my allotment at the Shrine.  The exhibit told the story of the Essenes who preserved Scriptural writings and lived a rigid life of complete separation from society.  Because of their location in the desert, when they knew the Romans were coming and hid their many scrolls in the caves, they were preserved perfectly for upwards of 2,000 years. Not only is the fact that so many scrolls were found (40,000 scroll fragments from Cave #4 alone were discovered) astounding, but even more so that the discovery is the oldest evidence for the accuracy of the text of the Hebrew Bible.  The scrolls also the chronicled daily life of the Essenes, which is fascinating in and of itself, with directives from everything:  eating, ritual cleansing, anything to do with daily life.  They also catalogued the beliefs of this break away group.

All the books of the Hebrew Bible but Esther and Nehemiah were discovered at the caves but the Isaiah scroll was the only one preserved in its entirety.  When I was a young girl, I remember my dad had a book about the Dead Sea Scrolls and I also remember him talking about the historical and religious significance of this find.  I found walking through this building (which has a roof shaped like the lid of one of the jars the scrolls were discovered in) to be a walk of remembrance to my dad's own contagious excitement over the scrolls (even though they were discovered in 1947 and I was a girl much later they continue to be something that is exciting).  Anyway, I loved the museum. Also, outside is a model of Jerusalem from the first century.  It is huge and really helped put together many of the details we have been digesting over the past few days.

model of Jerusalem at the Israel Museum

The Holocaust Museum shaped like one point of a star

Then, we went to the Holocaust Memorial.  Nothing I could say could do an ounce of justice to the Memorial.  The way it is built zigzagging you through one room of photos, journals, personal reflections (filmed by Steven Spielberg), historical recounts, etc..to another with so much to read to look at and to ponder, then finishing in the room with every one of the 6,000,000 names of the Holocaust victims written in books reaching thirty feet up and encircling an entire room.  You are emotionally drained and feel the deep sadness over the loss when the doors open out to spill you onto a balcony in which the panorama of all of Jerusalem is before you.  As Gershon met us at the end, he explained that for those refugees that landed here, that escaped with all sense of self stolen to arrive at the place where they needed to begin again, for them Jerusalem holds the hope against the nightmare.  It was a well thought out museum and it will haunt me for probably the rest of my life, especially the two separate buildings on the grounds: one with the eternal flame and names of all the extermination camps written on the ground, but especially the memorial to the children of the holocaust in which 1.5 million stars, representing those children murdered during the Holocaust, shine in a darkened room and a voice reads the individual names of the victims taking over 6 months to get through them all.  It affected us all and there was nothing to say but ponder.

a solemn reminder of the 6 million killed

Then, finally, we went to a place called Gordon's Calvary.  It is sort of the Protestant version of the Holy Seplucher, and while it is in a different location, our guide and the site itself makes no exclusive claims on the site being the right one.  Our guide said eloquently, either one is right and one is wrong, or they could both be wrong as to accuracy of the location of the tomb in which Jesus was crucified, buried, the stone rolled away and the discovery of his resurrection.  Nonetheless, it is a beautiful garden with a empty tomb and other evidence that it could have been the location, but the point it is that it doesn't matter exactly where, it only matters that every grave where Jesus could have been is empty.  Really our great hope.  We had a short service in a little chapel there, and then were given time to walk around or sit and contemplate all of this trip, the empty tomb, and to listen to the variety of voices of all languages who had gathered to sing and proclaim hope.

Gordon's Calvary

We spent time this afternoon getting lunch on our own in a shopping area of Jerusalem (can't remember the name right now), and Julie and I stumbled upon a little bookshop and got a couple of books and met again an Israeli (owner of the shop) who was only so glad to talk to us about the place he loved, to welcome us here and to share with us his Jerusalem.  I can't explain it very well, but in spite of the tension that I have felt and seen in the various places we have been, there is a resoluteness to the people of this place, they feel inspired to live here because it means the world to them to have it.  The whole thing of who it belongs to is so complicated, but for the moments we have had with the kind, interested people we have encountered who are only too happy to welcome us, it is a blessing to meet them, that's all I know.

It was a beautiful day, sun shining, and I am grateful for it all.  I know that even months from now, little things that maybe I have overlooked or maybe I just couldn't totally take in, will bubble to the surface of my brain and what I have seen here and learned here with stay with me always.