The Western Wall and Bethlehem

 Well darn it, my body clock hasn’t adjusted to the ten hour time difference, so here I am wide awake at 4 a.m. It must be time to add to the blog!

Visiting the Western Wall aka the wailing wall was one of the highlights of our first day in Jerusalem.  It was inspiring and touching to see people of so many faiths praying shoulder to shoulder in accordance with their beliefs.


Praying at the wall is segregated by gender.  The men go to the large sunny area on the left.  Women have access to the much smaller area on the right that was in the afternoon shade during our visit. The guys put on the required head covering before approaching the wall. Here are Scott, John and Pat at the wall.


Tradition holds that you write your prayers on a small scrap of paper and tuck it into a crevice on the wall.  I must say every crack is well chinked!

Teresa cleansed her hands in preparation for her prayers at the wall. You are supposed to face the wall and back away after you pray, but it was so crowded that I couldn’t back up without stepping on someone.

On to more holy sites, we checked out the Grotto of Gethsemane, the site of the betrayal of Jesus.


Nearby was the site of Mary’s tomb.

We were somewhat taken aback by the dense crowds of pilgrims and tourists that made getting around a challenge.  Friday also brings many Jews into Jerusalem for the weekly observance of Shabbat which starts at sundown.

We also went to Bethlehem and the church of the Nativity on Friday.  There was a dense crush of people waiting in a 90-minute queue to visit the cave where Jesus was born. Yes, the stable was in a cave, not the open air thatched roof shed you see in most nativity scenes. Pat was able to get this nice picture in spite of the pushing and jostling.


I avoided the line and spent a peaceful 90-minutes in a nearby courtyard with the statue of Saint Jerome who translated the Bible from the original texts into Latin.  It took him 35-years! He kept the skull at his feet as a reminder not to procrastinate so he could finish the task in his lifetime. 


 We walked back to the parking garage to locate our tour bus and watch our driver do a masterful job of untangling our coach from the masses of moving metal.


Bethlehem is located in Palestine and crossing through the security checkpoint to and from Israel was a stark reminder of the unrest in this part of the world.

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