Good Friday in Jerusalem

Good Friday was a very special day for us starting with a outside service in the morning at the Garden Tomb. Hymns were sung and scripture read by volunteers from the UK who work at the tomb several months each year. The songs were particularly meaningful as they were ones that we have been singing since children. A wonderful sermon was given by a cleryman from the Anglican Church and following that, we headed for the Via Dolorosa to view the procession from Station One of the Cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Jesus stands trial before Pilate (John 18:28-19:16). Station 1 - the courtyard where Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified

Station 2 where Jesus takes up the cross

The Ecce Homo Arch where Pilate said to the crowd "Behold the Man" (John 19:5)

The Way of Sorrows

Friars start the Good Friday procession

Via Dolorosa procession

Via Dolorosa procession

Heavy police presence

Procession through the Arab souq

Procession through the souq

Jesus being nailed to the cross (Mark 15:25-32) - station 11

Jesus is crucified and dies (Matthew 27:45-55) - station 12

Maundy Thursday

The events of Maundy Thursday came alive this year as we followed the path of Christ from the Upper Room to the Garden of Gethsemane at the Mount of Olives, to the house of the high priest Caiaphas and the Church of St. Peter of Gallicantu where Peter denied Christ.

Outside the Upper Room (second floor) where Jesus and His disciples ate the Passover Supper and Jesus instituted communion. (Luke 22:14-20)

Inside the Upper Room

Jesus struggling in the Garden of Gethsemane. (Luke 22:39-46)

Olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane estimated to be 2000 years old.

Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:47-56)

The Church of St. Peter of Gallicantu or "crow of the rooster church" where Peter denies Jesus three times (Mark 14:66-72) and the house of Caiaphas the high priest (Matthew 26:57-67)

The Preparations for Passover

SHOPPING FOR PASSOVER AT MEHANE YEHUDA

A new kippa for the holiday
Buying fresh fruits and vegetables

This is the stall where I buy all the produce for the Distribution Center

Fish for sale

Various kinds of dates

More dates and sesame candy

Wednesday night started the celebration of Passover or Pesah and that means we are off work until Monday morning. For the Jewish people, the past weeks have been spent cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning of their homes - getting rid of every product with leaven and then a last minute search for possible bread crumbs. Of course this involves moving furniture and cleaning all the corners of every room - guess a little bit like spring cleaning. In addition to the frantic cleaning, the shopping and cooking for the holiday is very important as well. The shuk has been "like a zoo" every day this week. We wandered around there on Tuesday night just to be part of the action and the pictures are self explanatory. It was fun to see everyone so excited and wishing each other a Happy Passover. No bread, pasta, cookies allowed until next Thursday (4/15)thus we'll be eating matzoh. Some things I have learned this week: I must be settling into life in Jerusalem as I've grown accustomed to seeing the very young Israeli soldiers with their automatic weapons on guard; Israeli women do in fact have colors in their wardrobe, not just black; Passover brings out the most fantastic coconut macaroons; chocolate covered matzoh is really good; and I don't miss CNN or Fox News.

Palm Sunday on the Mount of Olives

It was amazing the number of people who participated in the Palm Sunday procession from Bethphage to St. Anne's Church in the Old City. We expected a crowd and were told that usually 10,000 plus people show up and even though we saw only those around us, I believe it is entirely possible they are correct. There were people from all over the world singing songs in their own language, some waving their country's flag, others carrying religious pictures and of course most everyone carried either a palm or olive branch. We walked to the Mount of Olives from our apartment - I'm sure it was at least 20 miles - and this is where we picked up the procession. We actually saw several people we knew from CFI and ended up walking with and talking to a group of Americans from Kansas here on a tour. It was a once in a life time experience to be here for that walk down Palm Sunday Road.

This is a view of the Old City from Dominus Flevit at the Mt. of Olives

The Procession

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The huge Jewish cemetary on the Mt. of Olives

The Garden of Gethsemane

At the Damascus Gate/Arab quarter

I hadn't really though about the variety of pictures that I posted but it is so indicative of Jerusalem ...Christians, Jews and Muslims all bunched together in this incredible city that everyone loves.

Saturday Around Town

Large menorah outside the Knesset, a gift from British supporters of the state of Israel The Knesset, Israel's parliament

A stroll on Shabbot in the neighborhood of Mea Shearim. An ultra orthodox area, it is like going back in time.

Visitors to the area are not necessarily welcome

We walked another 6 1/2 hours today and covered a lot of miles. Tomorrow we are heading into the Old City once again and to the Mount of Olives to see the Palm Sunday procession. We have two days off work next week due to the Feast of Passover and are looking forward to being able to participate in the Holy Week services at the various sites.

Sderot Town Visit

I joined the CFI Conflict Relief Team on a visit to the town of Sderot located one mile east of Gaza. This town has experienced thousands of rocket attacks over the past 8 years but the attacks have been reduced to 5 - 20 per week after the recent Gaza conflict. All residents live with the constant fear of being injured or killed by the Hamas rockets called kassams (2 ft long by 3" diameter) and many are traumatized by their experiences. Families especially are fearful of harm to their children while at school and many are on medications and/or under psychological care for the constant stress. Most all remaining residents can not afford to relocate out of Sderot, so they carry on as best they can. CFI provides food vouchers, financial assistance for medical costs, minor apartment repairs and appliance replacements after referal from a social worker.

WATCH OUT FOR THE KASSAMS. The warnings consist of general alarm sirens or a code red alarm from loud speakers all over the town. Because of the close proximity to Gaza, when the defense system detects a kassam en route, the residents have only 15 seconds to take cover in a bomb shelter for protection. During our 5 hour visit , there were 3 kassam warnings. The first was a siren which we didn't hear during lunch (none of the customers ran so I guess we were OK). The second was a code red while we were driving between visits. Cars stopped in the middle of the street and passengers ran to bomb shelters close by. We pulled over and prayed for God's protection. All was well. The third was a kassam which landed in a field and was detonated by the IDF just as we were climbing a hillside to look over at Gaza City. The first picture below shows smoke from the exploded kassam with Gaza City in the background and the Mediterranean Sea beyond that.


Kassam, Gaza City and the Mediterranean Sea

Bus stop bomb shelter

Inside school playground "caterpillar" bomb shelter

School playground "caterpillar" bomb shelter

Concrete arch shelter over a school

It is most interesting seeing the creative bomb shelter structures designed and built by the town for their residenets. I can't imagine how the residents cope with this constant threat. It is amazing that only 4 people have been killed over the 8 years of 8,000 plus rocket bombings; a true example of God's protection of His chosen people.

It's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood (thank you, Mr. Rogers) - the sun is shining and we have a cloudless sky. In fact, by the end of the week, it will be in the high 60's.
Perhaps you would like to see what our neighborhood looks like ...

Mahane Yehuda open air market (shuk) where you can buy fruit, vegetables, spices and just about anything else you want. This is right next door to us so it is very convenient.
Supermarket for the items we don't buy from the shuk.

This is what the surrounding streets look like in our neighborhood.

Speaking of supermarkets, this week I did the Distribution Center shopping solo and this is what I found out:

Those little totebags on wheels that the little old ladies wheel around are really very convenient; Those little totebags have to be packed just right or things can happen; You need to arrange your list so that you get the heavy items first (like canned goods) so they can go on the bottom as opposed to picking up bread first - when you don't follow this first rule, you have to, at some point, stop, unload everything and re-pack; If you have bought too many items and things are hanging out the tote, once you move away from it to add even more items, it will topple over and your oranges will go all over the floor and people will look at you funny; None of the workers in the store seems to speak English even though they tell you in perfect English that they don't speak English - look for a kid to talk to; Cheese is all the same - looks and taste like Mozzarella - except for the Parmesan I found for $18.75 a 1/4 pound - no, I did not buy it; When you ask for a kilo of strawberries, they will try to give you more but you don't have to take it - just watch what the other women do and imitate them; When you go to the check out, BE READY - things move fast - unload the little old lady tote for scanning but since you must be careful about repacking it, you have to wait until she scans the last items (the heavy stuff on the bottom)before you start to pack (no baggers) so the bread and eggs end up on top. Of course you are fumbling with the money trying to get out the correct amount and people are behind you looking at you funny. The Distribution Center is only a few blocks from the store but it is hard to push the little cart through the crowds outside while carrying a large pack of paper towels on one arm and balancing a birthday cake but when you finally make it, it's like WOW, I did it. Actually alot of the items have English on one side with Hebrew on the reverse or there is a picture of the product so it's really pretty easy. Two other really important lessons are that broccoli makes a fine substitute for Jimmy Dean sausage and Israeli chocolate bars do not take the place of Hershey's semi-sweet morsels for chocolate chip cookies.

Via Dolorosa

On Saturday we walked in the Old City again and this time, we walked the Via Dolorosa or "Way of Sorrow." This is what tradition says is the route Jesus followed to Calvary. We stopped at each of the 14 stations of the cross and I am attaching pictures that we took along the way. There were many pilgrims there, one group carrying a cross - weaving along narrow alley ways and through the Arab bazaar (souq.) The last four stations are inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Obviously our pictures do not portray any of this adequately but they can give you a little idea of what we saw. Preparations are underway for Easter with many services in the Old City as well as a procession on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thurs. service in Gethsemane, Good Friday services with people walking the Via Dolorosa followed by Easter sunrise services at the Garden Tomb.

Second Station of the Cross: Chapel of Condemnation & FlagellationThird Station of the Cross: Jesus falls under the cross for the first timeThe site of Calvary