Letting Things Unfold As They Will

Dearest Rachel –

We didn’t go out on the town last night since, as I mentioned, we really didn’t have any compelling reason to go out. As a result – as well as calling it a relatively early night – we actually woke up this morning before the alarm (which admittedly was set a bit later than usual) for the first time on this trip. Maybe we’re actually starting to get used to things around here. If so, that may be a problem, as there’s not much time left before we have to leave.

Yes, I know we just arrived in Jerusalem yesterday afternoon, but people are already talking about the timing involved in flying back home at this point. Not so much because they’re tired of being here in the Holy Land (though it wouldn’t surprise me if they were just tired, period; this running around from place to place can be an exhausting ordeal, even for those of us who knew what we were getting into), but because it’s going to be challenging to get out of here at the hour we’re going to have to. Although, it’s weird to not be the only person in the room worrying about a problem belonging to several days in the future. Then again, there’s enough going on today that thinking about getting up at two o’clock Wednesday morning isn’t at the top of my priority list.

So what does top my priority list today?  I’m actually not giving the matter a whole lot of thought; thus far, I haven’t even so much as glanced at the itinerary.  The bus will be taking us where it takes us, and things may change from whatever’s written out; there’s no sense in concerning ourselves about where we’re going until we get there.

Just as an example, it would seem that our first stop is scheduled to be at the tunnels of Hezekiah. When I was hanging out in the lobby last night, there were those who were planning on going through the water tunnel; they were trying to reconcile the idea of wearing shorts and water shoes with the instructions to “dress modestly” for touring the Temple Mount later on.

We’ll get to that issue later, but for now, we’re instead headed to the Davidson Center and the excavations around the Temple Mount.  The tunnels will have to wait until we get to (and under) the City of David. Additionally, our tour of the Temple Mount is now scheduled for tomorrow. This is all perfectly fine with me; I’m just sitting back and letting things unfold as they will.

To be sure, the City of David is right nearby, just to the south of the walled city as it stands today. It takes us less time for us to walk there than it does for the truck to get unstuck from the Dung Gate as we make our way there.

Mount Zion is outside of the current walls of the Old City, to the south, where the City of David was found.  There are cemeteries there now, which may explain why his city isn’t included as part of the walled city.  I did ask Yael, and while she said she was going to explain later, that never happened, so this will have to do as a possible explanation.  The other possibility is that, once Solomon built the Temple atop Mount Moriah, the city then began to grow up around it, rather than the ancient city.

One of the tombs on Mount Zion was discovered under the Menachem Begin Museum, and turned out to date from the First Temple period.  Included with this discovery was a locket containing a scripture fragment from the book of Exodus (the Shema, in fact) that is the oldest extant example of written scripture.

Yael explains all this as our driver brings us to Bethlehem.  Bear in mind, this would have been utterly impossible had conditions been the same as they were two or three months ago, what with the war and all, but now that peace (of a sort; enmity will probably always be simmering beneath the surface) has broken out, the West Bank is once again open for touristic business.

Yael talks about how, back in the days of Constantine, his mother Queen Helen, came to the Holy Land to find the sites of significance regarding the life of Jesus, such as His birthplace, the site of His crucifixion, and His (empty) tomb.  What she would do, absent the science of archaeology, was a combination of asking the locals and looking for pagan temples and shrines.  The latter were assumed to have been put up to profane the sites, but ironically served to identify them instead.

Unfortunately, while we were able to get into the… park?… where the caves are located, we were notified upon entering the first grotto that the remainder of the caves were closed for renovation, and would remain so until at least some time after Christmas.  It would seem to be absolute wrong time of the year to keep such places closed to tourism, but what do I know?

Upon further inquiry, it’s not that the place is under renovation, but rather that there are some archaeological diggings going on.  Now, under better circumstances, we could have been escorted in by one of the friars on duty, but as there was only one onsite at the moment, and he couldn’t leave his post, there was really nothing for it. Several of the others expressed understandable disappointment over the situation, and even I’m surprised that they they would let us in, only to turn us back when we got to the caves themselves, but this is just how it goes.  This is how things unfold; what can you do?

Theoretically, this leaves us with more time to shop at the olivewood carver’s store, but Daniel and I aren’t much for the religious tchotchkes. We can recognize and appreciate well-executed art, but that doesn’t mean that we have any need or desire for any of it in our home. It would probably just add to the clutter I’m trying to hold at bay after the purge of four years ago, to be honest.

That being said, I think I’m going to set aside what footage I filmed in the place. The Christian family that run the store do good work and ought to be supported; the fact that I neither need nor want anything from here doesn’t mean I should dissuade anyone from shopping and buying from this place. The only thing I will say is that their sales staff was omnipresent throughout the place, and the one way we came up with to keep them from pressing us was to try to look for something they didn’t have (most of the sculptures were of Christ and other New Testament figures, but there were some Old Testament scenes, as well as some Orthodox iconography of various saints. I decided to see if they had anything of the prophet Daniel, surrounded by lions, and did not see any such thing – granted, I didn’t outright ask for such a tableau, lest it turn out they have one, and I be obliged to consider purchasing it).

It feels like an hour that we’re there, but it probably was only half that. Likewise, the trip back to the hotel felt like a long time, but that was more due to the fact that the sun was still up when we left Bethlehem, and had disappeared by the time we returned to the hotel. It’s all a part of the limited amount of time we’re given while it’s still light. Meanwhile, we’ve decided to eschew hitting the town this evening, since tomorrow morning will begin earlier than any other while here. We’re going to have to get to bed that much earlier, to get a proper start on the day.

So with that in mind, I hope you can keep an eye on us, honey, and wish us luck. We’re going to need it.