Dec 23 - Jerusalem
On the way to Jerusalem this morning we were able to stop by Alyn Childrens' Hospital, for which my aunt and my late grandmother have done a great deal of volunteering over the decades.
The hospital helps kids of any religion and denomination, and on the short tour we were able to see that there are some truly wonderful people on this Earth who dedicate their lives to those who need it most.
Later our guide took us to old Jerusalem for one of the "main events" of this trip, starting with an extended visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This site proves that "Life of Brian" did not sufficiently mock the ridiculous situation humanity has cornered itself into when it comes to organized religion: a few hundred chapels and relics across a few dozen mutually-exclusive religions, all packed within tens of meters of each other. "The Armenian, Left-Handed, Orthodox Calvinist Protestants believe this is the spot where the Roman soldiers played dice during the Crucifixion", explained our guide, "But of course the Armenian, Left-Handed, Reformed Calvinist Protestants regard this to be the HIGHEST BLASPHEMY, and instead believe the actual spot was fifteen feet over there." (Something like that - it all got blurry after [immediately].)
For the most part, old Jerusalem felt somewhat fake in that it was very clean and almost completely empty:
Our guide said that the previous year had been extremely busy and this years lack of crowds could be attributed to fear about the tension with Gaza, which as an Israeli citizen he found odd since it's a admittedly constant yet very remote threat in their day-to-day lives. He then explained that he was watching Belgian news earlier (he's from France) and they were warning people not to go to the United States because currently the cops are openly killing citizens and citizens openly mowing down cops, which seemed equally odd to us (though apparently not to the esteemed journalists at Fox News).
While there was too much covered in Jerusalem to cover here, the highlight was certainly the Western Wall. I was somewhat annoyed that we hadn't gotten there until nearly sundown so the light was not great for photographs...
... but my annoyance didn't last long: As we were preparing to leave Jessica noticed a rabbi crossing the square with a large, heavily-armed military escort. Our guide explained it was the chief rabbi for the state of Israel (Shlomo Amar, we think) come to light the final candle on the menorah since it was now sunset on the final night of Hanukkah. The square erupted into celebration and joyous music as first a pyrotechnic menorah was lit atop a nearby building and then a more ceremonial (though comically oversized) menorah was lit in front of the western wall. "Nobody is allowed to call this 'The Wailing Wall'", exclaimed our guide, "this is a place for celebration!"
Afterwards it was too late and dark to see much of the Armenian quarter so we just had a nighttime stroll around the old city wall to get back to the car. But I did find a moment to take this photo, which is awesome:
The hospital helps kids of any religion and denomination, and on the short tour we were able to see that there are some truly wonderful people on this Earth who dedicate their lives to those who need it most.
Later our guide took us to old Jerusalem for one of the "main events" of this trip, starting with an extended visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This site proves that "Life of Brian" did not sufficiently mock the ridiculous situation humanity has cornered itself into when it comes to organized religion: a few hundred chapels and relics across a few dozen mutually-exclusive religions, all packed within tens of meters of each other. "The Armenian, Left-Handed, Orthodox Calvinist Protestants believe this is the spot where the Roman soldiers played dice during the Crucifixion", explained our guide, "But of course the Armenian, Left-Handed, Reformed Calvinist Protestants regard this to be the HIGHEST BLASPHEMY, and instead believe the actual spot was fifteen feet over there." (Something like that - it all got blurry after [immediately].)
For the most part, old Jerusalem felt somewhat fake in that it was very clean and almost completely empty:
Our guide said that the previous year had been extremely busy and this years lack of crowds could be attributed to fear about the tension with Gaza, which as an Israeli citizen he found odd since it's a admittedly constant yet very remote threat in their day-to-day lives. He then explained that he was watching Belgian news earlier (he's from France) and they were warning people not to go to the United States because currently the cops are openly killing citizens and citizens openly mowing down cops, which seemed equally odd to us (though apparently not to the esteemed journalists at Fox News).
While there was too much covered in Jerusalem to cover here, the highlight was certainly the Western Wall. I was somewhat annoyed that we hadn't gotten there until nearly sundown so the light was not great for photographs...
... but my annoyance didn't last long: As we were preparing to leave Jessica noticed a rabbi crossing the square with a large, heavily-armed military escort. Our guide explained it was the chief rabbi for the state of Israel (Shlomo Amar, we think) come to light the final candle on the menorah since it was now sunset on the final night of Hanukkah. The square erupted into celebration and joyous music as first a pyrotechnic menorah was lit atop a nearby building and then a more ceremonial (though comically oversized) menorah was lit in front of the western wall. "Nobody is allowed to call this 'The Wailing Wall'", exclaimed our guide, "this is a place for celebration!"
Afterwards it was too late and dark to see much of the Armenian quarter so we just had a nighttime stroll around the old city wall to get back to the car. But I did find a moment to take this photo, which is awesome:
posted by Paineroo @ 9:43 PM
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