Last 2 days...
Shalom from Jerusalem!
We have been very busy the last 2 days. First of all, early yesterday we went to the Davidson Center on the southern side of the Temple Mount. It is in this exhibit that you can see the actual steps from the 2nd Temple period that Jesus would have walked on! The Davidson Center also allows you to see multi media presentations of what Jerusalem and the temple mount would have looked like during the time of the 2nd temple (Jesus' time).
Next we went to our favorite shop, Shorashim in the Old City. Moshe Kempinski gave a fantastic talk on what it means to come to Israel and what God is doing in the world. After we dropped a wad of cash in his store we grabbed a quick falafel and headed to Yad Veshem.
Yad Veshem is the memorial in Israel to the Jews who were killed in the Holocaust. It is very extensive so that those who go through it and see what happened will never forget what happened in Europe 65 years ago. It is impossible to see and take in everything that is there in one visit, even multiple visits are not enough to grasp the information that is there. After going through you feel almost physically heavy because of how tragic it was. Tragic is not enough of a word to describe it. The word used for the Holocaust in Hebrew is "Shoah" and means tragedy in the greatest magnitude which it was. One of the greatest lessons we can learn from seeing Yad Veshem is that peoples actions, or lack thereof, have very serious consequences. In side the buildings of Yad Veshem can be seen the results of the actions taken by the Nazi's against the Jews. On the outside there is a walk way that is laid out around the building and there are trees planted all around it. It is called the Avenue of the Righteous and each tree has a name next to it and represents a righteous gentile who saved Jews from extermination during World War 2. Unfortunately there were far more people who hated the Jews than those who would stand up for them, and 6 million Jews were murdered. In our modern time anti semitism is again rearing its head, and we as Christians MUST take a stand against those who would try to eliminate Israel and the Jewish people from the face of the earth lest we be remembered in history as those who stood by indifferently as another Shoah took place. May our ACTIONS speak of the convictions that we hold in our hearts, and may we never forget what can happen when people don't speak up for what is right, and against what is wrong.
Because of Shabbat there was not much else we were able to see yesterday afternoon so we went back to our hotel to rest and pack. Our next stop was a place we all love and look forward to every year! Amnon's house! Amnon's wife makes amazing Kurdish style food because they immigrated to Israel from the Iraqi Jewish community in the last 100 years. The saying "Good ol Home Cookin" absolutely applies in Israel also! We ate so much food! It was incredible!
We had another busy day today starting with the Mt. of Olives. Seeing the incredible view of Jerusalem from the Mt of Olives is always breathtaking, no matter how many times you have been to Israel. We had the new people ride a camel and then we headed to a small church near the middle of the mountain called dominus flavit. This is the traditional site of where Jesus prayed and wept over Jerusalem. We spent some time in prayer over the city and then headed to the Garden of Gethsemane which was over run it seemed with other tour groups. But praise the Lord that Israel's tourism industry is flourishing. We were able to see Olive trees in the garden that have root systems that are 2000 years old! Living relics of time gone by!
Next we went to Bethlehem which is an interesting experience these days. We have to go the the security fence and change guides and bus drivers as Israelis are not allowed into Bethlehem by the Palestinian Authority so Amnon and Shimon cannot go with us. We were able to visit the church of the Nativity and see what could be the place where Jesus was born but for sure the actual place would look very similar to the cave that we saw today.
Following our exit out of Bethlehem and back into Jerusalem we ate lunch at Kibbutz Ramat Rachel and now we are at the hotel getting our suitcases packed and ready to head out. We are going to stop at the Garden Tomb and the Western Wall and then on to dinner in a city called Abu Gosh and then to the airport.
This is the end of the 2010 blog and has been a most amazing trip for all of us. Thanks again for all of your prayers and support and we can't wait to share our stories with all of you in person. Be sure to come to church Wednesday evening as we will have an opportunity to share with all of you about our trip. Thanks again and to all of our friends and families....WE ARE COMIN HOME!
Justin Friedman and Rod Ginn
2010 Tour Bloggers
posted by The Internationals @ 6:27 AM
