Day 3 in pictures.

5:20 a.m. came quickly enough this morning after less than six hours of sleep. But this was somewhat made up for by an incredible breakfast. I thought the stuff they had out for us yesterday morning was pretty amazing, but they added even more items this morning (like eggs and more pastries) that the Sabbath prevented them from making last time.

After Mishi’s threats last night of making everyone that was late this morning take a cab, we were all on time and left for the Western Wall Tunnel before 7 a.m. The tunnel we went through was through some of the arches that would have supported the walkways onto the temple mount in previous centuries. The current level of the ground outside the temple mount is on top of several layers of destruction, so to get to the actual base means you have to go underground. Some of the stones we saw near the base of the Western Wall weighed over 600 tons, which is particularly impressive considering they how they had to cut the rocks and bring them to the wall. The workers would chisel away at a section of rock, then fill those holes with dry wood and pour water on the wood. The expansion of the wood caused the rock to break free. The process reminded me of how people in Kansas cut those nice stone pillars you see in so many driveways by using the expansion of water when it turns to ice. After the rocks were cut, they were transported using a variety of methods including pulley systems and rolling logs underneath the rocks.

When we got to the end of the tunnel, we went through the Hasmonean water canal that joins the tunnel. The water canal looks like a tunnel, but they actually just carved the pit straight down from the surface and then covered it with stones. The modern-day city lies on top of these stones now. When Herod the Great built his temple mount, he no longer wanted to use the canal, so he dammed it up causing all of the water to be stored in a cistern outside the walls. We exited the canal through this area and then went up onto the street again.

From here, we visited two of the churches at the start of the Via Dolorosa (which means “the way of agony”). The Chapel of the Flagellation is where tradition places the beating of Jesus and has a dome with around it and small stain glass windows representing drops of blood. The Chapel of the Condemnation is where tradition has Jesus being condemned and has beautiful marble pillars and stain glass windows. Like much of the Via Dolorosa, it is unlikely that either of these events actually took place here. However, Mishi and Dr. Hummel made the great point that the important thing with sites like these isn’t the historical validity of these being the exact locations. The important thing is that they are devotional spots. As Christians, we don’t worship the stones Jesus walked on, or particular places where events of his life happened. But, being close to these things does provide a powerful reminder of what happened and allows us to make an easier mental connection between the stories of the Bible and the reality of life.

After visiting those two chapels, we walked the Via Dolorosa, stopping at most of the 14 stations for a brief explanation of what the traditional event that happened there was. Near the ninth station, we went into a Coptic chapel. The Coptic Church originated in Egypt and was actually the first church to have a monastery. The end of the Via Dolorosa is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is where tradition (and apparently a good amount of archaeological evidence) places Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

We entered through the roof of the building, which is home to an Ethiopian monastery. One thing that is interesting about the Ethiopian church is that the rulers of Ethiopia (until recently) claimed to be descendants of David. They explain this by saying that when the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon, she had an illegitimate son by him. This story figures prominently in their church history.

We had to wait for two separate processions to go by before we could enter The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There are six groups that use the church (Latin Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Armenians, Syrians, Copts, and Ethiopians) and none of them get along with each other. That’s why the two processions were separate. The church itself was very busy, both in people and decorations. I’ve never seen as many religious icons, lamps, candles, paintings, sculptures, etc. as were in the small space of that building. There were also enough people that movement was impossible at times. Despite the crowds, I was able to see the display over the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion, and the Stone of the Anointing, where his body may have been cleaned before burial. Unfortunately, there were too may people and too little time to see the tomb itself, but we’ll get to see an alternative location tomorrow. I wish they wouldn’t put so much ornate decoration over these sites. I could barely see the stone of Golgotha underneath the elaborate display they had on top of it.

After another short shopping break, we had some pizza for lunch. The toppings were a little bit different, but the overall taste was very familiar.

Next on our tour was the new Holocaust Museum. The pictures, videos, and displays were very moving, as I expected them to be. But, I’d already seen much of this before; I knew about the Holocaust and I’d already heard many of the gruesome stories, so I didn’t expect the experience to be that unique. However, it was very memorable. Not because of the displays, though they were very well done, but because of who else was in the museum. One moment I’d be bumping into other tourists, just like any museum in the States, but the next I’d be reading a display standing next to an Orthodox Jew, and the next, I’d find myself in the middle of one of several large groups of Israeli military students. These were people about my age that were serving their required military service. One thing that makes military service in Israel different is that there is a large education component. I didn’t fully understand this until I was in the museum. The Israeli government wants these people to have a very good understanding of their heritage and where they came from. Seeing that many people in full military uniform going through the museum gave me a strong impression that the purpose was to make sure that nothing like the Holocaust ever happens again. And, with that kind of education, I don’t think it will.

After dinner, we went to the Jerusalem University College to hear a short lecture about the history of the city and get a tour of the campus. The campus was very nice and we even got a special tour of the Jerusalem Protestant Cemetery. We saw the grave of Petri, who invented typology (the method used to identify what time period a piece of pottery is from), and even got to climb around on some pre-Herodian wall ruins looking for the old Essene gate which was supposed to be somewhere around there .

Then we walked back to the hotel, stopping at a coffee shop on the way. Walking back to the hotel at midnight on a non-Sabbath day gave a better feel for what the city is really like. I actually enjoyed the nightlife atmosphere and wouldn’t mind living here for a while. If my major was history instead of CSE, I’d sign up for the program at the Jerusalem University College (which is a sister school to LETU, so all the credits would transfer) as soon as I got back.

Day 3 in pictures.