Trip of a Lifetime - Day 6

O Little Town Of Bethlehem

We started our day with a lecture by Assaf Gamzou, Director Of Jewish Education in Israel at ANU - Museum Of The Jewish People. Topic: The Israel/Palestine Conflict. This was super fascinating, and addressed an issue I've been studying and teaching for some time. I'm going do devote a separate blog post to it. For now I'll say that Assaf is writing a children's graphic novel about the history of the Jewish people. (Yes, it should be sold through Amazon in about two years!) He is writing about important places in Jewish history, which are a short drive from here, and he isn't allowed to go to these places, because he holds the passport of an Israeli Jew. An Israeli Christian can enter, and Arab Israelis can enter. We entered today, with our American and Australian passports, but Assaf couldn't come along.

After the lecture we went to the Mount of Olives. It's more of a hill than a mountain (or maybe I'm being a snob because I live in Colorado), but it does stand higher than everything else in the area, and it gives very impressive views of Jerusalem. This mountain used to be covered in olive trees. For over 3,000 years this hill has been used as a burial ground for Jews, and currently holds over 150,000 graves. About 2,000 years ago this was the last spot where Jesus stood, before he ascended into Heaven. 

In the next photos, in the foreground you can see the above-ground tombs on the side of the Mount of Olives, and in the distance you can see the golden Dome Of The Rock, which orients you to where the Temple Mount is. (Immediately on the other side of the Dome of the Rock is the Wailing Wall.)

Next we boarded the bus and rode to Shepherds Field Chapel, near Bethlehem, in Palestine's West Bank. This is where the shepherds saw the star, and were led to the manger in Bethlehem on the night of Jesus's birth. It's a cave that has been turned into a chapel, with a church, fountain, restrooms, and outdoor chapels nearby. It was the most peaceful place on the trip so far. Our guide told us there's usually a queue extending all the way to the parking lot, but we were there by ourselves for awhile. Two other groups were at two separate spaces, and there was no overlap between us. 

A note about the peacefulness of the site, and the incredibly easy access so far. Our guide, Nazeeh, who goes by Naz, is a full-time tour guide. Ninety percent of Israel's economy comes from tourism, so the industry is very sophisticated, and education for the tour guides requires a masters degree. Naz was originally a teacher, but wanted to get into tour guiding, so he earned his masters and has been doing it for ten years. The trip we are on is his first tour in TWO YEARS. Israel has been closed for business due to COVID, and this is literally the first time they're opening up for tours again. Some of the sites on our original itinerary (from two years ago) still aren't open. People seeing Naz for the first time in two years are greeting him like the prodigal son. He's greeted with joyous hugs and hand shakes from vendors and tour guides and chefs and other people on all our stops.

This is why we were able to see the tomb of Jesus, when all the guide books say it's too crowded to see. And this is why there was no one but us in the chapel where the shepherds saw the light of the star over Jesus's birthplace. We could hear birds, and the wind rustling through the trees, and little else.

Entrance to the cave chapel.

Naz, behind the table where communion is served to pilgrims every day.

There's a small church on the hill just west of the cave. There are a few porticos depicting the night the shepherds saw the star and followed it.

From there we rode the bus to a Palestinian refugee camp, where we enjoyed a home-cooked meal. The experience was led by a family who started an education and rehabilitation center for children with disabilities within the refugee camp. Again, I'll write a separate blog post about this experience.

After a delicious and informative lunch, we traveled to the Church of the Nativity, which is the site of Jesus's birth. Like the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, it is sacred to all Christians, and is controlled by multiple Christian denominations. The structure itself is from the Byzantine era, encouraged by Constantine, and launched by his mother, Helena. The main entrance is a very small doorway that forces one to crouch to enter. It's called "The Door Of Humility." Once in, you're standing at the back of a long nave with high columns, and above the columns are grand, ancient mosaics. The apse at the front of the church is decorated with Byzantine imagery and gold-plated wall to house the icons.

See the teeny tiny door?

The iconostasis at the front of the church.

Can you see me? Hi!

One of the mosaics above the side aisle columns.

Constantine's mother left a strong legacy.

The tomb of St. Jerome, a famous theologian who translated the Bible from Greek into Latin. His translation is known as "the Latin Vulgate". He died 1,600 years ago.

St. George slaying the dragon.

To get to the place of Jesus's birth, you descend marble stairs under the chancel.

The Greek Orthodox Church controls the site of Jesus's birth. The Catholic Church controls the site a few feet away, where Jesus was laid in the manger.

After the tour it was time to walk through Bethlehem, visit some shops, buy some souvenirs, and head back to the bus for the drive to the hotel. Naz asked us if we wanted to go out for dinner. We all elected to call it a day. I was asleep by 7:30. 

Trip of a Lifetime - Day 5

Some Review, and Some New

Good morning from Jerusalem! (I just love that I can say that!!!) I started writing this post at the end of our day last night, about 8:00pm. I fell asleep at the hotel desk while I was downloading photos. I'll try again. 

Yesterday our tour group spent the morning walking to the sites that mom and I had visited the day before. We knew we'd be visiting these sites our first day with the tour, but these sites can be so different from day to day that I wanted to double our trip to the Western Wall, Temple Mount, and Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  We were glad we did both days!

We discovered that the day we were at the Holy Sepulcher, being denied entry by what was indeed a Greek Orthodox Sunday service, was because it was a super significant service. If you're interested, you can read about it here. 

Our guide took us to the stops on the Via Dolorosa, telling us about each as we went. Here are some highlights.

Church of the Flagellation

Church of the Condemnation

Photo re-enactment of Station 5, where Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus with his cross, and Jesus reaches for the wall for support. The spot on the wall is where Jesus's hand touched, and it's really deep with the erosion of centuries of pilgrims.

When we got to the church it was much less crowded, so we were able to get in line and visit Jesus's tomb! (We were told in all our pre-trip reading that we wouldn't see it on the tour, because lines are super long and there's no time, so our failure to see it the day before was a real let-down. We had given up visiting the tomb. What a surprise!) No photos are allowed. We entered the rotunda through a normal size door, and in the first "room" was a piece of the rolling stone (yes, we all think of Mick Jagger) that was used to seal the tomb. Then you have to duck real low to get through the entry to the tomb. The entry is about hip height. Inside the tomb is a slab, where Jesus was lain after his death, surrounded by lots of items of adornment. Candles and lamps hanging above, Orthodox-style painting, flowers, and so on.

During the rest of the review part of the tour I got to take photos I'm really happy about.

A female soldier who entered near the Western Wall - part of the Israeili Defense Forces.

Close-up of the Dome of the Rock

A Muslim woman enjoying lunch at the Dome of the Rock.

A Muslim man at prayer at the Dome of the Rock.

Next we boarded our bus and headed to the West Jerusalem for a cooking class and a trip through the market with a professional chef. 

Our chef's name was Kobe. I'm not sure that's how it's spelled, but we all said/thought "Like Kobe Bryant!" when our guide told us the name, so I'll spell it that way. As he took us from one stop to another through the market -- giving us samples of Tahini, halva, and other things I've never heard of -- he radiated joy and happiness. He was clearly born to be a chef. 

That's Kobe on the right. The guy on the left made us a dessert I've never heard of and forgot the name of. It was amazing.

Some of the spices at one shop.

At one shop we enjoyed something else that was fantastic, covered with cheese, hard-boiled egg, spinach, and other goodies. I took this photo of the guy tossing our... I'll call it a pizza crust for lack of better vocabulary, and showed it to him. He immediately wrote down his phone number and asked me to send it to him. I'm pretty pleased with this photo, too!

Then it was back to the restaurant to cook our own meal. We made baked Moroccan fish, fresh bread, tabbouleh, and more. I don't remember it all. By the time we made dinner we had just consumed so many samples in the market that I didn't think I could eat another bite. But it all looked so good! When we left I think I had new stretch marks.

Gotta go. Time to eat breakfast! 😋🤣 

(No time to edit. It's really time for breakfast. Forgive any errors in spelling. Thanks,)

Trip of a Lifetime - Day 4

 Marvels

Today started early, because mom and I couldn't sleep past about 3:30am. We tried. But I didn't want to leave the hotel before we had enjoyed the complementary breakfast buffet. So we stayed in our room and some research about what we could do on a Sunday morning in Jerusalem until it was time for breakfast. Then we ate and were off to the Temple Mount. 

We are staying at the Grand Court Hotel, which is about 20 minutes walking distance to the Old City of Jerusalem. We headed out with my Google Maps leading the way, and twenty minutes later we were standing at the Western Wall.

I mentioned the Western Wall (Kotel) in the blog post on Jerusalem a few days ago. It's over 2,000 years old, and it's where Jews can go to connect with their history, their heritage, their faith, and their people from all over the world. For the rest of us, it's a place to see history meeting the modern day, a chance to visit one of the most important places in the world, and a chance to witness and experience deep devotion.

To get to the Kotel we walked through the busy, car-honking, bustling streets of East Jerusalem until we arrived at the Damascus Gate. Once through the Damascus Gate we were transported in time to narrow, stone streets and no motorized traffic except the occasional cart transporting goods to one of several hundred shops in the Bazaar. We walked along the Via Dolorosa, where Jesus carried his cross after being sentenced to death. 

We knew we were getting close to the Kotel when we saw armed officers and a security screening checkpoint. All bags through the scanner, all items out of pockets, all people through the metal detector.  Then out of the stone tunnel and we were at the Western Wall Plaza.

The wall is separated into a men's side and a women's side. The men's side is about four times larger than the women's side. This turned out to be a bummer for us, because the men's side had huge open spaces, and the women's side was three people deep. We anticipated needing to cover our heads, so we brought head scarves with us for just this purpose. Most of the women entering the area for worship have their heads covered and are dressed in all black. We placed our prayers into the cracks of the wall and had a few moments of reflection. Then we took selfies and smiled at our good fortune.

It was helpful that mom was wearing fuschia today. She was easy to find in the crowds of people all dressed in black.

(The degree to which my skin matches the color of the wall was surprising. I had to touch up this photo just so you could see my hand. Otherwise I'm a perfect camouflage for the Kotel.)

After visiting the wall we headed to the Temple Mount, where the Al Aqsa and Dome Of The Rock Mosques stand. It was literally on the other side of the wall, but we were going from the Jewish side to the Muslim side, so another security check was required. Our guide explained that they don't allow you to go to the Temple Mount if you have a Bible in your posession, and if you're wearing a cross or Star of David pendant you need to hide it before being allowed in. Signs heading to the Mount explain that devout Jews are not to go at all, because no one REALLY knows the EXACT location of the Holy Of Holies, and to walk over it, even unwittingly, would be offensive. Non-Muslims are not allowed inside the mosques on the Temple Mount.

The Al Aqsa Mosque was built over 1,300 years ago, atop the spot where Muhammed experienced his famous Night Journey. The Dome On The Rock was built about 1,200 years ago, and is believed to be built exactly atop where Solomon's Temple once stood. Both structures are impressive, and it was incredible to be on the Temple Mount with so few people. Score a point in the positive column for jet lag!

After the Temple Mount it was time to make our way through the Bazaars, now open and bustling, to find the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Does anyone remember Roman/Christian History? Constantine was the Emperor who converted to Christianity in 312 CE, allowing any Roman who wanted to follow Christian teachings to finally not be burned alive or fed to lions in the Coliseum. (Pre-Constantine, things for Christians in Rome had been pretty bleak.) Constantine sent his mother, Helena, to find the site of Jesus's tomb, and she did so much more. She found his tomb, the site of his crucifixion, and even a good portion of the true cross on which he was crucified. It is considered the holiest place in Christianity, and is one of the primary pilgrimage sites for Christians. In about two weeks, when mom and I are coming home, it will be PACKED with people celebrating passion week on the site where it all happened.

Mom and I spent nearly two hours there. We wanted to enter the small chapel in the center, which is where Christ was entombed, but there were Sunday worship services happening, and priests of a denomination we couldn't recognize (probably Greek Orthodox?) were going in and out of the chapel to get their items for worship -- candles, incense, communion bread and wine,... There was much chanting and singing, and officiants pounding staffs into the stage to alert onlookers that they need to move so the priests could move about. Then, about 40 feet away, another service began! Was it Catholic? A group of men in a choir loft started singing, and they sounded like Benedictine Monks, so maybe? Then the priest started talking and it sounded Arabic, so maybe Coptic Christian? But the Armenians also worship here, and so do the Syrians, so was it one of their services? They all worship at the same time. Their songs and bells and chanting and organ music and banging staffs and prayers in unison all overlapped in a cacophony of blending, international, interdenominational Christian worship. It was incredible. 

It was also unintelligible, and while all the worshippers were going through their prayers and hymns, mom and I made our way from one empty chapel to another, taking in all the sites of the church while they were completely free of crowds. Guide books told us is typical to spend over an hour to simply enter this church, but  this morning we walked right in, sat in one chapel by ourselves for awhile, then walked back to enjoy parts of the various services. 

Photo: Does this man look Greek Orthodox? Syrian?

This is a part of Golgotha, the hill on which Jesus was crucified. There are other parts, all encased in glass like this.

This is facing the entrance to the chapel over Jesus's tomb. Those of us who were there to appreciate the relics were clearly an annoyance to the men conducting the worship service. They banged staffs loudly and corralled us to the edges of the church with scowls on their faces. I'm not sure Jesus would have dug it. He was more of a "hey! good to see you!" kind of guy.

One interesting thing happened when we made our way to the upper chapel, while they were serving communion. Mom and I sat on a side bench along the wall, taking it all in. A guy in a high-backed wooden chair started stomping his feet, so I had to look over to see what was up. He was pointing angrily at me!! I got a look of confusion and pointed to myself, and he pointed back at me with fire in his eyes! He wore a scowl I haven't seen since my Plymouth K-car accidentally rolled forward and bumped the back of the Ferrari in front of me at the Burger King drive through in Phoenix in the early 90s. What in the world was I doing? I was just sitting there. He dramatically crossed his legs, pointed at them, and did the "no-no" finger wave.

I had crossed my legs. 😱 Not in the cowboy manner, but in the knee-over-knee-like-a-British-Aristocratic-lady manner. (If a British aristocratic lady were wearing performance fleece, camp pants, and hiking boots.) Turns out, crossing one's legs in a house of worship is a sign of significant disrespect here, because the sole of the foot is visible and potentially pointing at something sacred. I knew about the soles of the feet thing, and the "no cowboy leg crossing" thing, but I didn't know it was offensive to "sit like a lady". So if you ever find yourself in any house of worship in the Middle East, be sure to keep your legs uncrossed -- even at the ankles!

We got back to the room and I could hardly walk. Four weeks ago I had knee surgery on my right knee, to remove torn cartilage on both the medial and lateral meniscuses. The amount of time to recover enough after surgery to comfortably walk on uneven terrain is about 4 weeks. Tomorrow will be four weeks after surgery, and today we walked 17,000 steps on a lot of uneven terrain. So we got back to the room and I put my feet on a pillow, wishing I were able to walk as well as my 82 year-old mother. She walked through the city really well all morning, and we were on our feet for 5 1/2 consecutive hours! Such a trooper! Having my feet up for a few hours helped a lot. I've been really glad I had the surgery. The pressure it takes to slide your foot into a slipper boot caused too much knee pain for me to bear before the surgery, so I'm in a much better situation now than I would have been without the surgery.

When evening came it was time to meet our tour group. There are seven of us, plus the tour guide. There might be an 8th tomorrow, if he shows up. He was a no-show for the meeting tonight, and the hotel said he never checked into his room, so who knows. After meeting one another, and after hearing from our guide about things like tipping and so on, we all walked to a very nice restaurant and enjoyed a lovely meal.

I think my mom would be sharing a very different version of events. I never strike up conversations with strangers, because I just assume I'd be annoying to them, so I mostly keep to myself and observe from a distance. Mom, on the other hand, has struck up conversations with virtually everyone we have encountered so far. When our Taxi driver responded to her questions with, "No. No good English" she didn't hear him, so she just kept interviewing him, and managed to find out he has been driving a taxi for 20 years, things were very slow during COVID, and he drives nights AND days. The guy sitting next to her on the plane from O'Hare is from Belgium, he's seeing a woman in Peioria, Illinois, he has to go back to Belgium every so often when his visa expires, he used to teach math for a living, he played in a band when he was younger, and so much more. (I'm not sure what else. My headphones were on.)

That's all for today. L'chaim!

Trip of a Lifetime - Days 2-3

 Days 2 and 3 have kind of blended together in a long period of travel and isolation. We boarded the plane in Chicago and landed in Brussels. We had 40 minutes to get to our flight that would take us from Brussels to Munich. Or so we thought. The plane was delayed, so it didn't arrive for some time. We took off 30 minutes late. We originally only had an hour between landing in Munich and departing for Tel Aviv, so it was going to be tight, given that we had to go through passport checks and so on. The flight attendant in Brussels reassured us that it would be fine.

It wasn't fine. We missed our 11:20am connection and had to wait for the next flight to Tel Aviv, which would depart at 10:10pm.

By the time we landed in Munich we had been awake for 22 hours, and now we were looking at another 11 hours of waiting for a flight that would take 4 hours. Additionally, we had taken our PCR COVID test on Tuesday morning, early enough that we'd get the results (24-48 hours to receive) before boarding our flight from O'Hare on Thursday evening, but late enough that it would qualify for the "no longer than 72 hours before entry into Israel" requirement. But our 72 hour window would expire at 6:00pm on Friday. We were initially going to land in Israel at 5:00pm. With this delay we wouldn't land until 3:00am Saturday. We would have to re-take our COVID PCR tests.

Fortunately, Munich airport had a testing lab on-site, and they could do a PCR test that would provide results in 1-2 hours. Because the problem was caused by Lufthansa's connection, they gave us vouchers that would let us take that €200 test for free, and vouchers that would let us eat for up to €10 two times that day.

About the connection... we're a little unclear about what the Lufthansa representative meant, because English is one of the four or five languages we heard her speak while we were in line, but it sounded like she was saying 36 people from our Brussels-to-Munich flight were also headed to Tel Aviv. The service representative in Munich explained that with so many people connecting in Munich to Tel Aviv, they would normally hold the plane until we could board. But with Israel it's different. They have very strict rules about entry into Israel, and if they held the plane they would lose all the rights to fly into Israel. So they let the plane go, and moved all of us to the 10:10pm flight.

Mom and I took turns napping on the seats in a completely empty area of the terminal, we charged our devices, we caught up on emails, and all the other things one does while waiting for 11 hours. 

Our PCR tests came back negative. We went to our gate at 8:00 to check in very early for our 10:10pm flight. There were already dozens of people there, of course. One group of women started singing what sounded like a religious song in Spanish. It was really beautiful. We got our passports checked, and then they opened the door for us to board the plane... or so we thought.

Instead of walking through the door down a jetway to a plane, we walked through a door down a staircase to the ground floor, which was about three or four stories of steps below. We expected to cross the tarmac and ascend the stairs to our plane, but that's not what happened either. Instead, we boarded a double-long bus that had our flight number on it, and when it was completely packed with people (no social distancing on this bus) it drove us around the service roads of the airport to a distant bus terminal, where we would do a super thorough security screening. 

We didn't have to disrobe, thankfully, but we did have to remove jackets, sweaters, and shoes. Like usual, all electronics in our bags, which had already been scanned at O'Hare, had to come out of the bags into bins, and re-scanned. They used a wand to check for metal, while performing a surprisingly familiar pat-down. The woman checking me learned that I was not concealing anything in my bra or pants. She had me stand on one foot at a time so she could move the wand over the bottoms of my feet. The wand picked up something in my pocket. It was the unused sanitary wipe that the flight attendant had given me on the previous flight. The "metal" detector was set to a very sensitive setting.

When we were through the screening, my mother asked one of the officers, "Do you do this for every flight from Munich? Or is this just for travel to Israel?" "ONLY for Israel," he answered.

We thought we'd leave the screening depot and head outside to board our plane. But instead, we got back on one of two double-long busses, packed to bursting with people, and rode more service roads to a plane somewhere completely different than our gate or the screening depot. We boarded last. (Mom has a way of saying "no, after you" to everyone we meet.) The flight was completely full.

The process to check passports, drive us to the screening depot, drive us back to the plane, and board everyone, took over an hour.

How were they going to get us through that process between our earlier landing and departure? 

We spent about 4 hours flying to Israel, where we would disembark and go through passport control. Then pick up luggage. Then go through customs. Then to another PCR test. The lines were HUGE! There was a lot of activity at the Ben Gurion airport at 4:00am! A few hours earlier we were in the Munich airport and it was a s quiet as could be during the daytime, and now we were in Tel Aviv and you would have thought it was Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale! There were people from EVERYWHERE, and we all had to get our noses swabbed for COVID before we could leave the airport. When it was finally our turn I showed the technician our negative test results from 12 hours earlier. That was irrelevant. EVERYONE entering Israel gets a PCR test, and the results take 24 hours to receive. Until then, we stay in our hotel room. 

Because our pre-reserved shuttle to the hotel had been there to pick us up at 5:00pm, we had to take a taxi to our hotel, which was about an hour away. That was ₪600 (Shekels), or about $200. We arrived at our hotel at nearly 6:00am. We had left for O'Hare Airport on Thursday at 2:00pm Chicago time, and were checking in to our hotel at 6:00 Saturday morning Israel time (which was 10pm Friday night in Chicago).

To be clear, neither of us got annoyed at all during this day of travel and unexpected shifts in plans. We're just happy to be here. Mom's a super content traveler. We're enjoying this immensely, and we haven't even seen Israel yet!

We have slept enough for today, but can't leave the room until we get negative test results. They could come in as late as 3:00am, so not sure what we'll see of Israel today.

WOOOOOO!!!! It's 8:45pm and our results just came back negative. We're leaving the hotel!

Trip of a Lifetime - Day 1

 A Little About Jerusalem

We're traveling today, so if all goes well there won't be anything interesting to share. So today I'll share some info about Jerusalem, our first stop on the tour.

In 1200 BCE Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt, heading toward the Promised Land. They were twelve tribes, aligned to the twelve sons of Jacob (whose name became Israel). They were encamped, still close to Egypt, when Moses went up Mount Sinai to have a chat with God. It was there that God wrote The Law upon stone tablets. We all know the image of Moses holding the tablets with the Ten Commandments, but it was actually 613 Commandments. Jews today will wear prayer shawls (tallit) with 613 tassels (tzitzit). When he arrived with the tablets, the Hebrews built a container for them out of wood and gold, and named it The Ark of the Covenant. (For non-Jews, it was the thing that melted the faces of the Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.) 

The Hebrews wandered the desert with this Ark for 40 years, and whenever they camped it would be housed in The Tabernacle -- a huge tent that served as the center of worship for the Hebrews. The significance of this Ark and those tablets can't be overstated. God was in there. If you wanted to pray to God, you had to go to Him. The entire Hebrew community stayed in close proximity to the Temple.

When the twelve tribes/kingdoms finally settled in The Promised Land, the Ark was always the center of ritual and worship. Because they were all descendants of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, they became the Israelites, but they were still twelve separate kingdoms. The Ark moved around a bit between the tribes during the following 350 years, but then King David unified the twelve tribes into a single nation, and he moved the Ark to Jerusalem, in the Kingdom of Judah. His son, Solomon, built a grand temple to replace the Tabernacle in 957BCE, and that's when Jerusalem became the center of life and worship. Literally. Jews would face Jerusalem to pray. In the book of Daniel, the reason Daniel gets thrown into the den of lions is because he gets busted kneeling toward Jerusalem to pray, instead of toward King Darius. 

In 586 BCE King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, and plundered it of all its treasure. No one has seen the Ark of the Covenant since then. Jews were exiled and scattered from the region in what is known as the Diaspora. For the sake of brevity I've skipped the bit about the nation of Israel splitting into north Israel, and south Judah, then the Assyrians conquering the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, leaving only the southern kingdom of Judah. This is when the term Judish, or Jewish, arose.

After about 60 years of exile, Cyrus the Great allowed the Jews to return to Judah, which the Romans later called Judaea. The Jews built The Second Temple, which stood for over 500 years. Herod the Great renovated and expanded the temple, turning it into an incredibly grand structure, which was completed in about 10BCE. 

Jesus came along around this time, and there's a lot of important stories of Jesus in Jerusalem. When he was twelve (read: pre-Bar Mitzvah, so pre-adult, so shouldn't be literate in scripture yet) his family went to Jerusalem in a caravan, because no matter where you lived, you had to go to the Temple to do the rituals, sacrifices, and worship practices during important holidays. So the whole community trekked to Jerusalem, and on the way home they couldn't find Jesus. They walked all the way back to Jerusalem and there was Jesus, still in the Temple, chatting it up with the most learned scholars, and impressing them with his nuanced understanding of the law. Later Jesus and his disciples would go to Jerusalem to observe Passover, and when they arrived he was greeted by the people as if he was there to conquer Rome and restore independent rule. This triumphal entry is still commemorated as Palm Sunday. A few days later Jesus threw the tables of the money changers and merchants in the Temple, which was an event that would seal his fate. The next day he celebrated the Passover Seder with his friends, and that would become The Last Supper. The next day he was arrested, tried by Judaea's Roman governor Pontius Pilate, sent to Herod Antipas (Herod The Great's Son), sent back to Pilate, and sentenced to death. The next day he would carry his cross through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgotha, where he was crucified. He was buried, and resurrected, right outside the walls of Jerusalem. 

Herod's beautiful Temple only stood until 70 CE, when Rome squashed a Jewish rebellion, and destroyed the temple and razed Jerusalem, leading to a Jewish exile that would last for nearly 2000 years. The only thing left standing when the Romans were done with it was the Western Wall (The Wailing Wall, The Kotel). 

Skipping ahead a few centuries, in 621CE Muhammed was well into his career as the founder of a new faith. The revelations he was receiving started in 610CE, and would continue until his death in 632. The revelations would eventually be compiled into a book called The Qur'an. Judaism and Christianity were well-established religions in his part of the world, and he took some cues from them. In 621 he experienced the famous "Night Journey," where Gabriel led him to Jerusalem, riding the back of a winged horse, and when he got there he would visit with the major prophets (Moses, Abraham, Adam, Jesus, and others), and receive instructions from God about how Muslims should pray. Whereas Moses met God and received instruction on Mount Sinai, Muhammed met God at the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in Jerusalem. This site is the third most important site in Islam, behind Mecca, and Medina (where Islam began, and where Muhammed is buried).

Jerusalem has seen a lot with these three faiths. Rome held it for centuries, including the later Roman period when Rome became Christian, then Byzantine Empire. Muslims conquered the Byzantines and held Jerusalem for generations. They built a grand mosque, The Dome Of The Rock, on the very spot where Solomon's Temple and The Second Temple once stood. Christians wanted to control Jerusalem, so they staged the Crusades to take it from the Muslims. Control went back and forth, with thousands and thousands dying to defend or seize it. The Ottoman Empire held it for centuries, until World War I. British forces seized Palestine and governed it for awhile. When World War II ended, and the Jews had been targeted for genocide by Germany, Britain and the brand new United Nations created a partition plan for Palestine, which created a new Israel. Jerusalem would remain an international city, and no one would call it theirs. 

For decades Israel has considered Jerusalem its capital, but the world has acknowledged Tel Aviv as the capital, because the UN partition plan says Jerusalem can't belong to any nation. That changed when Donald Trump announced that the American embassy would move to Jerusalem, in acknowledgement of their sovereignty to name their own capital city. This drew mixed reactions from around the world. Israel was happy with the decision. After all, if the world told us we couldn't have our capital city in Washington D.C., we'd tell them to get lost. A country should be able to locate its capital where it wants. On the other hand, if international peace depends on Jerusalem being a neutral, international city, it's irresponsible for the U.S. to acknowledge it as Israel's. The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting and strongly condemned the decision to move our embassy, but the U.S. acted anyway. The day the announcement was made there were violent uprisings. In 2018, the day the embassy was opened there were protests, and reprisals by Israel led to the deaths of 58 Palestinians. Our move inspired other countries to move to Jerusalem, but all of our European allies stand against the move.

Mom and I will spend today and tomorrow on planes, and tomorrow we'll arrive in Israel. When we land in Tel Aviv they'll do a PCR test on us, then we'll shuttle to our hotel in Jerusalem and spend a day in isolation until our results come back negative.

Trip of a Lifetime - Day 0

My trip to Israel with my mother starts tomorrow.

Let me back up. 

As a child I was deeply interested in faith, spirituality, and religion. I was eternally curious about "the big questions." For several years, from grade school through middle school, I attended Sunday School at two different churches every Sunday. When we'd read the Bible and learn all the stories, the main thing they had in common was location. Israel was central to most of the stories. Mom and I decided it would be fantastic to go there... someday...

In college I told my guidance counselor I wanted to major in Religious Studies. "Oh! Are you heading into the Seminary after college?" I explained that I didn't really believe in God, but found the subject matter interesting, and wanted to pursue the study of religion for the sake of study itself. That was highly unconventional, and didn't lead to a career, so I was steered into Psychology. (I never used my Psychology degree.) During those college years my mom pointed out that her church was going on a tour of the Holy Land. Maybe we could go? We looked into it and gave it a long consideration. But it was expensive. My sister and I were in college, so we were expensive, too. We couldn't do it then, but maybe someday...

After graduating from college I decided to pursue a graduate degree in Religious Studies when I was living in Arizona. First I'd have to go back and pick up all the basic courses at the community college, because of course,  with a degree in Psychology I didn't have the undergraduate background necessary for graduate study in Religion. So I went back and picked up the basics (World Religions, Philosophy Of Religion) and then went on to earn my Masters degree in Religious Studies from Arizona State. During those years I became a member of the Biblical Archaeological Society and the American Academy of Religion. I'd receive quarterly and/or monthly publications from those societies, and they would announce certain travel opportunities for religious scholars. "Professor Amazing from Fabulous University is leading an archaeological dig in the city of Ancient-opolis, to possibly uncover ruins that will lead to the verification of an obscure person in some verses you've never read in the Bible." I'd read those announcements with envy, hoping that someday I'd get to do such a dig. But each dig was upwards of $3,000 (in the 90s), and I was paying for graduate school while supporting myself, so I'd longingly read the posts thinking,.... someday.

It was during that time that I started saving money for my mother to go. We had always discussed going together, but it was always so expensive. If I started saving a little at a time, maybe I could get enough together and we'd be able to go on one of her church's tours. Every few years they'd go back, so we just needed to time it right and save wisely. One year I handed her a check for $1,000 -- a LOT of money from my perspective then, but a fraction of what we'd need to make it happen. She refused the check. She assured me that we'd get there... someday.

In 1999 my mom found out that my sister's husband's uncle, who is a priest in Ireland, would be leading a tour to Israel through his church. She signed up! Mom was finally going to get to see Israel in 2000!! But in early 2000 her mother, my grandmother, took a turn for the worse, and we lost her in June. Mom had to cancel her trip which started when mom was planning my grandmother's services. But mom took it in stride and always said that it was okay she couldn't go then. She knew she'd get there... someday...

In 2004 I met Amy, and we decided to spend our lives together. She's an avid traveler, and wanted to treat me to an incredible trip overseas. "If you could travel anywhere in the world," she asked me eagerly, "where would you go?"

"Oh, easy," I said, "Israel. But right now they're deep in the Second Intifada, and I don't want to be on a bus that blows up, so maybe.. Rome? Athens?" She booked us on a cruise that would take us to Rome, Athens, and several other port stops the following summer. We kept an eye on the news coming from Israel, knowing that we'd get there... someday.

Things have been pretty hectic since then. Kaiden came along in 2008, and I've been busy "momming" since his arrival. My brain injury in 2013 stopped all travel for a few years, and recovering from that has taken a long time. I was getting well enough to travel again a few years ago, so Amy surprised me with a birthday gift in 2019. "Karina, I've spoken with your mother, and I'm making plans. For your birthday this year, and for every birthday and Christmas for the rest of your life, how would you like to travel to Israel with your mother next year, on a National Geographic Tour?"

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!! It's happening!?!?! The interminable "Someday" is next year!?!!

Amy and Mom and I looked into all the tours that corresponded with dates when Amy's work schedule could accommodate me leaving for a few weeks. We settled on a 15 day tour of Israel and Jordan, departing in May of 2020. We had a year to plan. Over the next several months we booked our tour, bought the plane tickets, reserved the hotels, purchased travel insurance, and selected our optional excursions! SO EXCITING!!!! We would leave in May! 

In December we started hearing about a virus they were calling COVID.

In April National Geographic canceled all its May excursions.

National Geographic reassured us that they would let us reschedule. We rescheduled for November, 2020.

In October, all November tours were canceled. We rescheduled for the following May, 2021.

In April, all May tours were canceled. We rescheduled for the following November, 2021.

In October, all November tours were canceled. We rescheduled for March 24, 2022.

...which is tomorrow!

We selected our tour, bought our plane tickets, reserved our hotels, purchased our travel insurance, selected our optional excursions, and additionally, we both found out two hours ago that the PCR test we took at O'Hare on Tuesday came back negative!

For several decades our attempts to go to Israel have been thwarted by lack of funds, grandma's death, Israeli/Palestinian wars, and a global pandemic. But someday is tomorrow. You can keep an eye on this blog for updates about our experiences, and I'll be posting photos to Facebook.

Wish us luck!!

Mom gets her COVID test at O'Hare Airport, two days before departure.