We spent most of our next morning touring the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, though there was sufficient exhibit information to keep me occupied all day. I was disappointed the site allows large groups of folks being led though by tour guides that made it challenging to see all of the various materials and displays. I had assumed when our tour leader turned us loose with audio guides and earphones that groups were discouraged. I quickly realized we were allowed to tour individually at our own pace because that was the only way to navigate the center around large throngs of visitors.
I had already toured the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC, as well as Dachau, Auschwitz and Terezin concentration camps when we lived abroad. It's always a horrific reminder of man's inhumanity to man, and yet one that I'm glad is memorialized and available to the public so the victims are never forgotten.
I didn't take any pictures inside the museum because it seemed disrespectful. But I did snap the pic above. This is the avenue of the righteous among the nations. Over 2000 trees have been planted in honor of non-Jews who endangered their lives in order to rescue Jews from the Nazis.
Our bus zipped over to the Israel Museum briefly so that we could get a good look at the 1:50 scale model of ancient Jerusalem. Recreating what the city looked like in 66 AD a few years before the Jews revolted against the Romans, the model is around 1000 square meters in size. You can't miss the impressive Temple Mount in the second picture above.
After a rather somber morning, we enjoyed a lovely lunch in the home of a Christian Palestinian in the city of Bethlehem. Kamal Mukarker was an outstanding host, and his wife prepared a delicious meal for us. We even got to meet two of his young children, in addition to his father who was visiting from Massachusetts. Interesting detail - he lives on the same street in Watertown where we lived back when the husband was in law school.
Kamal is obviously a very devoted student of biblical history, and was truly a fount of information when we were with him. It was obvious he loves his country and wants to share its rich history with others. After our meal, he took us to visit the Church of the Nativity (run by Greek Orthodox). Entering into the church requires you to stoop low because the opening isn't quite four feet tall. It seemed appropriate to bow low before entering the place where God humbled himself to become man in order to provide a path for our salvation.
This church, reputedly the oldest complete church in the Christian world, was built by the emperor Justinian in the 6th century, replacing the original church Constantine the Great built over the cave celebrated as Jesus' birthplace in the 4th century. Lest you worry that the cave doesn't sound quite right per scripture, please note that in the Judean hills families lived in primitive houses built in front of natural caves used for storage or to shelter animals.
It's no surprise that earlier Romans tried to wipe out the memory of the cave and its significance. They planted a grove dedicated to the pagan god Adonis and established his cult in the cave. When the original church was built, the cave was enlarged to make room for pilgrims. It's recorded that during a Persian invasion in 614, they didn't destroy this church because they saw a mosaic on an interior wall depicting the three wise men in Persian dress.
In the pictures above, you can see some of the restorations to existing mosaics from the 12th century after it was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO. Our next stop was the Church of St Catherine of Alexandria, which is actually adjoined to and shares a wall with this historic church.
Built in the 19th century, this is the location from which midnight Mass is beamed to viewers worldwide on Christmas Eve. It serves as the parish church for Bethlehem's Catholics. We were unable to see any of the cave below because Mass was being conducted there by visiting groups of pilgrims about every 45 minutes for most of the day.
We ended our day back in Jerusalem with some beautiful rooftop views for a wine and cheese tasting. Built in the 1880s, the Notre Dame de France center was established to host French pilgrims to the Holy Lands. It's quite a sight to see at night, when the large statue of the Virgin Mary is all lit up.
In 1972, the center was turned over to the Holy See/Vatican so it could be reconstructed and restored. It is now called the Pontifical Institute Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center, with some lovely meeting spaces, hotel rooms, restaurants and a chapel available to guests.
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