Roni took us to the Israel Museum today. When we walked in, there was an enormous 50:1 scale stone village replica of the city of Jerusalem. A person would be the size on a matchstick. I mentioned to a friend of mine, that this trip not only is an amazing experience to walk through a living textbook, but it solidified for me learning styles when it comes to a child’s education. I can read the scriptures and know that Jesus had to walk a ways with people spitting on him and hitting him. I have read that he had to carry the cross for a while and grew tired and someone helped him... I have read the research and it goes back and forth. I have taught on it even using music as an anchor. I know that I am a tactile and auditory learner...turns out living the education is a game changer. Y’all, a ways is a ways...and the hills are fierce. The streets are narrow and filled with people. This was a heart wrenching ordeal to see to scale what it was for him.
In the pictures I tried to show it the best I could as Roni took us on around the replica town. Jaffa Gate was the edge of town. They would have taken Jesus with his cross through this gate to Golgotha for the crucifixion. There was a second site that some people believe this happened just around the corner. Roni said and I quote...
I know what is under the ground. Because of my job taking television crews under ground. My opinion isn’t influence you if I had money to bet it would be where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is.
Walk to to the Shire of the Book
Important artifacts archeology and history. Inside was a replica cave built to show the inside of the cave where the Dead Sea Scrolls were located. No pictures were allowed inside, but I used my voice memos to record some of the writings on the scrolls. In the middle of the room was a model of a giant scroll. Incased in an air proof glass display was a single scroll of the book of Isaiah. Oldest known book of the Bible in existence.
The artifacts inside these museums were pretty amazing and brought to life many concepts in my head.. here are pics of what the tombs were like. They shelf life on a dead body was one year. Are the end of the year the family comes back and grabs the bones and places them in a box as long as the femur and as tall as the head and chest bones.
The only place outside of the Bible that the name Pontius Pilate has ever been written was this one stone. He was so insignificant anywhere else in history, yet his name will live forever in the best selling book of all time.
Gene may have like the artifacts a lot too...
Bethlehem is actually located in Palestine (to my friends who do not recognize Palestine as a place, all I can say is that we went through a border and checkpoints to get there). So we took the short drive across the border. It was an entire hillside and valley of olive trees and terraces in the middle of Palestinian and Arab apartment complexes. At the first checkpoint we were turned away. There was a complication with a bad guy and say that they could not handle our bus...that maybe it wasn’t safe?.? Roni told us that a bad apple spoiled that checkpoint for a bunch. We had to drive another 5 minutes to a different checkpoint. They were large red signs that read do not go this way especially if you are an Israeli.. it is forbidden and you will be risking your life.
She took us to another small domed building with the most amazing acoustics. Sana asked us to sing a Christmas carol inside and I got to lead our group in “Angels We Have Heard on High” then she asked us to sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and Mrs. Debbie Presley carried the team on her back. We sounded like a full choir.
Lunch was another shared spread of color and flavor.
After lunch, she guided us to THE birth place of Jesus. There was a line which was apparently nothing compared to the norm (much smaller). We crowed together down and down into a cave that three churches have built on top of. Three churches. Three different faiths (Armenian, Catholic, and Greek Orthodox) sharing the same building over the birth place of the baby Jesus. The building is under renovation right now and they have just unearthed (last year) under the plaster more mosaic of the heavenly host. It was very ornamental inside and very beautiful.
After this we spent a little time shopping before retiring to the hotel for the night. Another busy day in Jerusalem tomorrow.
I leave you with the best of Tate today.
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