Journey through time in Israel

Last November, I got mine.

I was lucky enough to travel to Israel with a group of journalists from across the U.S. Sponsored by Israel's Ministry of Tourism, the trip covered many of the sites the Pope will visit on his upcoming tour.

BETHLEHEM

The city, turned over to the Palestinian Authority in 1995, is a maze of narrow, hilly streets -- and police officers shaking their heads at the tour buses, taxis and residents' cars jockeying for position in one gigantic traffic jam. While Israel boasts many of the most venerated sites on Earth, tourists must be patient if they'd like to see them.

It was a relief to reach Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity, where a line of hundreds of tourists waited to descend a narrow stone staircase from the church to the traditional site of Christ's birth.

Lit with lamps and watched over by guards, the focus of the tiny cave is a silver star imbedded in the marble floor. Pilgrims crowded in to touch the star, kiss it and even have their pictures taken kneeling in front of it.

Many were reluctant to leave the holy spot. "What can I do?" shrugged a guard, as tourists slowly emerged from the cave. "The law doesn't allow me to ask anyone to move."

JERUSALEM

The view from the Mount of Olives, overlooking the city, encompasses sites sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims. The holiest site for Christians is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Pope John Paul will celebrate Mass during his visit.

To reach the church, we followed a group of pilgrims along the Via Dolorosa (the "Way of the Cross"), the route chosen to mark Christ's journey to Calvary (also see page 16). The path actually begins in the city's Muslim quarter.

With each Station denoted simply by a plaque on the wall, the Via Dolorosa winds through a teeming marketplace where pilgrims singing hymns and reciting prayers are greeted by vendors calling, "Good morning!" or "Five shekels!" as they display their wares.

The Pope's complete itinerary in Israel has yet to be announced, but I wonder how he will react if he travels the Via Dolorosa. At intervals there, Roman paving stones peek through the road. The aromas of unfamiliar spices, freshly baked pita bread and falafel entice the taste buds, while all around, locals and tourists bargain over precarious piles of souvenirs, rugs, clothing and even luggage.

For us, the chaos ended in a quiet alley where the ninth Station of the Cross hung outside a Coptic Orthodox church. Across a courtyard and through an Ethiopian chapel, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher houses the last five Stations of the Via Dolorosa.

Responsibility for the dark, crowded church is shared by six Christian denominations who keep strictly to their designated areas: Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Syrians, Copts, Abyssinians and Armenians. Forever arguing, the groups do not even agree on how best to maintain and refurbish the church.

In the resulting gloom, tourists wait in line to approach Golgotha, the traditional site of Christ's crucifixion. A stony hill covered by glass and chapels, only a tiny piece of rock is actually exposed to the touch. Pilgrims awkwardly crawl under the altar atop it to venerate the spot.

Downstairs, there is another line: A Greek Orthodox chapel marks the fourteenth Station, Jesus' tomb. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher also houses the stone upon which Christ's body may have been purified, which we saw many Greeks venerate by washing it with rose water. Other chapels, among them one honoring Adam, are silent by comparison.

MORE THAN CHRISTIANITY

The atmosphere is hushed inside the building, a huge, square space with soft carpets lining the floor and geometric designs on the walls. Since Islamic tradition does not allow the use of icons, many of the designs are actually quotes in Arabic from the Koran. During our visit, veiled Muslim women sat along the walls (only men are allowed in the central hall), deep in prayer and study.

Nearby is the Dome of the Rock, a mosque whose golden dome is a landmark on the Jerusalem skyline. Here, it is said, Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. Muslims honor it as the site where Mohammed ascended to heaven; behind a high wooden wall is the gigantic rock where tradition says the event occurred. Visitors can also feel, enshrined in a wooden box, Mohammed's footprint.

No visit to Jerusalem -- even the Pope's -- is complete without a stop at the Western Wall, known as the "Wailing Wall" for its significance in Jewish history. Since the temple there was destroyed in 70 A.D., Jews have gathered there to bemoan its loss, and to pray.

The Wall is divided into sections for men and women, and seemed crowded whenever we passed by. Tufts of grass grow high on its massive stones, and people of many faiths rock and chant their prayers, whisper them softly or stand silently with their hands on the ancient wall.

Every crack between the stones is packed with prayers fervently scribbled on slips of paper. Coming from a country where the separation of church and state is so adamantly enforced, it was striking to see the contrast that the Wailing Wall represented.

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial, was one of our group's last stops in Jerusalem and will be an important one on the Pope's agenda. Our guide called the memorial "a warning to the whole world: As long as this place exists, the warning exists, with hope this won't happen again."

Yad Vashem is divided into an archive of those lost in the Holocaust, memorials commemorating the atrocities, and a "department of education" that contains photos and other information on the victims.

The quiet, tree-lined Avenue of the Righteous that leads to the Holocaust Museum seems like a simple path until one notices the sign by each carob tree there. The markers commemorate "the Righteous," non-Jewish people who saved Jews during the Holocaust. Under one tree, the marker reads, "Oskar and Emilie Schindler" -- made famous in the movie "Schindler's List."

The museum itself is a chronicle of horror. Photos, newspaper accounts and even clothing outline the events leading up to the Holocaust. As we walked through in silence, the sight of a torn "uniform" from a concentration-camp victim, with its yellow Star of David and accompanying story of the victim's death, caused one nearby teen to burst into tears. She was quietly led away.

Yad Vashem is home to many powerful memorials, from a mirrored room of candles in which the names of murdered children are continuously read to the "Valley of the Lost Communities," a maze of stone walls as high as buildings with the name of every Jewish town lost in the Holocaust. A Jewish member of our group told us that one of her relatives had been surprised to find the name of her tiny village, long vanished, on the walls there.

NAZARETH

Tourists visiting the site with us were silent, listening to the echoes of not one, but three Masses -- all in English, strangely enough -- being celebrated at once by tour groups in the church upstairs. Our guide noted that the basilica is the only church in the world with two floors where the entire congregation can take part in Mass at the same time.

The tiny Church of St. Joseph, believed to house St. Joseph's carpentry shop, is just a few steps from the basilica. Visitors had dropped money from a host of countries into an ancient stone mikve (baptismal font) in the floor.

GALILEE

The Sea of Galilee itself is far different than what many Catholics may expect from reading the Gospels. Our group took a ride on a replica of an ancient fishing boat whose captain hung up an American flag for us, joking in accented English, "Good morning, America!"

Once we were "out to sea," I discovered that there were times when I could not see the water's end. The sea is surrounded by mountains, farmland -- and churches. We saw a Greek Orthodox church in nearby Capernaum, a Franciscan church and the Church of the Primacy of Peter in Tabgha. But it's still easy to imagine the water crowded with fishing boats -- some of them manned by future Apostles.

(01-20-00) [[In-content Ad]]