The Church of the Holy Sepulchre: Jerusalem

Why is a Nice Jewish Girl writing a post about one of Christianity's most holy sites?

When we went to Israel in December 2012 for my son's Bar Mitzvah, one of the highlights of our tour was visiting  
The Church Of The Holy Sepulchre 
in the Old City of Jerusalem, which is said to be the site of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. 

Although I should be baking an unleavened cake for Passover right now, I figured this may be my one and only opportunity to write a post that is relevant to Easter. 

One of the things that fascinated me about the Old City 

is that within less than a square mile, 

the three major religions of the world co-exist. 

The history is daunting... 

It is  where the Jewish people built their temple,

Mohammed rose to heaven, and Jesus was resurrected. 

It houses the holiest places for the three religions... 
for Jews --The Western Wall; 

for Muslims -- The Shrine of the Rock; 

and for Christians -- The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

Our tour started with a walk down Via Dolorosa, 
the street where Jesus took his final walk. 
The first nine Stations of the Cross are along this street.

It was difficult to get good pictures, as the area was crowded.

Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem

It is said that the Church of the Flagellation,

 on the Via Dolorosa, 

is where Jesus was flogged by Roman soldiers 

and condemned to death. 

Church of the Flagellation, Jerusalem

Church of the Flagellation, Jerusalem

Church of the Flagellation, Jerusalem

The stained glass mural above the altar depicts the flogging.

Church of the Flagellation, Jerusalem

The last five Stations of the Cross occurred
within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Jesus was stripped of his garments; nailed to the cross; died on the cross, taken down from the cross, and laid in the tomb. 

 

Tradition says that the Stone of the Annointing 

is where Jesus' body was prepared for burial. 

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

It's considered a holy place to pray.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

The tomb of Jesus is located in the Aedicule inside the church. 

This is not a good photo, but it shows that the Aedicule is a 

structure built right in the center of the main rotunda. 

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

The Jacobite chapel, below, was damaged by fire. 

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

It is said to house tombs of those who took Jesus off the cross, 

and buried him. 

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

These are not my best photos... or maybe they are (!), but I hope they give you a sense of where Jesus spent the final days of his life. If you want to learn more, and see better pictures, click here.  

I'm clearly no expert on this subject, 
so if I got anything wrong, please, by all means, let me know. 

And now, I must go buy some matzoh, 
and start making some Passover preparations. 

To all of you who celebrate, I wish you a very Happy Easter!

Linking with:
Home and Garden Thursday
Simple and Sweet Friday
Home Sweet Home Friday
Be Inspired 
Fabulously Creative Friday  
Bouquet of Talent

The Bahai Gardens

Has the start of spring turned your thoughts to gardening?

Yeah, me, too.  

I'm chomping at the bit to turn a little nook in my backyard into a "secret" garden.  Thing is, I'm not a gardener. I really have no idea what I'm doing, but that doesn't stop me from trying. I've been pinning photos onto my "Garden Nook" inspiration board on Pinterest all winter long.

When I was going through my photos yesterday, I came across these, of the Bahai Gardens... which are, oh, just a tad bigger than my little nook, and they are hardly a "secret." 

In fact, they are one of the most holy places for people of the Bahai faith, many of whom try to visit this site at least once in their lifetime.

We were fortunate to have visited the Bahai Gardens in December 2012. 

These magnificent terraced gardens are located in Haifa, Israel, and span from down near Haifa Bay, all the way up to Mount Carmel.

 
I hadn't heard of the Bahai religion until we visited the gardens. The central message of the Bahai faith is Unity. The founder of this world-wide religion, Bahá’u’lláh wrote...

"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."

I like that sentiment.  

One of the three entrances is at the top of the mount, through these beautiful gates. 

We had a spectacular view of the gardens and all the way down to Haifa Bay.

It was very overcast, and even rained a bit. I can only imagine how beautiful it is on a bright and sunny day.

I wonder what Junior Goo Shoes was thinking at this very moment. I'd like to think he was enthralled with the scenery, but he was probably thinking about which X-Box game to get next.





We didn't have time to walk all the way down.  That would have been nice, but then we'd have to walk all the way up.

Never mind, then.
 

The Shrine of the Bab is where the remains of the founder of the Bahai faith is buried. I would have liked to have seen it close up, but we were on a tight schedule.

The Bahai Gardens were the only site we saw while we were in Haifa...except for this magnificent view from our hotel room at sunrise...

And the same view at night...

What beautiful gardens have you visited? Have they inspired you in any way in your own garden?

LINKING WITH:

Oh The Places I've Been
Home Sweet Home
Best of the Weekend 
Be Inspired 
A Bouquet of Talent
Sunday Showcase
Mosaic Monday
Metamorphosis Monday 
Our World Tuesday 
Tweak it Tuesday 
The Scoop
Wow Us Wednesday 
A Return To Loveliness 
Weekend Travel Inspiration 

A New Menorah and 2000 Year-Old Pottery

Have you ever had a totally awesome experience?

I'm talking about when something is "awesome" in the truest sense of the word.

No, not like when I say, "We're having burgers for dinner," and Junior Goo Shoes says, "Awesome!"

I mean as in amazing, moving, heart-stirring, wonderful, spiritual, powerful.

This particular "moment of awe" happened last December at the end of our two-week trip to Israel. Actually, it was one of many incredible "moments" on that trip, but this one is very relevant to Chanukah, which starts tonight.

So grab a jelly doughnut and some latkes, and let me tell you the story of how our new menorah is tied to the actual miracle of Chanukah, which happened 2000 years ago. 

The one souvenir that we really wanted to bring home from Israel was a menorah... the traditional candelabra used to light candles on each of the eight nights of Chanukah. 

We wanted it to be really special...one that would always remind of us this trip of a lifetime. 

When we finally found it, we had no idea that this menorah would turn out to be even more significant than we could have ever imagined.

For awhile, we thought we were going to come home empty-handed. 

Our trip was winding down, and we hadn't yet found a menorah that "spoke" to us. But because some things are meant to be, we had to be patient.

The day before we were leaving Israel, we were shopping in an area called The Cardo.
It was Jerusalem's main street 1500 years ago. Click here for a panoramic view.

The Cardo, Jerusalem

 

Did you catch that Art and Judaica shop in the first few seconds? 

This one...Chaya.

There it was! Our menorah was right there in the window!

It was designed by an Israeli artist named Anat Mayer.  Supposedly, when the Israeli Prime Minister needs to give a gift to a foreign dignitary, he gives one of Mayer's pieces. That's what the store clerk told us, anyway. 

Not only was it beautiful, the brass overlay depicted scenes and symbols from all around Israel...which told the story of our trip. 

We were sold. Or rather, it was...to us!

I won't bore you with what all of the symbols represent, but, for example, this grid represents the Western Wall... 

...which is this:

Most of the symbols on the menorah were meaningful to us, reminding us of all the things that we saw on our trip.

It couldn't have been more perfect.

When the store offered to have it delivered to our hotel, we said yes, because that sucker was heavy, and why shlepp it if we didn't have to? 

Later that night, back at the hotel...

No Menorah.

Concierge doesn't have it. Front desk doesn't have it. Lost and Found doesn't have it.

And we're leaving the next night. 

Long story short, Mr. Goo Shoes spends a good part of the following morning on the phone with the store, who insists they sent it...and the hotel, who insists they don't have it.  

In the meantime, we were on the bus headed to our last stop on the tour.  It was an archeological dig at the Bell Caves at a place called Beit Guvrin. 

I have to admit that I wasn't really looking forward to it, but you know how those things go...

It turned out to be an AWESOME experience. 

This was no tourist attraction, where they bury fake artifacts in the dirt. This was a real excavation.  Whatever we found, was the real deal, which meant we could not keep it. 

I know you think that I have veered way off the Menorah story, but I promise you, I'm circling back to it.

After we dug up some bones and pieces of pottery...

...the tour group leader explained the history of the site we were excavating.

It was connected to the story of Chanukah...

from 2000 years ago. 

Stick with me here.

How did they know this?  It was at this site that a large tablet was found.  Think of Moses and the 10 Commandments...that kind of tablet. It's one thing to find artifacts, but it's another to find something with writing  on it, that gives actual information about the excavation site. 

This tablet said something that connected it to the period in time when the Jewish temple was destroyed by a mean man named Antiochus.  One of the things his soldiers did was spill almost all of the precious oil that kept the temple's menorah lit throughout the night.

When the Jews came back to clean up the temple, there was only enough oil left to burn for one night, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days.  That miracle is the reason we celebrate Chanukah today, and light our menorahs for eight nights. 

Our mouths were hanging open.  You can imagine the feeling of learning about Chanukah your entire life, and then standing on the site connected to where it all happened...2000 years ago.

Our tour guide pointed to a pile of scrap pottery, that they had tried to piece together, but couldn't. We could take as much of that as we wanted. 

He suggested that we take some pieces, and place them next to our menorahs when we light them, to connect present-day Chanukah with the past.

I can't adequately describe the feeling, but it was amazing, moving, heart-stirring, wonderful, spiritual, powerful. 

I was all verklempt (choked up).

And then I remembered that our beautiful, new menorah...the special one we had finally found... had gone missing. How incredible it would have been to light the menorah we got in Israel, next to this 2000 year-old pottery.

Sob. 

I took my pieces of pottery, and put them into my bag...

...took this awesome experience, and tucked it into my heart...

...and got on the bus to head back to the hotel, before we left for the airport.

When we got back to the hotel room, the Menorah was there waiting for us! Turns out, it had been at the hotel the entire time, but somehow had gotten misplaced.
 
I think I cried. Yup, I did.

So, tonight will be the first night that we light our new menorah, with our 2000-year-old pottery along side it.

We'll recall the miracle of how the oil burned for eight nights, when there was only enough for one night...

...and we'll remember our own little Chanukah miracle story, about the menorah that was meant to be...ours.
                                                     
Wishing those of you who celebrate a Happy Chanukah! 

And wishing EVERYONE a Happy (and safe) Thanksgiving!

 

Linking With:
Brag About It Tuesday