Oh Come All Yea Faithful

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Geo: 31.7079, 35.2007

I knew we wanted to visit Bethlehem during this trip. I had been in college and honestly do not remember the logistics of how I got there from Jerusalem. For this trip, we read a ton and realized how difficult it was going to be to get back and forth. In the end, we booked a tour from Jerusalem, which would allow us to ride a bus through the wall and into Bethlehem, where our guide would meet us. All of the other tours would require that we go through a pedestrian gate and walk from a drop-off point in Jerusalem to a pick-up point on the Palestinian side. Our tour seemed infinitely easier.

Though Bethlehem literally abuts Jerusalem proper, our tour departed early -- 8:30am -- to allow for unexpected processing time at the border. We rode the street car up to a Hostel, from where the tour departed in a minibus. Our driver must have been Israeli, as he was able to go through and back with us, while our guide was picked up and dropped back off in Bethlehem. I had to submit all of our passport information ahead of time, and we were all pre-processed, so when we reached the physical checkpoint and crossing through the security wall, there was no hold-up. As in the former East Germany, the wall on the Israeli side is stark gray, with no markings. As soon as we passed through and looked back, we could see that the wall on the Palestinian side was covered with graffiti art and slogans. The famous graffiti "artist" Banksy started and is still active in the West Bank, and we later got see some of his "work."

Our tour guide was a very nice grandfather, who says he gives tours a few days a week "to keep myself busy." I suspect he was Christian, but I am not certain. Whatever the case, we started with a visit to "Shepherds' Field," which comprises gardens and several churches built over the site where they believe shepherds were told about Christ's arrival by the Angel Gabriel. It, like several of the sights in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, is run by the Franciscans, who have been a little -- shall we say -- liberal in their interpretation of things...to include adding three of the 14 Stations of the Cross, for events which are not documented in any of the Gospels. Oh well...I digress. It was a beautifully warm and sunny day, so the gardens at this site were really nice.

We continued on to the mother load of Bethlehem sights; that being Manager Square and Church of the Nativity, which is said to built over the site where Jesus was born. It is the oldest continually operating church in the world, dating back to 327 AD. Considering it's age, it is in remarkable shape. It was interesting to see how the door size has been reduced greatly over the years, first to protect it from raiding Muslims and later to prevent Crusaders from riding their horses inside the church. Though on a much smaller scale than the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, this church is held jointly -- in this case by the Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholics. The Catholics built a much newer wing in the last 50 years, but within the original church, it is pretty much equally split between the faiths, with each controlling one side and both working together to maintain the manger site, which lies underground, directly under the church altar, and between the two sides. We got in a line with a very large group of pilgrims from Italy, let by a Franciscan friar in his robe. We had been pretty much tag teaming with this group throughout Bethlehem. While we were in line, it was not moving. There was a service going on in the Armenian Chapel, which abuts the exit from the manger area, so we first had to wait until they finished before anyone could exit. Once that was done, we learned via a network of people running back and forth that the priests were "cleaning and washing" the manger area. While all this was going on, we were in line, close to the stairs leading down, while the line to enter the church snaked out into the square. After what seemed like an eternity, the mass of people started to move, and we all slowly funneled from a large crowd through the very small door leading to a cave area below, where they have erected small altars over the star which traditional holds marks the site of our Savior's birth, while another marks the manger area. While this was an overtly religious and meaningful moment for many people ahead of us, by the time we got down there, we just wanted to get out. Our tour guide did his best to keep our small group together, but alas we lost one of our Belgians. No fear...he eventually showed up. We then visited the Catholic Chapel, where there were all kinds of signs showing that they are eagerly preparing and awaiting a visit by Pope Francis next month.

We walked our way up from Manger Square to the Church of the Milk Grotto, which sits atop an ancient cave of white limestone, where tradition says Mary breastfed Jesus after Joseph was instructed to flee with his family to Egypt. They say a drop of Mary's milk dripped on the stone and turned everything white. For centuries, women seeking to get pregnant have come to the grotto to get shavings from the wall, which they mix with water and drink. There is a neighboring chapel full of dozens upon dozens of binders filled with letters from thankful new mothers, including pictures of their supposedly miraculously conceived babies.

We dropped our tour guide off in central Bethlehem and drove back toward the border crossing. A German couple on the tour asked the driver to stop along the wall, so we could see some of the graffiti by Banksy. It was interesting, but not much more. The crossing back into Israel was uneventful and quick, though we were immediately met with incredible traffic. Aside from being Good Friday, the Shabbat was to begin that afternoon, and the streets were clogged with Jews trying to get where they needed to go or buy what they needed to buy before all of the shops closed and all public transportation stopped. There were multiple roadblocks near and around the Old City, as the police were trying in vain to divert Shabbat and Good Friday pilgrim traffic. It was a scene worthy of mid-town Manhattan.

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