Blogs from Jerusalem, Jerusalem District, Israel, Middle East - page 8

tears in my eyes...a lump in my throat...a pit in my stomach...anger...sadness...dismay...a few words to describe my physical and emotional state as I walked through the Hall of Names at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum earlier today. My heart aches for families torn apart, lives ended prematurely, the unnecessary pain, suffering and murder that occurred throughout Europe all too recently. Perhaps, what pains me the most is that as a human society we are capable of perpetrating and standing by and allowing such evil to occur then and now. Just turn on the news or go online and you will be bombarded with reports of the current refugee crisis, 9/11 remembrances, ISIS attacks, murders throughout our city streets, the state of race relations in the US, just to name a few. We are capable of love, ... read more

Our tour guide, Jared, shared the following story with us yesterday...According to a Jewish rabbinical tradition, the city of Jerusalem is named because of two Genesis stories associated with the city. The binding of Isaac takes place on Mount Moriah, which Abraham renames Yahweh-yireh, meaning God will provide (Gen 22:14). The Jerusalem Temple Mount is believed to stand atop Mt. Moriah. The second story is in reference to King Melchizedek of Salem--also believed to be the current city of Jerusalem. "Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of the Most High. He blessed Abram with these words..." (Gen 14:18-19a); bread and wine sounds a bit familiar doesn't it? In order to honor these two stories, God named the city Yireh-salem, Jerusalem in English. Jared also offered some insight into the ... read more

After a less than peaceful visit to Jerusalem today, I wrote the following prayer... Today my prayer is a prayer for unity, a prayer for greater respect for one another. This prayer comes from a land where that which divides us—religiously, politically, culturally is explicit and palpable. May God Almighty, whom we call Adonai, God, Allah touch our hearts, may He unify our minds and hearts and lead us closer to one another as we journey to unify ourselves with his Eternal Presence. Amen!... read more

Having being warned before entering the Holy Sepulcher about the bickering between the various sects of Christianity over this sacred space, I thought to myself, “how unfortunate…” I didn’t experience any of this bickering, but I was humbled by my own reaction as I emerged from venerating the marble slab that commemorates the Tomb of Jesus and the Site of the Resurrection. Within this cramped space, a man was casually chatting on his cell phone. A couple people told him not to do so in this sacred spot. As he continued to talk, I sternly said, “no talking, hang up!” However, as I walked away from this impulsive reaction, I considered why this man may have been on his phone. Was he talking to a sick child or a dying wife? Was he receiving good news? ... read more

today Danny Esther and myself had the morning off danny didnt wake up till 10am and we went and had a coffee down the road together (the best coffee so far ) the others went to a school that woodville donate to so if you want to know about it check georges blog leavingonajetplane2015.tumblr.com we were picked up by the bus at 12:30 and met the others b4 going to the holocaust museum Yad-Vashem here there is an amazing pictorial, audio and physical display that brought us to tears over and over again as you listen to the survivers recount their experiences. after this we went to the mount Hertzle which has the grave of Theodore Herzle as well as all the leaders of Israel and the fallen soldiers... read more