Blogger Notes

I have just returned from my very first trip to Israel.
I have never felt the compelling need that some people feel to visit the Jewish 'homeland'. For some reason it was never on my list of places to plan my next holiday to. A few weeks ago I went.

After being in Tel Aviv for a couple of days, which is like any metropolitan city, I went to Jerusalem.

After spending many hours with a guide, where we visited all the required places, such as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Temple Mount, the Arab Quarter and seeing all the points of the crucifixion, I was left with many questions running around in my head, and no logical answers. We had not yet been to the Wailing Wall which was our final point.

Everything I say here is my own opinion and my own thoughts and not intended to offend anybody!

We visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is built on the site, where Christ was thought to have been crucified and the location of Christ's tomb. Inside the church is a rocky outcropping which is the traditional place where the cross was placed. Archaeological excavations have demonstrated that this site was outside the city but close to one of its gates and thus would have been a good location for a crucifixion.

After seeing this and the followers bend down on their knees to put their hand in a space to touch the rock, it made me think. Firstly, there were many rocks on view but one rock had been specifically picked out as the rock on which Christ was crucified. How this was established, I am still not sure. There is no historical proof that this was the rock, in fact there is no factual proof that this was the site at all!

The Israeli scholar Dan Bahat, former City Archaeologist of Jerusalem, has said this of the church: "We may not be absolutely certain that the site of the Holy Sepulchre Church is the site of Jesus' burial, but we have no other site that can lay a claim nearly as weighty, and we really have no reason to reject the authenticity of the site."

There may be no reason to doubt the authenticity but there is still no concrete proof. The history of Christianity's beginnings do seem like nothing more than a fairy tale. It could be the story of Peter Pan or Cinderella. Many of the books of the New Testament were written many, many years after Jesus died. Many people now think that that the events described and the discrepancies encountered are too implausible to believe. The Christian faith, unlike any other religion of which there is complete solid proof, hinges on historical events. If Jesus Christ died and was not resurrected, then Christianity is a myth and a fraud. In 1 Corinthians 15:14, Paul wants his readers to take this to heart, "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain". To find proof for the resurrection is the key to establishing that Jesus was who he was made out to be.

The other thing is that when Jesus was crucified, he had a sign hung around him saying 'King of the Jews'. This was the reason he was crucified. I still cannot understand that if Jesus died a Jew, so as far as he was concerned he was a Jew, so looking at it from Jesus point of view - when did he become a Christian?

We then left Christianity behind and went to the Wailing or Western Wall. This is the holiest of Jewish sites. It is so sacred because it is a remnant of the Herodian retaining wall that retained and supported the Second Temple.

From a first glance, you could look at it and say,"Yes, it's a wall, what's so special?", but as you walk closer to it, the air around you changes. There is an almost magical charge that surrounds you, the hairs on your arms stand on end! It is mystical and ethereal.

As you slowly approach the wall, being within touching distance, you pause. Not thinking about the terrible, bloody history that occurred here, your mind just opens a communication between you and the wall or maybe with G-d. People who are around you fade away and your purpose here is between you and the wall. Tentatively, you raise your hand to touch it and as you do, you feel the cool, beautiful Jerusalem stone run through you. It is a hugely personal and privileged experience. How long you stay there is irrelevant. Seconds turn to minutes and minutes can turn to hours.

It never feels like time enough before you leave but when you do, it's not a place to simply turn your back and go. Reverently, you walk slowly away, still facing the wall, waiting till the last possible moment to turn your back on it.

It is the most profound experience I have ever had in my life. I have a desperate craving to go back and feel the stone under my hand, to feel the unbelievable connection within me, to feel completely spiritually at peace for that moment in time.

This is one of my favourite pictures from the Western Wall area. Traditional values mixed with new technology!
There are many, many more experiences and sights and sounds that you witness when you are there. I think also, I was amazed at how everyone co-exists so peacefully. After having lunch in the Arab market, which was totally amazing, with such friendly and welcoming people, and wandering through the Arab market not feeling in anyway intimidated or unwelcome, I experienced a Jerusalem that in my mind did not exist.

As I stated at the beginning of this post, I had never had a compelling need to visit Jerusalem or Israel, maybe I was just never ready to face up to what turned out to be a life changing experience.