Live by the Sun - Love by the Moon: DAY 9 - Palm Sunday

Dead Sea Scrolls, Holocaust Museum, Good Samaritan Inn, and more!

Our Globus Tour Bus - with 45 of us

We're off this morning to go on an extra excursion. Some of the tour group is staying to see some Palm Sunday services....it's hard to decide what to do, so here we go!

A very old windmill in Jerusalem

We're off to a couple of amazing museums - how much do I like historical adventures!!

The Israel Museum - founded in 1965

An urn-shaped building on the grounds of the museum, the Shrine of the Book, houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and artifacts discovered at Masada. It is one of the largest museums in the region.

Model of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period

It reconstructs the topography and architectural character of the city as it was prior to its destruction by the Romans in 66 AD, and provides historical context to the Shrine’s presentation of the Dead Sea Scrolls

This was so fun to see what Jerusalem was like a WAY long time ago! Oh, to go back and learn more!

The Temple of Solomon is in the middle.

The Israel Museum is the largest cultural institution in the State of Israel and is ranked among the world's leading art and archaeology museums.

These pipes segments were part of the Roman water system that carried water from Soloman's pools to Jerusalem. The names of the commanders that laid the pipes are seen in the pipes.

The sarcophagus is decorated with bull's heads, garlands, and a conch shell - 3rd c. BC

Marble pedestal decorated with cupids riding marine creatures and carrying garlands - 2nd c. BC

The Shrine of the Book holds all seven of the scrolls found in what is called Cave 1 at Qumran, near the Dead Sea. They are Isaiah A, Isaiah B, the Habakkuk Commentary, the Thanksgiving Scroll, the Community Rule, the War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness and the Genesis Apocryphon. All are in ancient Hebrew except the last, which is in Aramaic.

The discovery, by a Bedouin goat- or sheep-herder searching for a missing animal, occurred in 1947. Israel was on the eve of its War of Independence.

Shrine of the Book

Dead Sea Scrolls - I've always wanted to know more about this!

The building’s white-tiled dome is shaped like the lid of the first jar in which the scrolls were found at Qumran. In contrast nearby stands a black basalt wall. The black-white imagery symbolizes the theme of one of the scrolls — The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness.

We couldn't take photos inside (obviously!)

40,000 manuscripts were found!

ALL of the book of Isaiah has been found and the text is the EXACT Hebrew replica of today.

The Community Rule is the rule book for the group that wrote or copied the library of scrolls — they were VERY interesting and some of the rules were pretty strict for these Jewish people! The purpose of the Community Rule is "to do what is good and right before Him as He commanded by the hand of Moses and all His servants ad people." (Community Rule 1-3)

66 AD, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. The people at the caves hid them, not to be found for 1,000 years.

A requirement in Israel - to serve for 3 yrs. in the military for all 18 yr. olds (including females) - Can you imagine?

Next stop is the Holocast History Museum - "Yad Vashem"

Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg was a Swedish architect, businessman,and humanitarian. He is widely celebrated for saving tens of thousands of Jews from Hungary during the Holocaust in the later stages of WWII. He issued protective passports and sheltered Jew in buildings designated as Swedish territories.

Our guide told us many stories of people who helped the Jews during this horrible time in history!

Yad Vashem honors non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

The name "Yad Vashem" is taken from a verse in the Book of Isaiah: "To them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever." (Isaish 56:5) The memorial conveys the idea of establishing a national depository for the names of Jewish victims who have no one to carry their name after death. The original verse referred to eunuchs, who, although they could not have children, could still live for eternity with the Lord.

Yad Vashem also seeks to preserve the memory and names of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust and the numerous Jewish communities destroyed during that time.

An interesting modern wall sculpture as we were entering the museum. VERY interesting!

The Eternal Flame

The museum was VERY well done (no inside photos allowed)....I have been to Auschwitz and a good museum in Berlin, but this one was so inclusive. So many stories and relics! I could have stayed a couple more hours!

"Valley of the Destroyed Communities"

"The Children's Terrace"

This was a very moving part of the Memorial - 1 1/2 million children whose names and ages and where they were from, continually being read in a very dark, circular room. Our guide told us to choose one of the names to think about and what their life would have been.

One of the ladies and her daughter in our group had an aunt who perished in the Holocaust.

A couple of quotes that I found very moving:

"Where books are burned, humans, too, are destined to be burned." (Heinrich 1921)

"A country is not just what it does, but what it tolerates."

Such a moving experience I have just had!

Back on the road to Jericho, we see some old ruins along the road.

Though the Inn of the Good Samaritan existed only in a parable, a real-life site was proposed in the early Christian centuries to edify the faith of pilgrims.

The location, beside the road going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, fitted Jesus’ parable about the man who “fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead” (Luke 10:25-37).

Modern road from Jerusalem to Jericho close to the Inn of the Good Samaritan

Jesus would have been familiar with the road. He would often have walked it on the final stretch of the way from Galilee to Jerusalem along the Jordan Valley. It was here that the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus gave travelers from Jericho their first glimpse of Jerusalem. (including us! - what a view!)

In the 6th century a Byzantine monastery with pilgrim accommodation was erected on the site of what was probably some sort of travelers’ hostel well before the time of Jesus. Later the Crusaders established a fortress on a nearby hill to protect pilgrims against robbers.

The museum is one of the largest in the world devoted to mosaics. Displays both indoors and outdoors include mosaics from Jewish and Samaritan synagogues, as well as from Christian churches, in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

Mosaic floor from the Samaritan Synagogue

The Samaritans came here 2500 years ago

If only these steps could talk!

Cousin John is relaxing in the warm sunshine!

Back to the hotel, our driver had to detour around various streets. Palm Sunday and the celebrations were everywhere and just concluding, so the streets were BUSY! I tried to capture some of the scenes and the people as we drove. So interesting!

A kippah (also called a kappel or "skull cap") is a thin, slightly-rounded skullcap traditionally worn at all times by Orthodox Jewish boys and men. It is worn to demonstrate respect and reverence for God.

Tzitzit are fringes or tassels worn by observant Jews on the corners of four-cornered garments, including the tallit (prayer shawl).

There are various other customs, including the peyot (sideburns): tucking them behind the ears, wrapping them around the ears or twirling them into long ringlets. Some of these customs are based on mystical teachings, while others are based more on community norms.

Families are very important to the Jewish people.

Back at the hotel, we decide to go for an evening stroll and to the nearby King David Hotel.

Beautiful flowers at the flat/apartments along the way

The King David Hotel is a 5-star hotel which opened in 1931. The hotel was built with locally quarried pink limestone and was founded by a wealthy Egyptian Jewish banker. It is located on King David Street in the centre of Jerusalem, overlooking the Old City and Mount Zion.

The four of us had a nice drink at the bar - they ordered me a Mojito...a traditional Cuban drink. It is a cocktail that consists of five ingredients: white rum, sugar, lime juice, soda water, and mint. Mine was MINUS the rum!