Ben Gurion Airport -- Bling!Zachariah, Elizabeth and JohnEn Kerem
We have arrived. The ground is still beneath us, but the wheels are turning. After 14 plus hours of existence in a an 18 foot metal tube with a couple hundred strangers, just the thought of being sprung free is rather refreshing. We have to confess that these are not holy thoughts, they're just the thoughts of traveler who is finally close to the goal. We finally get off the plane and start our long walk to the passport processing line. The visual surroundings provided by the airport at
Tel Aviv are spectacular and most people in our group are quite impressed. It is a very beautiful terminal. It is a small jewel, but a very pretty one.
We meet our official greeter, representative of George's International travel of San Diego. He is a Urugayan who immediately spots our Latino pilgrims and for a few moments there was a Latin flavor to the environment. Passport processing goes rapidly, baggage claim is normal and we proceed to the meeting of our guide who will accompany us for the two weeks that we will be in the Holy Land. I wish I could recount emotional ground kissing events, spectacular blood pressure drops or fainting spells, but none of that happened.
We were just very happy to be here, happy and not too much the worse for wear than we were at the beginning of the day. We were bedraggled and wishing for shampoo, shower and shave, and of course, real food.We reached the Grand Jerusalem Court Hotel in good time (minimal traffic), quickly got our luggage up to our rooms and prepared for the attack on the real food that awaited us. On the way from the airport (25 minutes' drive), our guide, Dicko (pronounced Dee-ko) introduced himself and gave us an orientation about the procedures that he employs while plying his craft. We reach Jerusalem and of course we do not see anyone walking around who resembles Jesus or anyone else whom we have met in the Bible. That will have to wait until we go visit His cousin, John the
Baptist's place in the morning. It is a very pretty small town, tucked away from Jerusalem proper and presented about a 45 minute to 1 hour walk for Zacharia, John's father, to report to the Temple to practice his duties as the head priest during the year that he found out that Elizabeth, his wife, would bear him a son. Despite carbon monoxide, global warming, political wrangling (what else is new?), this is a very charming little town and it's character speaks well of the family of the head priest, relatives to our Mother, Mary.
We made it. The weather is hot and humid, but En Kerem remains the jewel it always is. The visit to the birthplace of John the Baptist is always touching. Most of our pilgrims were touched by the wonderfully executed bronze of a pregnant Elizabeth being admired by the awed Mary. These few short hours visiting the place of the Jesus' cousin made a strong impression on us all.
We went from here to have lunch at the only kibbutz within the borders of the municipality of Jerusalem. It is called "Ramat Rachel (Hills of Rachel)" The victuals were simple, tasty,
served family style with no fanfare. We read the passage from Acts about the life of the first Christian community. Everything here speaks of God.
We took the opportunity to visit the site of the repository of the Ark of the Covenant after it got sent back to the Israelites by the Philistines. It is not easy to make all the visits in a perfectly well constructed historically correct logical order. Every day is a mix of Old and New Testament stories. Hopefully, by the end of the two weeks everything will come together.
Today, Bethlehem - Bring your passports; West Bank, here we come - the birthplace of David, Joseph, Jesus and the Latin Bible.
Back at you soon.
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