Holy Land: Nativity Basilica

May 23:  We returned to Bethlehem to enter the Basilica of the Nativity, which lays claim to being the oldest continuously operating Basilica in the world.  It is definitely the oldest in the Holy Land, because the current Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built in the 12th century after it was destroyed twice, in 614 by Persians and in 1009 by a mad Muslim ruler.

Legend says that the Persians who ruined the Sepulchre church did not destroy the Nativity Basilica in 614 because they saw at the entrance of the Basilica a mosaic of the Magi in Persian attire.

You enter the Basilica through the Humility Door, a very low door in which almost everybody has to bend to enter.  It reminds you of the low entrance of a cave as the birthplace of Christ.  The Basilica door was also made that way to prevent horses and camels from entering because some pilgrims and visitors did bring them in.

Similar to the Sepulchre Church, control of the Basilica is shared by three Christian denominations: Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian and thus similar problems.  The Basilica looks badly in need of repair and restoration, but it cannot be done because the 3 groups cannot agree on the sharing of the expenses.

We had another guide, Salwa, a Palestinian American who told us that Pres. Abbas of the Palestinian Authority has decided that his government would be the one to spend for the restoration and that experts from Europe and North America have already been tapped for the purpose.

Much of the Basilica is in the control of the Greek Orthodox church, but the Franciscans have the beautiful St Catherine church right beside.  I saw a unique mosaic in the Franciscan church which I instructed my companions to photograph.  It was a mosaic of St Joseph holding the toddler Jesus together with two scrolls, presumably the Torah and the Prophets, with Jesus touching one of the scrolls.  What is usual is the Madonna and Child, but this Father and Toddler with Scrolls mosaic again reminds me of a father's duty to raise and educate his child in the faith.

We proceeded to the Chapel of St Helena, which our guide says goes back to the original Basilica built by Empress Helena.  The current Basilica was built by Emperor Justinian in 565 AD after the original was burned during the Samaritan Revolt of 529.

At the Chapel we had Mass with another Filipino pilgrim group.  Afterwards we proceeded to line up at the entrance to a cave under the Basilica altar.  At this cave, a silver star on the floor marks the spot where Jesus was born, and to the side is a small shrine that marks the spot where the manger was supposed to be.

The problems began.  We ended up waiting in line one and a half hours because the Armenians had a ceremony in which they were following a different clock, and afterwards a Minister of Belgium came with camera men and escorted by Palestinian police and he was given priority. Two groups were ahead of us, Indian Muslims from Bombay, and they were patient and well-behaved. The birthplace of Jesus is sacred also to Muslims because Jesus is acknowledged as a powerful prophet in Islam and his mother Mary's virginal conception of Jesus is narrated in the Koran.

What irritated many of us were the Russians right behind us.  Some of them were steadily pushing and apparently trying to sneak ahead in the line.  At a certain point, we held each other's hands and formed a cordon to prevent the Russian invasion.

Various tour groups accumulated into a long line, and so when we finally were able to enter the cave, the ushers were hurrying us.  So we ended up spending a rushed minute in the cave praying, touching the star and taking photos. Some expressed their sadness afterwards, for they did not feel the expected atmosphere of solemnity.

I was a bit stoic about the unfortunate experience.  For one, I tend towards the opinion of several critical historians who think that Jesus was most likely born in Nazareth because only the gospels of Matthew and Luke mention Bethlehem as his birthplace, while Mark and John affirm that Jesus was from Nazareth.  Also Matthew and Luke disagree on crucial details that it seems that the Bethlehem story was created to show that Jesus was indeed a descendant of king David, whose hometown was Bethlehem.

We had our best lunch so far at the Tent Restaurant with a view of the hillsides of Bethlehem. Starters were pita with 7 different kinds of dips.  That was already a tasty meal for us.  But they still served roasted chicken and a mixture of beef, lamb and pine nuts.  We had a refreshing lemon mint drink, but I tasted the only Palestinian beer, brewed in a Christian village, since alcohol is forbidden to Muslims.  The dessert, a baklava, was too sweet.

Holy Land: Herodion and Bethlehem

May 22:  We started our morning at the Herodion, the ruins of a palace-fortress of Herod the Great which he built in 23-20 BCE and which is 5 kms from Bethlehem and 13 kms from Jerusalem.  It contains his mausoleum but his remains are gone, probably vandalized by the many people who hated him throughout his life and after his death.  The mausoleum was discovered only two years ago and the archeologist who discovered it died soon after in an accident at the site.  It makes one think of "the curse of the mummy."
The palace fortress was on top of two hills merged into one, in which Herod used thousands of slaves for the 4-year construction.  We saw the ruins of guest-houses for his friends including a pool so large that his friends, according to accounts, would go boating in it with a large fountain in the middle.  This was the Herod that, according to Matthew's gospel, ordered the massacre of the infants in Bethlehem.  This was the Herod that turned the Jerusalem Temple into something so grand that it rivalled other temples in the Roman empire.

This was also the Herod who had 3 of his sons and favourite wife executed because he suspected them of plotting against him or planning to usurp his throne.  Since Herod wanted to show that he was a faithful Jew by not eating pork, the Romans joked that it was better to be Herod's pig than to be his son.  He died of syphilis 2 years after Jesus was born.

Since there was no shade among the ruins at the Herodion, we were under the hot sun while Glenn talked a lot about the place and about the contemporary complexity of nationality, ethnicity and religious identity in Palestine.  It became too much so that some of us stood up and proceeded back to the bus.  After nearly a week, he still could not understand the fact that most Filipinos do not like to be under the hot sun for long.  The back of my neck and my lower arms became red.  I brought sun block to Israel, but have not yet used it.

For lunch, we were divided into groups of five for meals with different Palestinian families.  For my group, our host was Reema.  We were not supposed to meet her husband but he came home early.  They have 3 girls, the oldest of which is 17, and they have a boy, their youngest, at 4 years old.  The boy Joseph was so cute and was not shy.  He even called, "Come!" to play with him in his little Tykes one-piece see-saw.  I obliged and of course I remembered Dennis.

Reema served us delicious chicken in which she used several local spices.  I was told that Winnie Monsod got the list of spices and I shall try to copy it.  She offered also a tasty stew of potatoes, cauliflower, onions and other vegetables.  Reema is a school teacher while her husband is a construction worker.  Their family is Greek Orthodox.  They have one small car and a 3-storey house, but the 2nd and 3rd floors are unfinished, just a shell of stone and cement.  They hope to finish it in 3-5 years.  They plan to rent out the floors or rooms for extra income.

We heard first-hand their woes in a territory that Israel has put behind 8-meter high walls with limited autonomy given to the Palestinian National Authority.  They get their water from Israel, which occasionally cuts it off without warning and it is especially difficult in the summer.  I have seen the dryness of the land and 6 months without rain is not unusual throughout Palestine.

Reema's husband works in Jerusalem and a half hour trip between Bethlehem and Jerusalem becomes at least 2.5 hours because of the Israeli checkpoint in which every Palestinian lines up and goes through inspection one by one even if they have the proper papers and they go through the checkpoint day after day.  There is a curfew at the checkpoints and they can be arbitrarily closed during Jewish holidays or whenever Israel perceives a security threat.

Reema says that she gets upset listening to CNN or BBC reportage about the troubles in Palestine because the Palestinian experience is not presented accurately.  She says that Al-Jazeera tends to make the small problems big.  She doubts that they would be allowed to be an independent state in the next 5 years.
Entering Bethlehem, our bus went through a checkpoint but we were quickly let through.  Going around Bethlehem and even at the center of the city, you could see that much of the city looks drab compared to Israeli villages around Jerusalem.  Leaving Bethlehem, we spent 10 minutes at the checkpoint, and the wall on the Palestinian side had huge graffiti critical of what Israel does to the Palestinians.  We were warned not to take photos of the checkpoint, otherwise the Israeli guards would confiscate the cameras.
Reema also mentioned problems they had with Muslim Palestinians, as Christian Palestinians like them constitute a minority there.
When will Jerusalem truly become the City of Shalom?