Holy Land Day 6 - First Friday of Ramadan

Yesterday was the first day of Ramadan, but today was the first Friday of Ramadan, which since Friday is their day of worship, was kind of a big deal. The roads around the north side of Jerusalem were completely shut down, and there was this constant stream of people going into Damascus Gate like I have never seen. It made some things about our day easier, and some things more difficult. I also had the urge to call out “Eid Mubarak” (“Blessed Celebration”) to passersby, but I figured that would be obnoxious, so I told myself only if I were interacting with someone naturally… but I did get my chance! Some men stopped for our group to cross in front of them, so as we thanked them, I said, “Eid Mubarak!”

We started this morning at the site where Jesus was tried by the Jewish chief priests and where Peter denied him. Matthew got to be the example of a person being flogged under Jewish law (see pic).

 

Then we went through Herod’s Gate into the Old City—a novel experience for me, since we were never allowed to use that gate as students. From there we went to the Church of the Condemnation and followed a few Stations of the Cross back over to Damascus Gate (where we were exiting against the flow of traffic, which was an experience), and we had lunch outside the Old City near there. It was chicken shawarma, and it was very delicious.

After that we went over to a bus station that sits underneath the hill of Golgotha (in the Protestant tradition, because the cliff face actually looks like a skull). It normally would have been bustling and noisy, but with traffic in that area being completely shut down, we had the place all to ourselves, which was kind of neat.

Then we finally made it to the Garden Tomb. They’ve made some changes to the infrastructure. I asked our volunteer guide why they got rid of the door with the plaque that says “He is not here, for He is risen” on it, and the answer was basically that people were abusing the privilege (i.e., trying to close it to stay inside longer). But in continuation of my thoughts from yesterday, my impression today as we were there was, “Why did you come here?” (i.e., to Jerusalem). The answer is to feel the Spirit, and we did at the Garden Tomb.

 

Then we finally made it to Bethlehem! The Church of the Nativity has undergone extensive renovations since I was there before. They uncovered mosaics on the walls and refurbished the icons on the columns, and if my memory were as clear as I wish it were, I would have said it was a completely different place, I’m sure. As it is, my main memory is of going down into the sanctum, which we weren’t able to do (there was a long line). But we did get to do some nativity shopping, and I was very happy with the new piece I picked out. 

Behind us is the mosque across from the church, 

which also commemorates the birth of Jesus (as a revered prophet)

 

So Ramadan made being at Golgotha totally awesome, but it meant we had crazy traffic getting back from Bethlehem, and as our tour guide explained, in the hour before sunset, all the Muslim taxi drivers are going home to prepare to break their day’s fast. So we had planned to go celebrate the opening of Shabbat at the Western Wall, but we were utterly unable to get a taxi, so we ended up staying at the hotel. So that’s Ramadan in the Holy Land.