Pontifical Institute – Shroud of Turin Exhibit

Having given a brief introduction to the Pontifical Institute, I am now able to properly do a brief post on their star attraction: their Shroud of Turin exhibit. This well-known bit of history is said to be the burial cloth of Jesus himself, and has inspired millions over the years. That said, where did it come from, and how? What can be learned from its fabric, torn over the years and even partially burned in a cathedral fire during the Renaissance? This exhibit has relied on some of the newest applications of science to try and answer this question: as a brief sample, did you realize that of the remnants of flower pollen found on the Shroud, at least half of them only originate within one day’s journey from Jerusalem? This and many other panels make up the majority of the exhibit – the pièce de résistance is easily worth the trip to the Institute. That feature is one of 3 holographic reproductions of the Shroud that exists in the world (being multiple millions of US dollar apiece), and it is truly breathtaking. The Shroud’s most inexplicable property is that it is somehow a 2D representation of a 3D figure, yet if the shroud had actually been lain over a body, the final image would have been distorted beyond recognition. This in turn has allowed them to construct those holographic plates, and that in turn allowed a VERY skilled sculptor to fashion a sculpture of the figure depicted. I don’t know if that is Jesus, and I don’t know how to explain any of the Shroud’s properties or its origin, but I can tell you it makes everyone who goes and sees the display very introspective on their departure. Myself included. I would say this slideshow is worth reading through slowly, for those interested parties.

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The Pontifical Institute of Jerusalem

Having previously written about the week I spent helping out the good Padre Kelly with that sports camp run by the Pontifical Institute of Jerusalem, I figured it would only be fair to give a bit of history about the place as well. Father Kelly is actually a Legionary of Christ, which is one of the newest (and very conservative) monastic sects in the Catholic Church. It is a gorgeous building, which has served many thousands of Catholic (and other denomination’s) pilgrims to Jerusalem over the years. It features hotel rooms and restaurant of at least 4 star quality, and then of course a centrally-located, large Catholic chapel. That of course is a bit dwarfed by the ENORMOUS, lit-at-night statue of Mary holding Jesus atop the building; the Catholics may not be entirely subtle when it comes to buildings.

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My buddy Erez – Tziona Delicatessen

Having shared my trip to Abu Ghosh and Latrun, which are directly outside of Jerusalem, I figured the next logical step would be to mention on of my favorite and most-frequented places within the city: the Tziona Delicatessen, owned by my good friend Erez. I can’t really say too much about the place, beyond the two vital facts that everyone should know: they have DELICIOUS food at excellent prices, and Erez (and his parents, who work there too) are incredibly nice and worth getting to know, if you’re ever in the neighborhood of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, definitely check them out.

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Latrun Monastery

At the end of a long but very enjoyable day, I had left the visit to one of the more famous monasteries in the land of Israel/Palestine, but for perhaps a different reason than the usual, religious historical causes. This monastery, the Trappist monastery at Latrun, is famed for an aspect of their religious rules that they have done very, very well: they believe that monks “must live by the works of their hands,” and so each Trappist monastery produces a good of some sort, for sale. European ones usually make cheese or the like, but not this one. No, they produce some of the finest alcohol in the world, in this specific location focusing mostly on wines and brandy, and given that Latrun is another strong candidate for the Biblical location of Emmaus, perhaps some of the holiest spirits available. I may or may not have come home to the US at the end of my trip with multiple bottles of their products. These products may or may not have been above the legal amount which can be imported tax-free. They may have ended up on the shelf above my refrigerator, and are theoretically sitting there, awaiting circumstances special enough to merit opening them. I may have even broke up the bottle of 20 year-old brandy to share a celebratory drink for our undergraduate commencement from American University, with my roommate Brandon of September-May 2010.

All of that theoretical language aside, I was pleasantly surprised and unpleasantly surprised by my visit there. It was wonderful to meet such nice locals working the gift shop, and to see the gorgeous way in which they had made use of decorative vines in the courtyards to hint at the functional vineyards in the surrounding fields, and the place simply smelled delicious. The unfortunate news was that my excited exploration of Abu Ghosh and the other Latrun sites earlier in the day meant I missed the monastery visiting hours by a mere 35 minutes. I was not pleased, to say the least, but the monks were in worship, and there was absolutely no exceptions made for people who wanted to visit the sanctuary while worship was in-progress. Luckily for me, the clerk in charge of the store had a sense of humor, or perhaps a kind heart: he asked me how strongly I wanted to see the sanctuary, and I informed him quite strongly of my intentions, and then in an as-typical-as-possible Israeli/Palestinian manner, he assured me “no problem my friend – I have a special deal for you.” He then proceeded to give me, for free, a postcard from the shelf with the sanctuary featured prominently on the front – that has been in turn photographed, and included in the slideshow below.

All in all, a satisfying end to a thoroughly satisfying day’s journey. The cabbie and I departed for Jerusalem, where I settled in and slept like the dead after a long day in the heat.

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Latrun – Mini Israel

Having quickly departed the Armored Corps Museum, the cabbie and I drove through the angry, violent, malicious rays of the sun towards another oddity in the area on my list to see: Mini Israel. This site is the host of over 350 models at the 1:25 scale, and it is really quite impressive. To anyone who has ever put together a small plastic model from a local toy store or hobby shop, we know how difficult it can be to properly assemble the smallest components; to those who have gone a step further and painted said model, it can really be quite difficult to properly mix colors and shading to render a realistic look. The Mini Israel park (which is a misnomer, given how many of the sites depicted are in internationally-recognized Palestinian holdings) goes a few steps further – they have animated many aspects of the displays (usually vehicles and figurines), and then made the entire setup weather-proof – the entire park is uncovered. REALLY awesome, albeit a bit expensive to get in – take a look at the photos and save yourself the plane ticket and park entry fee!

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Latrun – Armored Corps Museum

Latrun
After a delicious lunch of hummus in Abu Ghosh, my cabbie and I departed for the sun-scorched community at Latrun (given that it was around noon, I nearly melted when exiting the vehicle). I had arrived at the Armored Corps Museum (in Hebrew, Yad La-Shiryon), which is both a monument to fallen tank crews, and one of the largest and most-diverse collections of armored fighting vehicles in the world. Since it was so hot, and I wanted to fit multiple visits into one day, I didn’t pause anywhere longer than was necessary to take photographs of some of the tanks, some of the interesting, somewhat dark/cathartic artwork inside the renovated Tegart fortress, and of the park as a whole. Take a look at the slideshow, and then mirror my movements: quickly move to the next post on the blog, just as I hurried over to Mini Israel.

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Abu Ghosh – Crusader Church; Second-Best Hummus in the land

Crusader Church
After departing the summit of the hill bearing upon it the church of Notre Dame de l’Arch de l’Alliance, my cabbie friend and I drove down into the city proper, to look for the somewhat hidden Crusader church which is a major claim to fame of the town of Abu Ghosh. We eventually found a sign that gave us a clue, and we ended up in front of a somewhat-ominous looking green gate, which a small door to one side. The sign on the door announced I had reached the French Benedictine monastery built into the Crusader church, and I had to page the monk working the reception desk in order to enter. I spoke in French, which seemed to delight my interlocutor, and they let me enter. I didn’t see anyone at first, as the compound looked more like a mansion from behind all the palm trees and greenery; only after getting close to the building did its character as an OLD church become apparent. Constructed originally in 1142, this church has two claims to fame: first of all, the Crusaders genuinely believed this church to be built upon the Biblical site of Emmaus, at which two disciples were said to see the resurrected Jesus on the evening of the day of his resurrection. Secondly, and more easily verified in person, is the presence of a piece of the ancient ruins of the camp of the Roman X Legion that existed 2000 years ago in that area (see the slideshow – I found it and took a photograph!). After taking a look at all the dilapidated artwork within the church and the crypt (a millennium has not been kind to the sanctuary, unfortunately), I actually managed to flag down one of the French Benedictine monks who was bilingual, and was willing to let me try and converse in French. I did a decent job, and he was impressed by my efforts (although perhaps not my outcomes) as an American citizen, and so he decided to let me go see the small museum in the monastery, which was closed to the public for renovations. I also took photos of the photos in the gallery there, of the excavation and renovation of the church several decades ago. It was an excellent experience, and left me hungry: the cabbie and I departed to partake of…

The Second-Best Hummus in Israel/Palestine
Unfortunately, I did not get the opportunity to take any photographs at the site of the second-best hummus in the land (whereas I DID get several photos of Hummus Said and enjoying it, which is widely-acclaimed as the best). That said, I can attest to its deliciousness, but it also opens the door to something else important to mention. Oddly enough, the site of Hummus Said (in Akko) is one of the known locations in Israel/Palestine where Arabs and Israelis get along fairly well, with few explicit demonstrations of tension. Abu Ghosh, the other site of divine hummus in Israel/Palestine, also happens to be one of the very few places where a similar sense of peace exists, even if it is only a negative peace (the absence of violence). That said, I AM happy to report that within the small hummus shop I went into, there was indeed a positive peace (the presence of genuine warm feelings) between the Arab shopkeeps and the various Israeli customers who came into the place as patrons; although my Hebrew isn’t the greatest, I seemed to overhear the back-and-forth of “how are your kids” and “I love this weather” that could have come from any peaceful place on Earth. A small positive experience amidst plenty of distrust and hostility, but peace has to start somewhere.

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Abu Ghosh – Notre Dame de l’Arche

Returning from the furthest point from Jerusalem, Eilat, I decided that my next set of visits to somewhere much closer to home: the nearby towns of Abu Ghosh and Latrun. Although I could have managed to get everywhere I wanted to go using public transportation, I also recognized that I would not be able to do it all over the course of one day, and decided to buckle down and eat the costs of hiring a cabbie. I stood outside the southern entrance to the Student Village, and flagged down the second cab I saw (as the first one was a VERY old-looking vehicle that was trailing a bit of black smoke, and therefore didn’t quite meet my minimum expectations for a safe ride). We negotiated a price, one that was FAR too expensive, and therefore something I am unwilling to produce here, but I happened to get lucky: the cab driver I had was an Arab Christian who was fully fluent in English, so I had an excellent interlocutor for the extent of the journey between sites. We embarked on the highway, and first made our way to the Arab town of Abu Ghosh.

Abu Ghosh
After about 40 minutes of driving through somewhat heavy traffic as well as an interesting theological discussion of how the cab driver looked at the dual persecution he faced (from Israelis as an Arab, and from Arabs as a Christian citizen of the state of Israel) in a theological sense (he obviously was a big proponent of the theology of suffering, in the spirit of Jesus), we arrived at the town of Abu Ghosh, nestled in and amongst a few hills of moderate height for the area. The first stop of the day was to be Notre Dame de l’Arche de l’Alliance, a famous church constructed in 1924 atop the ruins of a 5th century Byzantine church, which in English translates to “Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant.” This title derives from the belief that the Ark of the Covenant resided atop that very hill for approximately 20 years, in the home of Abinadab, before King David came to reclaim it (this belief stems from Biblical sources, specifically Samuel 7:1-2). Regardless of the veracity of that claim, it is a very clearly such a young church, as evidenced upon entering it. The walls did not bear the typical patina of soot, dirt, and grime that adorns the walls of so many ancient churches in that land. In fact, the sanctuary boasts a speaker system and other fairly modern additions, meant to make the church more accessible and comfortable, but perhaps in a way that makes it stick out from other churches. Specifically, it was VERY different from the next site I visited, the famed Crusader church of Abu Ghosh.

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Negev Desert – Tour by Bus

After making good my escape from the hellhole named “Eilat,” as I was lucky to only have about 2.5 hours layover between buses, I boarded another green Egged bus for the long and winding road to the north again. The initial destination was Beersheva, from which I would go home to Jerusalem.

Along the way, there were 4 major things I saw worth mentioning:

1) Sand and rocks – the Negev was actually interesting to watch from the bus at times, as there is surprisingly a noticeable difference between the deserts I saw while abroad.

2) Egyptian border guards and Israeli military bases – the road north was on the edge of the Sinai and so I saw a number of ramshackle guard towers along the way, baking in the sun. The Egged bus also stops at many of the military training bases of the IDF along the way, picking up the sleepiest-looking soldiers I saw while in Israel. Bar none, they got on the bus, sat alone if they could manage it, and fell promptly asleep.

3) Mitzpe Ramon meteor crater: one of the meteor craters in Israel, this one is so wide across that I couldn’t see the walls of it on the horizon.

4) we passed by Sde Boker, the kibbutz set up by David Ben Gurion.

As with some of my other blog posts, this is predominantly a gallery of travel shots taken from a moving bus with gross windows, so please ignore any blurs or smudges in the photographs. At the same time, if there is not a caption, I just thought the scenery was worth presenting.

Eilat

“Eilat. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”

These words by Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars IV: A New Hope, modified slightly to be relevant here, are 100% accurate.

After sleeping very, very soundly at Kibbutz Lotan the night before (I had, after all, walked around in the hottest part of the day in the desert), I woke up and caught the Egged bus south. Which is the same as taking the bus to Eilat, as all Egged buses going south are secretly going to end up Eilat, or will transfer you to a bus that does. This makes sense, as Eilat is the southernmost point of Israel, and is nestled between Egypt and Jordan on the coastline.

Besides being on the Red Sea, Eilat has… nothing. It is a tourist trap par excellance, with overpriced food that wasn’t prepared well (easily the worst shawarma I had in 7 months), people who try to sell crap that is more tourist-focused and more overpriced than usual. The hotels were all much larger than necessary, thus obstructing beautiful views of the Red Sea with their poorly-designed bulk. It was extraordinarily hot, as we were on the southernmost part of the Negev but we also had the humidity of the Red Sea to keep us warm too….

As you can imagine, this was probably my least favorite place to visit in my time abroad, and in fact I didn’t even want to go; I merely had to go south in order to catch a bus north through the Negev, which I wanted to see quickly on the return trip.

Here is the photo gallery, with several photos of the various kibbutzim we passed on the way south, and then a bunch of photos from within Eilat itself.