Tours, vacations, meetings, church services, days and months—all things come to an end. And so our tour ended yesterday, June 6. We were sorry to leave, yet glad to return home. And although the tour is over, I’m not finished with the blog! So here’s the plan: I’ll complete the remaining four days and then I want to do a post about food in Israel, maybe one about the flora and abundance of crops, one with some “fun” things we saw, and maybe end up with a post about just how safe is it to travel to Israel.
So, in accordance with “my plan,” I’ll pick up with Sunday, June 2nd. Saturday night was our last night in Jerusalem. We packed and had luggage outside our doors by 7 the next morning.
Before leaving Jerusalem, though, we had three more sites to see: Mt. Zion with the room where the Last Supper occurred; the traditional King David’s tomb; and the holiest of all places in Israel—the Temple Mount.
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| Model of the Temple Mount as it was during the days of Herod and Jesus with the Temple. |
King Solomon built the first temple, and later, after it was destroyed by the Babylonians, the second temple was built around 516 B.C. In AD 70, the Romans destroyed the second temple. Today the most famous building on the mount is the Dome of the Rock, so called because it was built over a very large rock—supposedly where Abraham was to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. It is also believed to be the place where Mohammed was taken to heaven. It is not a mosque, but a shrine. At the southern end of the mount sits the Al Aqsa Mosque.
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| Al Aqsa Mosque with area in front for washing feet and hands. |
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| Dome of the Rock |
The entrances and exits are maintained by Israeli security, but once inside, Palestinians control the Temple Mount which covers about 37 acres.
Depending on the guide assigned to a tour group, it is possible to access the Temple Mount which has been an Islam holy place since the late AD 600s. Orthodox Jews will not go on the Temple Mount for fear of unintentionally entering the area where the Holy of Holies once stood. Only the high priest is allowed to enter and commune directly with God.
This is the second time I’ve been on the Temple Mount, and found this time more interesting. Scattered on the lower level of the mount in front of the mosque were clusters of men and women participating in religious studies. Women also taught young children.
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| Women's study group in courtyard outside Al Aqsa Mosque. |
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| Men's study group on the Temple Mount. |
We did not spend much time on the mount because we had a luncheon engagement with “Abraham.” But first we walked from the Temple Mount to Mount Zion to the room where Jesus initiated the practice of partaking of bread and wine in remembrance of his body and blood that He gave for us to have eternal life.
An intriguing sculpture—an olive tree with three branches rising from the trunk with wheat near its base and grapes on the other side—represents Jesus Christ and commemorates the Last Supper in this “upper room.”
Quite close to the upper room is the traditional place of King David’s tomb. After a quick look, we started on our way to the bus and saw this group of very young orthodox Jewish boys on a field trip eating their lunch. Their teachers tried to quiet them as they cried “hello” and “shalom” to us.
We left Jerusalem, heading to our meal with Abraham taking the road to Jericho.
