Tuesday 4th March 2008

We woke up at the crack of dawn (6:30 am) and headed to the wailing wall, also known as the western wall. We prayed there and had a quiet time with God.The reason why the Jews pray on the western wall is because the previous temple’s ‘Holy of Holy’s’ was closest to the western walls. (The Jews pray that some day they will be able to rebuild the temple. The last temple was burnt down by the Romans in 70 AD).
After the wailing wall we went to some tunnels that archaeologist’s had found. Inside there was one solid piece of rock that weighed 450 tons! The tunnel floor we were walking on was the original street level from two thousand yrs ago.

After the tunnels we went to the garden of Gethsemane were Jesus had prayed to God before he was mocked, flogged and then crucified. Next to the garden was the church of all nations.

We then went to the Australian War Memorial for soldiers who fought in Sinai and Palestine in WW1.

View over the city from Scopus Hill

After we went to the Israeli museum were there was a model of old Jerusalem as it was at Jesus’ time. We also saw the original Dead Sea scrolls and Apella Codex. Mahalia. Handing over to Elijah.We went to the Holocaust memorial. Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside. It was about the 6 million Jews that were killed by the Germans in WW2. The German people were depressed after WW1 because they lost so they blamed the Jews ‘cause they were richer than them. They said the Jews were trying to take over the world because they were spreading out over the world. Meanwhile Adolph Hitler was in the Nazi party. At first he wanted them out of Germany so the Jews got on trains and ships to go to all different countries but no one wanted them. The Germans teased them and made funny pictures of them and the Jewish people had to wear a yellow badge so people would know who to tease. After that they wanted to kill them so they took them off to camps and lied to them saying they were going off to nice countries. They shot them, gassed them, made them march in the snow until they died and starved them to death. 1½ million children were killed. It made me feel sad. Elijah.

Monday 3rd March 2008
It was a cold start to the day, while rugged up we went to the Temple Mount. This is where Solomon built the first temple. It was destroyed by the Babylonians so Herod the Great rebuilt it, only bigger. The Romans destroyed it completely in 70 AD. It was a big place. There are seven entries to the temple and only one is sealed off. It’s called the golden gate, or the eastern gate. That’s where Jesus will enter, at the second coming. The Dome of the Rock, the Muslims 3rd most holy place, is now where the temple used to be. They reckon this is where Mohamed went up into the 7th heaven before coming back down and finishing the Koran. Both Muslims and Jews believe “the Rock of Foundation” is here. That is the first rock God created from which he created the rest of the planet.

Then we walked to the Pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed the lame man and the church of St Catherine (birthplace of Mary). This church has the best acoustics in the world. Your voice echoes for seven seconds because the roof is in a shape of a dome.

[Editor’s note: We then went to where Pilate questioned Jesus and handed him over to be flogged. It’s all underground now because each occupying force in Jerusalem has built and rebuilt on top of it, so it looks nothing like it originally did. Nearly all of Jerusalem is like that, its an archaeologists dream, excavations everywhere. There is an arch outside called the Echo Homo arch (“behold the man”). We then followed the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where tradition says Jesus was crucified and buried (only about 15 metres apart). There’s all sorts of monuments built over the places because in those days that was how people honoured God. Nowadays we would try to preserve it in its original state. There is another site that archaeologists think could be the crucifixion site which we will visit on Wednesday. Pete]

Walking down the wet, cold ally-way of the original pavement from B.C. was an amazing experience, there were street venders and small shops down either side. It was very narrow. We found a small cafeteria where we had a falafel it was enough for everyone. [After lunch we had the opportunity to hear an Orthodox Jew’s perspective on Christianity-very enlightening. Very squishy too as 60 of us sat in his tiny little shop! Pete] On the way to our next stop we passed the Jerusalem Walls and went to the Broad steps which was the main entrance to the temple where Jesus would have walked. We drove to Caiaphas’s house where Jesus was taken after his arrest and where Peter denied him three times. There is a dungeon there where it was highly probable Jesus was held while the Sanhedrin debated his fate. The pit in the dungeon is 3 metres deep and had no sunlight access.

Last stop for the day was the upper room where Jesus and the disciples ate the last supper and also where they believe they were gathered on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell on them.

Back to the olive hotel where it was dinner and bed. Maddi

Sunday 2nd March 2008
In the morning a group of people got up at 7am to go to the Dead Sea again. Mahalia and Mum went but Maddi, Dad and I didn’t. When they got back we all went to Masada, a castle on top of a huge mountain that King Herod the Great built. To get up the top we went on a gondola. I learnt that the Romans tried to invade it but it took them 9 months. The Romans built a huge ramp from the ground to the top of the hill and then pushed a siege tower up to the wall. To protect them from getting stoned and speared they built a little shelter over the top of the tower for protection. When the people on top realised that they couldn’t defend themselves any more they committed suicide. I also learnt that only 3 inches of rain rains down each year from the mountain.

Then we went to the bus and we drove to lunch, it was cool because it was ‘Father Abraham’s’ tent and to get to the tent we went by camel, (A 5 min ride.) And we had a beautiful lunch and then we went to Bethlehem.

When we got to Bethlehem we went to The Church of the Nativity where there happened to be a wedding there that had just finished. The bride looked pretty. This is where Jesus was born so they built 3 churches on top of it so the actual spot where he was born is now in a cave under it all. We went down into the little cave which was really crowded with people. In the church there was a hole in the ground that people were dropping money, necklaces and valuables into because they believed that it was a gift to God and it would bring good luck to them.

When we left the church we drove past the ‘shepherds field’ where the shepherds saw the angel before the birth of Jesus.

When we left Bethlehem we had to pass over a check point and police were checking under the bus to make sure there were no bombs underneath! Then we went to the hotel and had dinner and went to bed. Elijah