A very merry Christmas
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, Holidays, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Religion
It’s always a little shocking how Christmas can just come and go around here with little awareness that it’s been and gone. Sure, there are the Christmas decorations on the southern end of Hebron Road, heading toward Bethlehem. And there are the occasional articles or public service announcements about where to pick up one’s KKL Christmas trees, or storefronts decorated with Christmas-like ornaments. There’s also my upstairs neighbor who decorated his window box plants with Christmas lights that twinkle from 6 pm to 10 pm most nights. I’m not sure where he got the idea — he’s a fairly born-and-bred Israeli — but the awareness is out there.
I had an interesting conversation with a local minister about Christmas in Israel, and how it characterizes itself in this land of many Jews, whether identified or not. Reverend David Neuhaus, the Latin Patriarchal Vicar at the Saint James Vicariate for Hebrew Speaking Catholics in Israel, said the following in Expeditions:
“It’s really more meaningful in Israel,” says Neuhaus. “Christmas is ultimately religious here because there’s nothing commercial or social going on, and there’s so much of that elsewhere. And then you’re celebrating it here, where everything happened.”
These days, it’s a diverse crowd celebrating Jesus’ birth. You’ve got foreign workers from all over the world, Christian Arabs, missionary types, pilgrims, and the smattering of Israelis who just like to attend Christmas Mass, which smacks of ‘chul‘ — the world out there — for them. Indu, a Sri Lankan woman I know, lit up when I asked her today about her Christmas. While it was bittersweet because she wasn’t with her four kids and family, she got to go to Bethlehem twice, on a van chartered by her and her friends.
“It was mobbed,” she told me. “So many people celebrating together.”
A different kind of Christmas, which is hopefully a good thing.
Was it Christmas?
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Religion
Christmas in Israel is always a bit strange – mainly because it’s so easy to forget that it’s Christmas!
Unless you shlep to the Christian quarter of the Old City or to Bethlehem, where services and festivities are taking place, there’s virtually no sign of the holiday.
My friend Barry Leff, a rabbi and businessman, nicely articulated the conundrum of transplanted Americans, used to the clues at every street corner that the holiday has arrived, suddenly living in a Christmas-less society. On his blog at the Neshama Center, he states:
I actually think Christmas is TOO low profile in Israel. It should be a little more visible. There are some over the top religious people who can’t tolerate any other religions, who protest anything that even looks like Christmas lights. I’m not kidding, click here to see an article titled “Haredim threaten to boycott Mamilla Mall.” Why? Christmas lights. The management of the mall tried to quickly claim it was Hanukkah lights left up late.
Why should they do that? Not only do Christians make up 2% of the population in Israel, we get a LOT of Christian tourists this time of year, for obvious reasons. Why shouldn’t we do something to make them feel at home? Most major cities in the US do a Chanukah menorah lighting in a public place, why can’t we in Israel reciprocate and give Christians some acknowledgement of their holiday in our public space?
Read the rest of his entry here
Foto Friday – Church Gates of Jerusalem
Filed under: Art, coexistence, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Life, Picture of the Week, Religion, Travel
Today’s weather was sunny, crisp and clear — not your classic Christmas Eve weather but prefect for pilgrims to wander through Jerusalem’s Christian Quarter. As in all other parts of the Old City, the Quarter takes travelers on a winding trail from site to site to holy site. For those living far away, here is a virtual tour of the city’s church gates — all will be open tonight for worshipers to celebrate the Midnight Mass.
Entrance to the Christian Quarter
© RomKri
Church of the Holy Sepulcher
This historic church shelters the holiest site in the Christian faith: the tomb where Christ was buried and rose from the dead. It is shared by several denominations.
© Gennadi Zimmerman
Church of the Redeemer
The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer is the only Protestant church in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was commissioned by Prussian Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, who was given the site by the Turkish Sultan upon his visit to Jerusalem.in 1869.
© RomKri
Notre Dame Pilgrim Center of Jerusalem
Dating back to 1885 when its cornerstone was first laid, the building was heavily damaged during Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, rendering it partially uninhabitable. For years it served as an Israeli guard post but in 1972 was restored to its original status and the chapel rededicated to public worship in 1978. The mission entrusted to it by Pope John Paul II: “Dedicated to Our Lady of Jerusalem, Queen of Peace… as a place of fruitful spiritual development.”
© RomKri
Church of the Pater Noster
Built on the place where tradition says Jesus instructed his disciples in prayer. The walls of this convent church are inscribed with the Lord’s Prayer in 44 languages.
© RomKri
Church of All Nations
Built in 1924 and funded by several nations, this church stands over the site where tradition has it that Jesus prayed on the night of his betrayal.
© pmos_nmos
Information about Jerusalem’s churches comes mainly from the Sacred Destinations website. All photos courtesy of Jerusalem Shots where there are hundreds more to enjoy.
Nostalgia Sunday – The Holy Land in Stereo
Filed under: Art, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Nostalgia Sunday, Picture of the Week, Religion, Technology, Travel
Back before Avatar, kiddies, there was stereoscopy. The technology today seems fairly simple — two separate images printed side-by-side and peered at through the lens of a stereoscope viewer — but the invention was groundbreaking and it was the virtual reality of its day.
The difficult part was providing the public with new and different pictures of faraway places that they could only dream of visiting. Intrepid photographers ventured forth to gather images from such places and, as was to be expected, the Holy Land proved a popular subject.
Take, for example, this glimpse of an “Easter procession of Greek Patriarch, entering the Church of Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem”.
Each Stereoview image came with a descriptive text, such as: “Pilgrims on the Via Dolorosa – the route to Calvary – Jerusalem”.
“Baptising in the Jordan, Palestine”.
These images are gleaned from the World of Stereoviews, an informative website and reasonably priced online shop featuring over 14,000 stereoscopic images dating from the 1850s onwards by well known photographers of the day such as the 1850s views by Francis Frith, B.L. Singley’s Fine Art Photographers’ Publishing Co. and Keystone Views (1890s up until the mid 20th century), the Underwood Company, and M.E. Wright’s Excelsior Publishing (1900s).
“Barley harvest near Bethlehem, Palestine”.
“Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem, from outside”.
The site’s owners, Jenny and Ray Norman note that Wright “was a quirky publisher who either stole or bought images from others… He is known to have produced Middle East views by dressing up his family and taking them in Lancashire – saved the trouble of the journey.” However, these fellows seem to be the real thing!
“Bedouin robbers, wilderness of Judea, near the road to Jericho, Palestine”.
Pooping out the Pope
Filed under: coexistence, General, History and Culture, Religion, Travel
Pope Benedict XVI welcomes Israeli President Shimon Peres at the pope's summer residence of Castel Gandolfo near Rome in 2007.
It will mark the first visit of a pope to Israel since Pope John Paul II made a five-day pilgrimage in March, 2000.
I’m not sure who put together Pope Benedict XVI’s schedule, but even doing a quick scan of it left me breathless. It looks like somebody’s trying to poop out this pope, expecially considering he’s in his 70s.
Take a deep breath and imagine you’re in the Popemobile:
Monday, May 11
11:00 Arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, Official Welcoming Ceremony
12:05 Arrival at Mount Scopus helipad, Jerusalem. Welcoming Ceremony by Jerusalem Mayor, Nir Barkat.
16:05 Visit to the President’s Residence, joint planting of a tree in the Presidential Garden
17:30 Visit to Yad Vashem, Memorial ceremony at the Remembrance Hall; Wreath laying; Address by the Pope.
19:00 Interfaith Meeting, Notre Dame HotelTuesday, May 12
09:15 Meeting with the Mufti, Temple Mount
10:00 Visit to the Western Wall
10:35 Meeting with the Chief Rabbis, Heichal Shlomo
12:00 Visit to the Church of Dormition – site of the Last Supper
12:30 Visit and Prayer at Latin Patriarch
16:15 Mass at the Garden of GethsemaneWednesday May 13
08:00-19:00 Visit to BethlehemThursday May 14
08:30 Travel to Nazareth
09:15 Arrival in Nazareth, Welcoming Ceremony
10:00 Mass at Mount of the Precipice
15:50 Meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Church of the Annunciation
16:30 Meeting with the Faith Heads in Israel, Church of the Annunciation
17:30 Prayer at the Church of the Annunciation
19:00 Return to JerusalemFriday May 15
09:15 Meeting at the Greek-Orthodox Patriarch
10:00 Visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
13:30 Leaving Ceremony, Ben Gurion Airport
Whew! Talk about an intense four days. Let’s hope the Pope has some comfortable walking shoes.
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