An Early Trip to the Wailing Wall (Israel, Day 4, Thursday, October 24, 2013)

Our tour guide, Rafi, told us we'd have to leave early in the morning to avoid lengthy lines at the Wailing Wall in the Old City's Temple.  We were glad we did!  This wall has been sacred to Jews for many centuries.  Here they have prayed and cried over the destruction of the temple.  The wall is actually part of the Temple ruins.  It is divided into two sections, one for males (about 3/4ths of it) and the other section for females.

All along the entire length of the wall are people praying, some rocking back and forth.  Nearly everyone puts a prayer request on a small piece of paper, folds it up and places it in the cracks between the stones.  The Wailing Wall is a very holy place.  I searched through some of my almost 900 photos of the trip unsuccessfully for the wall until I realized that we were told we could not take photos there.  At the security checkpoint, Rafi told us we would have to open our purses and that no backpacks were permitted.  By the time we left, the line weaving up the cobblestone hill was very long in the cool morning.

Part of the Temple Wall, walking up to the Wailing Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem

Next we piled into our bus and traveled to Bethlehem to the Church of the Shepherd's Field, where the angels announced the birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary. What a shock it must have been for the shepherds to have celestial visitors singing and rejoicing! 

 

The cave where Jesus was born and shepherds came to visit and adore.

Father Richard celebrates Mass for us on the hill of the Shepherd's Field with Father John (left) and Father Gilbert (right) concelebrating.

Church of the Shepherds, Bethlehem

The sacred place where Jesus was born, a tiny baby, to the Blessed Mother, Mary, in the Church of the Nativity.

The Church of the Nativity is large, very old, very popular with tourists.  We waited, admiring the architecture, and various paintings.  Then we descended down many stairs to the actual place of Jesus' birth.  This was a place and feeling never to be forgotten!

One of the very ornate altars in the Church of the Nativity

Ancient, hand-hewn ceiling beams, Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem.  The church was undergoing extensive renovations.

These paintings were in a very dark hall in the Church of the Nativity.  My camera was set for low light.  Otherwise, I would not have seen these.  We had plenty of time for shopping in Bethlehem.

There were prayers of the "Magnificat," what Mary said when she visited her cousin, Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist, in many languages on a large wall in the Church of the Visitation.

Mary meets Elizabeth, painting, Church of the Visitation, Bethlehem.

All in all, we enjoyed a less strenuous day today.  It is pleasant to bus through the countryside to the various small towns in Israel.