More Adventures in Jerusalem

At the Israel Museum, we visited a large “to scale” replica of Jerusalem in the Second Temple period. It represents what Jerusalem looked like before it was destroyed in 66 AD by the Romans. I thought it was really cool. It was designed by a historian in the 1960s, based on the writings of the Roman historian Flavius Josephus and other sources from the 1^st century. The version of the Temple is the one constructed by Herod.

Next to this model is the Shrine of the Book, which contains the collection of the Dead Sea Scrolls held in Israel (there are others in Amman, Jordan). They rotate which scrolls are on display, so that they can keep them safe, as they are quite fragile.

Our next visit was to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum. The initial part of the museum we came to was a series of memorials consisting of trees planted and dedicated to people who had saved Jews from the Nazis during World War II. These included memorials to Raoul Wallenberg, Irena Sendler, Oskar Schindler, Corrie ten Boom, Princess Alice of Battenberg, the People of Denmark, and King Christian X of Denmark. This is called the Garden of the Righteous among the Nations.

The Children’s Memorial was breathtaking. It consisted of a single candle reflected 1.5 million times to represent the children who lost their lives during the Holocaust. It was difficult to get a decent photo, but I explored the different angles and waited until I was alone.

I visited several exhibits in the galleries of the Holocaust History Museum as well as the Hall of Names. Another outdoor memorial was to the people who had been deported from their homes to distant concentration camps by train.

After lunch, we returned to the Dung Gate in Old Jerusalem where we entered and headed for the Davidson Center Archeological dig. This was along part of the Western Wall and the Southern Wall of Temple Mount at the time (2010). It may have expanded since then. The first area was near the southwest corner which contains the remnants of a 1^st century street, the traces of Robinson’s Arch (a massive bridge up to the mount), and a reproduction of a block that fell from the wall above and is engraved with a message saying it was where the trumpeter stood to announce the beginning or end of the Sabbath.

There have been some scholars who believe that the Temple Mount was not really where the Temple was. They say it was located in the part of Jerusalem known as the City of David and that the Temple Mount was really just the Antonia Fortress. Sorry, I don’t buy it. I subscribe to both Biblical Archeology Review and Archeology Magazine (is it obvious I love Archeology?) as well as having studied some of the history (yeah, I really like history too) and I think they have the right place. Besides which, why would the trumpeter stand at a corner of the Antonia Fortress to announce the beginning and end of Sabbath?

I have heard rumors that non-Muslims have been allowed up on the Temple Mount from time to time. But this was one of those times when they weren’t. So we just kept touching the wall surrounding the Temple Mount and exploring the excavations that had been done up to that point.

Along the Southern Wall was a 1^st century toilet of the public variety. It seemed to be very public as Tol did not indicate that there had ever been any type of enclosure around it. Further along the Southern Wall was a crusader structure. There were some steps added to allow us to climb through part of it to get to the other side where we could see the outlines of former gates and stand on the steps associated with those gates.

Back during what was known as the Baron’s Crusade (1234 – 1241), which was led by Richard of Cornwall (a son of King John of England), one of those knight ancestors of mine, Sir Hugh Wake (a 23^rd great grandfather), landed at Akko (Acre) and proceeded to Ascalon (Ashkelon) where he was involved in rebuilding the Crusader fortress there. Not too many years ago his Coat of Arms was found carved in a piece of stone in the moat near the northern Jaffa gate of Ascalon. I bring this up as he was killed December 18, 1241 in battle in Jerusalem. I don’t have a clue as to where, but could it have been somewhere near the Temple Mount? Maybe near that Crusader fortress?

Because we had been unable to take photos the day before, Tol took us back to the Wailing Wall just for a photo op. Several soldiers were there, armed. So I got a photo of them as well as of the wall.

On our way to our hotel, Tol pointed out Oskar Schindler’s grave. I managed a rather lop-sided photo of the entrance to the grave, which I have included here.

We had one more day in Israel before flying to Amman, Jordan. So, next time will be our visits to Latrun (Latroun), Emmaus, the Valley of Elah, and Jaffa as we returned to Tel Aviv.