During the excavations that took place in the Jewish Quarter after the Six Day War in 1967, archaeologists discovered the ruins of a house that had collapsed and been burnt by a fierce fire.

Welcome to Beit Katros - the home of an important family of priests who served in the Second Temple and are mentioned in the Talmud. Visitors to the restored ancient site are in for a unique experience: a gripping multimedia, sound and light show dramatically recreates the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the Second Temple against the backdrop of the social strife and fraternal division that undermined the foundations of the Jewish nation.

The drama makes every visitor a part of the Katros family and of Jerusalem during those last tragic days of the city that Jesus knew and loved.

Entering the small museu...]]> It's 10 AM on Thursday, April 19, and sirens are sounding all over Israel. It's not an air raid drill, but the nation-wide commemoration of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. For two minutes, the country comes to a standstill as people interrupt their activities and stand in silence while the sirens wail. It's an eerie sight to see the traffic completely stopped on the roads and highways, with drivers coming out of their cars and standing in silent reverence to remember the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust.

On the eve of Yom HaShoah, the main commemoration ceremony took place at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, attended by President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During the ceremony, six holocaust survivors lit six torches representing the six million victims. In his speech, Netanyahu emphasized the need to learn from the past in order to secure the nation's future:

The meeting, which took place on March 28 around the Christian Quarter of the Old City, was led by Uri Sharon of the Religious Tourism Desk. He began with a general briefing on Christian tourism in Israel, followed by a short tour of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Sharon underlined the importance of pilgrimages to Israel, pointing out that tourism in the Holy Land had peaked in the last two years with some 3.4 million visitors in 2010 and 2011, 60% of which being Christians, and half of these coming as pilgrims or spir...]]> Rediscovering the Holy Temple of Jerusalem

During Lent, one great way to gain new insights into Christ's life, passion, death and resurrection - and also into our own Christian liturgy - is to get to know the place that was at the center of Jesus' own spiritual life: the Temple. The Jerusalem Temple was the holy seat of the Divine Presence and the heart and soul of Judaism in Jesus' days. So it's no surprise that the Gospels present Jesus' life and ministry as revolving around the Temple:

Soon after He was born, Joseph and Mary presented Jesus in the Temple (Lk 2:27).

He taught in the Temple at age twelve (Lk 46) and then throughout his life (Mt 21:23; Mk 12:35; 14:49; Lk 19:47; 21:38; Jn 7:14; 8:2; 18:20); He also healed in the Temple (Mt 21:14).

He viewed the Temple as his "Father's House" and drove out the money changers from it out of concern for its sanctity (Mt 21:12; Mk 11:15; Lk 19:45; Jn 2:14).

Finally, Jesus said that He is Himself greater than the Temple (Mt 12:6) announcing that His own body would be a new Temple (Mt 26:61; Mk 14:58; Jn 2:19-21).

 <...]]> What did Jerusalem look like in Jesus' days? For most of Christian history, this question remained shrouded in mystery.

When the Temple and city were destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., the ruins remained buried for nearly two millennia - even after the Jewish People began to return to the Land of Israel at the end of the nineteenth century. During the war of Independence (1948), the Jewish Quarter of the Old City was largely destroyed by the Jordanians and it remained off limits to Jews for 19 years, until Israel retook the Old City during the Six Day War (1967).

After the Six Day War, during the renovation of the Jewish Quarter (1967-82), the ancient site was uncovered, revealing spectacular finds: a luxurious Second Temple period residential quarter in the Upper City of Jerusalem. Because of its grandeur and opulence, it was renamed the Herodian Quarter, also known today as the Wohl Museum of Archeology.

In the days when Jesus came up to Jerusalem every year to celebrate the Jewish festivals, the wealthy aristocratic and priestly families lived in the magnificent houses of the Herodian Quarter. It is ...]]> Recently I covered for Travelujah in collaboration with Catholics for Israel the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference, organized by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.  Following the moving wreath-laying ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, I interviewed a unique pair of friends just outside the Hall of Remembrance.

Maren Steege is a young Christian woman from Stuttgart in Germany, and Eliel Fos is a young Israeli Messianic believer from Haifa. As leaders of the "Yad b’Yad" program, they regularly take teams of German and Israeli youth on reconciliation missions to Auschwitz.

 

Seventy years later, on the evening of Thursday, January 19, the ICEJ (in partnership with Helping Hands Coalition) invited the Christian representatives together with leaders of various Holocaust survivor communities in Israel to a special reception at the Konrad Adenauer Center in Jerusalem in honor of the victims and survivors.

 

Travelujah.com arranged for me to to accompany the Franciscans of the Holy Land on their annual pilgrimage to the Jordan River. This "annual" trip was rather unique, because the same event was celebrated at the same place... less than three months ago. The reason: Until recently, the Baptismal Site known as "Qasr al Yahud" was a closed military zone, and pilgrims were allowed to go there only once a year, on the last Thursday of October. But last summer the Israeli authorities opened the site all year-round. With the site now much more accessible, the Franciscans decided to move the date of their annual pilgrimage to the most appropriate liturgical time for it, on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, celebrated on the first Sunday after Epiphany (January 6).

 

The busload of friars left Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem shortly after 8 AM, with a festive atmosphere on board. The attempts of Fr. Artemio Vitores, the Custodial Vicar, to announce the order of the day on the microphone were periodically interrupted ...]]> Fr. Elias is the Benedictine Monk responsible for the Church at the Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion. On the first Saturday of Advent, he shared his thoughts about how his community is preparing for the coming feast of the Nativity of Christ.

 

"During Advent, we light four candles on the Advent crown, symbolizing the four weeks before Christmas. Every week, we light one more candle. We have special songs, special prayers, and special readings, especially from the prophet Isaiah because he expresses a message of comfort and hope."

 

 

Fr. Elias explains that the Benedictine community cherishes a particular German tradition: a special liturgy, every Friday evening of Advent, when they use no electric lights but only candle light to experience the darkness characteristic of the longing for the Messiah.

 

"Advent is not Christmas" says the Benedictine monk, "it's a time of longing, of hope, of expect...]]> Christmas Eve in Bethlehem and Jerusalem

Advent is upon us!  Even though the days are getting shorter, the atmosphere is becoming more festive in Jerusalem as both Jews and Christians get ready to celebrate their respective festival of lights.  This year, Hanukkah and Christmas coincide, with the celebration of the birth of Christ falling right in the middle of the week of the Jewish holiday. 

 

Soon Jews will be lighting their hanukkiah while recalling God's Providence and faithfulness (then as now!) at a time of great need in the history of the Jewish nation.  At the same time, Christians will commemorate and celebrate the moment when "the true Light which gives light to every man" came into the world (John 1:9).

 

If Advent is a non-event in Jewish Western Jerusalem, it is unmistakable in the Old City, where shops of Christmas decorations and artifacts have opened and are already in full swing. Every day, coming out of my home in the Christian Quarter, I am “greeted” by several life-sized Santa Clauses, including a large inflatable one standing alongside another one ...]]>