because, well, it's presumptuous (i.e., to assume that anyone wants to read about your travels) and I've already been to, and written a blog about my trip to, Israel. But several of my fans (?) asked and I thought, what the hell.
So I'm off to Tel Aviv tomorrow (after 5 hours of flight to Newark, a 3 hour layover, and a 10.5 hour flight to Tel Aviv, landing around 3 p.m.). Chen assures me he will be at the airport to greet me (and is glad the atoning and repenting of Yom Kippur will be over).
My itinerary is fairly simple: Tel Aviv and environs for a few days. Jerusalem for a day (although I've visited Jerusalem twice now, there is such a concentration of history, religious and otherwise, that it warrants repeat visits.) In case you didn't know, the Temple Mount--which is the centerpiece of old Jerusalem, and looms literally and figuratively over the City--is sacred to the 3 main religions for the same and different reasons. Jews venerate it because it is the site of the first and second great temples, the first built by King Solomon to house the ark of the covenant (yes, THAT ark, the one Indiana Jones was searching for, containing the tablets of the Ten Commandments). The Romans trashed the second temple in about 70 A.D., and eventually the Muslims took over and built the Dome of the Rock (that magnificent golden dome you see in all the pictures, and one of the most sacred sites in Islam) and the Al Aqsa Mosque on the other end of the plaza. The Crusaders entered Jerusalem and managed to sack the city and take control for about half a century, establishing Christian churches, but eventually they got their ass whipped by Saladin and the Muslims took over.
But not only is it the site of the great Jewish temples (the Holy of Holies, where the ark of the covenant is said to still be buried, and is so holy that many Jews will not set foot on top of it for fear of stepping on a sacred stone or violating some sacred space), the rock inside the Dome of the Rock is said to be the rock on which Abraham set out to sacrifice his son, Isaac (the Muslims believe it was his other son, Ishmael), AND the same rock from which Mohammed set off for his Night Journey, from which he climbed a golden ladder to heaven. So pretty much everyone stakes a claim on that hunk of real estate, roughly the size of a football field.
Things remain very unsettled. The Jews essentially control, and protect, the Temple Mount and all religious sites, but it doesn't take much to set off trouble (there have been shootings, riots, etc., in the last few decades and I understand at this moment that, because of recent unrest, no male under 45 will be permitted on the Temple Mount...I easily clear that hurdle.)
Anyway, I also plan to go to Megiddo (aka "Armageddon"), the place identified in Revelations where the armies of good and evil will amass for the final battle at the end of the world, etc.
On about the 16th, I leave for Jordan. Chen will not be accompanying me there (he feels he's not welcome). Will fly El Al to Eilat, cross the border into Aqaba, and will make my way by jeep to Petra and spend the night in a bedouin tent in Wadi Rum. Or so they say.
No comments:
Post a Comment