Holy City Model, Museum, Bethlehem

Thursday, July 16. The first thing we visited was the Holyland Hotel that has an outdoor model of the Holy City at the time of Christ. This was one of the things I most wanted to see. It was most impressive and larger than what I had imagined. The whole city is laid out. There is a man employed full-time who goes around checking for loose stones and repairing whatever is needed. The model of the temple is right by the fence so it was easy to see and enjoy. We then drove through modern Jerusalem. All the buildings, new and old, must be built or faced with the same limestone so that there is an overall creamy look to the city. Very nice.
Our next stop was the Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem. We visited the children’s section. There were one and one-half million children who died during the holocaust. Out of doors in one area, there is a cluster of columns with the tops broken off showing that their lives were broken off. At the entrance to another memorial to children the top is covered with cement with rebar sticking out showing that their lives were still under construction. Inside it is dark with little pinpoints of light, supposedly 1,500,000. A record plays continuously naming each child, their age, and the town from which they came. It was most impressive. We also visited a building that had pictures of the holocaust, very depressing. There are long avenues of trees planted outside in memory of gentiles who helped the Jews during the war with their names on plaques.
We next went to the Israel Museum. Leon’s ankles were bothering him so he borrowed a pillow from our driver, Eddie, and took a nap in the back of the bus, while I visited the museum. It is very modern, clean and light. Next to it was the Shrine of the Book museum, which houses the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is built in the shape of the stopper of the clay jars in which the scrolls were found. It is white, and for some reason, water sprays on the outside. Inside, underground, is like the caves in which they were found. In the middle is a large replica of the handle of the rod that holds a scroll. It had a replica of the Elijah scroll on it. Around the walls of the room were sections of the actual scrolls. In areas we could not see they study the scrolls and preserve them.
We visited Bethlehem and went to another olive wood shop. There we were fed falafel, a pita bread filled with fried chickpeas or garbanzo beans and tomatoes and cucumbers. It was o.k. We went to the Church of the Nativity. The door was filled in centuries ago to keep the Turks from riding their horses into the building. One has to stoop low and step over a cement block to get in. There were many trappings inside, so many it was hard to imagine a simple manger. Down below in the church, besides the grotto of the nativity is a grotto where St. Jerome lived who translated the scriptures into the Latin of the people. It was quite dark in there; I could imagine how hard it would have been to write by candlelight. We sang Away In a Manger and Silent Night there. So many fancy buildings are built over presumed holy spots that it is hard to see what things might have looked like.
We next drove to Shepherd’s Field overlooking Bethlehem. It was quite dry but I have seen picture of it in other seasons and it can be quite green. We sang O Little Town of Bethlehem and The First Noel. It was quite hot. Bro. Nyman told us that whenever he brings BYU students there a shepherd usually comes along with his sheep. It was a very nice experience, with the area feeling like it would have been so long ago.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a diamond factory, NDC National Diamond Company. Our guide says that Israel is #1 in the cutting and polishing of diamonds, Belgium #2 and Holland #3, which surprised me as I thought Holland was #1. He said many old Jewish diamond cutters came there after surviving WW II and gave a boost to the industry. It was very interesting. We saw a lot of beautiful stones plus replicas of some famous ones.