BETHLEHEM: Checking in

Entering Bethlehem the first thing you see is the wall--imposing and grafitti covered-- it snakes around the area of Rachel's tomb. We were able to pass through the check point without incident and drove to the area of Shepherd' Fields--yes, the shepherds to whom the angels in the song spoke. We stopped at The Tent for lunch. It is a fun restaurant that accompanies eating with the option of water pipe smoking--aka hookah also known to the locals as "hubbly bubbly." It is right across the road from Boaz's field (think of the Biblical story of Ruth).

After a great lunch, we listened to Husam tell us the story of the area--which is his home. We looked out across the fields to see the wall again and also the settlements that keep encroaching more and more. He also told us of the many empty homes-- no longer lived in but held on to because to rent would be to risk losing them to tenants who might prove impossible to evict. There is a great deal of claiming rights to homes and property as well as demolition of houses by the government on the grounds that there was never a lawful permit to build. (We attended a demonstration on Friday afternoon-- a regular event at 3:00 pm in East Jerusalem for these last two years.)

Ismail, our extraordinary skillful bus driver, wound through the narrow streets of Bethlehem up close to the top of yet another hill where we all disembarked and climbed up Manger Street to the Church of the Nativity. On the way, we passed lots of stores including one of my favorites of the trip,
Stars and Bucks coffee shop--all green and white and familiar.

We waited in line to enter the Church of the Nativity, ironically a place of conflict among the five Christian groups who claim rights to different parts of the shrine. There can be no changes or improvements unless all 5 groups agree--and it is evident from the disrepair evident that there is here more conflict than agreement. Conflict and crowds--other constants in this holy land.

After stooping to enter the sanctuary, we could see the centuries old mosaics beneath a section of the existing floor.
Beautiful and intricate, the mosaics have not been touched for years. From the ceiling hang dim lights on whose fixtures glass balls that look for all the world like Christmas ornaments are hung.

Facing a very long line to go the chapek built on what is said to be the place where Jesus was born and where he lay in the manger, we took a detour into the Chapel of St Joseph--also located down winding stairs in a cavernous underground space.

The chapel itself was said to be the house that backed up to the stable. Its center was the site of an altar flanked by walls on which were written the O Antiphons-- taken from the Prophets and so much a part of the Advent Liturgy that calls for Emmanuel, the Root of Jesse, the Key of David, to hasten and come to the people who have waited so long.

Just off the chapel is a cave-like space where St Jerome is said to have spent most of his life translating the scriptures into Latin--the Vulgate text. The courtyard of the church has a very large statue of St Heironymus--aka Jerome.