‘Nothing good ever comes out of Nazareth’
We arrive in Israel on a cold, stormy morning in Tel Aviv.
The Promised Land had promised us a mild Middle East winter, but on this day, the reality is a mix of turbulent waters in the Mediterranean Sea and whipping wind on land.
This is our welcome to the Holy Land, “where it all began,” they like to say.
And what exactly began here? Oh, where to start? God, the Bible, Abraham, Jesus Christ, the saints, Judaism, Christianity, holy texts that come alive all of a sudden, ruins from the ancient times… and stories.
Owners of Philippine travel agencies led by Destinations Unlimited CEO Crisel Medalla are traveling through the Holy Land of Israel and Jordan with Sar-El Tours
Two thousand years later — in the present world of conflict, bigotry and heartache — billions of people still believe that the greatest teacher who ever lived was raised in this backwater town. Because above and beyond the concept of religion is hope for redemption — and we all like to hold on to hope more than anything else.
and Conferences, one of Israel’s largest tour companies providing services for Catholic pilgrims and tourists, Christians, and business and government groups.
In the next couple of days, we would walk where Christ walked, visit the towns where he preached, the mountain where he delivered the most beautiful sermon in the Bible, go to the the dungeons where he was imprisoned, where he was crucified and where he was risen.
Sar-El owner and CEO Samuel Smadjia sums up a Holy Land tour with Sar-El, saying, “Our goal is to assist the Christian visitor to Israel to create and maintain ties with the ancient stones of the Bible and the timeless stories they tell. We want those traveling with us to conclude their visit with more than just souvenirs from another trip — but with having received a spiritual gift of a deeper understanding of the Scriptures and how God’s plan has unfolded, and continues to do so in history.”
Sar- El has had numerous Filipino Catholic groups through the years, some of which are led by tour guide Khalil Harouny, a jaunty Israeli Catholic who’s a mix of grandfather, teacher, and shepherd to his groups.
Though Sar-El specializes in Catholic pilgrimages and Christian evangelical groups, what they organized for us was an ideal mix of biblical, historical and cultural destinations in Israel and Jordan.
In short, it’s an itinerary for the superbelievers, the somewhat-believers, those who don’t believe in organized religion, and those trying to balance their own skepticism and faith — because beyond the Holy Land being the birthplace of the Bible and Christ, it’s a significant place of ancient and contemporary history. And of endless beauty.
“COME AND SEE”
After a day in Caesaria and Tel Aviv, we seem to be starting from the beginning again — in Nazareth, the town from where Mary and Joseph fled to Bethlehem to give birth to Jesus, and then returned to raise him here.
In those times, the people of Galilee often said, “Nothing good ever comes out of Nazareth.”
Daniel Rosenblum, our first of six tour guides through 11 days in the Holy Land, tells us that Nathanael, when he was told of the Messiah, said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” And Philip answered, “Come and see.”
Nazareth was a backwater village — how can the Messiah be a Nazarene even if it was prophesied?
And yet, 2,000 years later — in a world of conflict, bigotry and heartache — more than a billion people believe that the greatest teacher ever born was raised in Nazareth. Perhaps because above and beyond the concept of religion, it is here where hope for one’s redemption was born. Then and now, we all like to hold on to hope more than anything else.
Daniel takes us to the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Throughout the centuries, the Franciscans have protected the grotto that commemorates the site where the Virgin Mary lived.
It is a beautiful church with a gallery of Madonna and Child mosaics from around the world, including the Virgin of Guadalupe, patroness of Extramadura; the Virgin of Montserrat, patroness of Catalonia; and an Asian representation from Japan.
Roman Catholics believe this is the site where the Annunciation took place, when Mary was drawing water from a spring and the angel Gabriel told her she would give birth to the Messiah. Two churches during the Byzantine and Crusader periods were built over the ruins of what was believed to be the cave in which Mary lived, while the present church was constructed in 1969.
THE WAY TO GALILEE
There is a funny meme on the Internet of a grocery shelf with the sign “Water” but instead it’s bottles and bottles of wine and the sign “Jesus was here.”
The reference, of course, is the wedding at Cana, where the wine had run out, which would have resulted in “a scandal of huge proportion in those times,” Khalil Harouny would later say in Jerusalem.
Attributed as his first miracle, Jesus ordered the jars to be filled with water and when the servants drew from the jars and served it, the steward remarked that the groom had eschewed the tradition of serving the best wine first by serving it last.
Today, couples renew their vows at the Franciscan Wedding Church, as do the elderly Korean couples we witness in a smaller chapel. They are giggling as they walk down the aisle with their friends watching and a Catholic priest awaiting them at the altar.
Daniel says renewal of vows can be arranged in advance. In fact, my friend Joy Buensalido in Manila did just that a couple of years ago with her husband, and she says jokingly, “The real miracle was that he married me again!”
Like many stories in the Bible, the location of the Wedding Church in Galilee is still up for debate, but one artifact excavated is believed to be one of the six jars used in this almost premature miracle performed by Jesus, who said, “It is not my hour yet.” But who can say no to one’s mother? For me, no activity in this northern region of Israel merges biblical stories with contemporary history and geopolitical conflict than a boat cruise on the Sea of Galilee, the lowest freshwater lake in the world. From here you can see the Golan Heights, which border Syria and Lebanon, and parts of these are occupied by Israel and other parts by Syria.
“We’re stuck in a very bad neighborhood,” says Daniel dryly. “When God told Moses to bring us to Canada, he didn’t hear him right and he brought us to Cana.”
It was on these waters where, upon a storm, Christ rebuked his fearful disciples and asked them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Do I still have faith? It’s a question I often ask myself — and on a wooden boat drifting across the Sea of Galilee, it becomes an urgent one that I need to answer.
It is around these waters in Tiberias that Christ’s ministry was centered. Capernaum is on the northwestern shore where he fed the multitude, where his disciples said, “But we only have two fish and five loaves of bread,” and he said, “Bring them to me.”
On Mt. Beatitude where he gave his disciples the Eight Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. Daniel — as he did on Mt. Carmel and other churches — asks one of us in the group to read from the Bible.
Hearing these passages being read and seeing the Sea of Galilee on this bright day in the place where Christ stood 2,000 years ago, you think, maybe the meek will indeed inherit the earth, those who are pure in heart will see God, and those who mourn will be comforted.
JERUSALEM AND BETHLEHEM
There is a smell in Israel’s hotel rooms, especially in Jerusalem, that I cannot define. It’s not unpleasant, just different. It’s like a mixture of frankincense and myrrh, of rituals and long-forgotten Sunday mornings at Mass, and Catholic guilt.
Jerusalem is located in the Judean mountains and Khalil says that every time the Bible tells the story of Christ coming here, the journey is always referred as “going up to Jerusalem.”
I lose count of the number of churches we visit because there are over 50 in the Old City of Jerusalem alone, owned by various Christian denominations such as Roman Catholic, Armenian and Greek Orthodox.
Before we do Via Doloroso, we go to the Church of the Visitation, built to commemorate a pregnant Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. It’s like our Sta. Clara Church, a church for those wanting to conceive children.
The very first of this church was built by Helena of Constantinopole, mother of Constantine, and it was one of the many churches she built as she traveled from Rome to the Holy Land to seek the cross on which Christ was crucified.
The most important church for Christians in the Old City is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to be the site of Christ’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection, and thus it contains the last four or five stations of Via Doloroso.
It is my second time in Jerusalem and these two experiences that are seven years apart couldn’t be more different; I couldn’t be more different. In the summer, the crowds are very thick and the lines are endless with a minimum wait of an hour each to see the crypt of Christ, the Golgotha Altar where he was crucified, and the Stone of Anointing where he was anointed before burial.
Last month when we were there, it was still low season and not too many people were around. It’s the same experience at the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank. Built by Constantine and Helena over what was considered to be the cave where Jesus was born 2,000 years ago, it’s a much more spiritual experience without the crowds. You can stay a little longer to say a prayer in the manger or the cave below the church.
The site in Jerusalem that’s considered to be the most religious and important for Jews and Christians is Temple Mount on Mount Moriah, what’s believed to be the location of the binding of Isaac. Remember that story where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son on the altar? And then an angel stops him at the last minute, having proven his fear of God.
Some historians agree that the first temple here was built by King Solomon, and it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC; then another temple was re-
built and destroyed by the Romans.
Today, what stands there is the Muslim shrine Dome of the Rock, its dome roof covered with gold leaf donated by the late King Hussein of Jordan and decorated with beautiful blue mosaic tiles from Istanbul on the exterior walls.
THE CITY OF DAVID
Eran Solomon, or Brad Pitt as some members of the group call him, is our last guide on our last days in Jerusalem. To him, the Bible is as exciting as it is self-explanatory. He brings us to the City of David, from where we can see the Old City of Jerusalem, west of the Temple Mount.
“David,” he says, “was a man of contrasts. He was courageous in battle, but he could not conquer his own weaknesses.” His adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, Eran says, gets more mentions in the Bible than his conquest of Jerusalem.
It’s a fascinating experience standing on the ruins of what must have been the most beautiful sight in Jerusalem during King David’s time, and then look at the modern- day homes on the hills. We go down the excavated water tunnels and realize how advanced they were in their time — how amazing this city was with such limited tools to build it.
The topmost question on people’s minds about going to Israel, Jordan or Palestine is: “Is it safe?” The simple answer is yes. But what about the bombings they see in the news? It’s the same when people ask me about the Philippines. I always say, yes, it’s safe, and those are isolated incidents.
The reality is, everyone here wants peace. Many times, I hear both Jews and Muslims in Jerusalem saying simply, “We don’t want trouble in our land.”
Of all the tour guides and alternating Sar-El tour operators that accompany us in Israel, there is only one person who is with us throughout, bringing us to the border of Jordan and collecting us again for our last week in Jerusalem. It’s Firas Saleh, a Palestinian whose family moved to Jerusalem in the ’60s.
He describes Jerusalem as a city like no other. “When I am out with a group for days and then I come back from Tiberias or the Dead Sea, as soon as I drive up to Jerusalem — I get a different feeling. I can’t explain it, but every time, it feels so good coming back to Jerusalem.”
And on our last day in the city, Eran and Firas take us on the lookout to see Jerusalem for the last time. We are looking at the city from the south, the hills covered with houses and buildings of the same color and stone. It’s almost as if nothing has changed throughout the millennia.
But of course, everything has changed. Even we have, in just a few days.
For Israel and Jordan packages, call these travel agencies: Makati area — Bridges Travel, 750-3372 to 75, tryus@bridgestravel.com. Manila — Season’s Travel & Tours, 254-7307 to 09/ 502-3955, mdemesa@ seasonstravel.com.ph; Citimiles Tours & Travel, 353-6251, 523-2881, citimiles@ yahoo.com. Cainta — Express Miles Travel & Tours, 681-8488, 681-9299, 681-6483, 681-9912, emttpilgrim@yahoo.com.
Binondo — Travelview Inc., 256-0518, 313-6195, travelview_inc@yahoo.com; I Love Travel & Tours, 232-1366 to 67/ 242-7281, ilovetravelntours@yahoo.com; Filman Travel Center, Inc., 241-5509/ 2446077, frank@filmantravel.com. Quezon City — Mont Sant Tours and Travel, 0937374 2868, montsanttours@gmail.com.
Pampanga — Universal Access Travel and Tours, 0917- 6763608, 986- 4603, 045-4553959, markp.uasales@gmail.com, rolandoc.uasales@gmail.com. Bulacan — Esper Travel & Tours, 044-7699342, 09175676076, 0917-7078021, esperjewels@ gmail.com. Cebu: Sky Horizons Tours and Events, 0917-3117565, 0925-5121576, skyhorizon.gm@gmail.com; Global Link Travel & Tours, 032-2544539, 032-2544554, jyuteh@yahoo.com.
Express Miles Travel & Tours has departures for Holy Land pilgrimages on March 28 to April 8 with Fr. Rowan Luza, CMF; May 16 to 27 with Fr. Rey Legayada, OFM; and June 6 to 17 with Fr. Christopher Jeffrey Aytona, OP. Call 681-8488, 681-9299.
Destinations Unlimited is the marketing representative of Sar-El Tours in the Philippines ( 896-4811, www.destinatonsunli.com.)