Bethany, Mount of Temptation, St. George Monastery

October 8, 2011

Good morning!
Steve, Evelyn, and I look forward to another beautiful day of adventure and discovery, including a visit with orphans in Bethany; a visit to the house of Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus; an excursion to the monastery of the Temptation (via a cable car ride up the huge Mount; a view of the St. George monastery near Wadi Kelt; the site of the tomb of Moses at Nabi Musa, a holy site for Muslims; and other surprises A'be has in store!

First: breakfast! I've eaten way too much of the delicious Palestinian food. Although I thought I wouldn't eat much supper last night, I indeed ate a fair amount of tahini, eggplant, humus, etc., plus an main course of veal kebabs.

Then the discovery of the monastery of the Temptation after the cable car ride and then a steep walk to the entrance where we were welcomed.  The summit of the Mount is where Jesus spent forty days and forty nights fasting and meditating, while being tempted by Satan.

Hello,
It's evening now: we're relaxing after a full day. Hmm. What was the highlight of the day for me (Bev)? I'd have to say the visit to Jeel Al Amal, the orphanage and school in Bethany. We met a young boy (ca. 12 or 13) who was able to keep living there because he has a younger brother also in JAA; he guided us around the living quarters until the director could meet us after teaching a class and before beginning the next class. What an oasis for the orphans (currently ca 80), plus additional children who come there for school. The children sound happy and love their teachers, especially the director who himself was once a student in the school, later went to college, and then returned to teach at the school and then to be its director. He obviously loves the children -- teaches and respects them but also plays with them and gives the hugs. A beautiful place to visit. See http://headdlineslondonuk.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/jeel-al-amal/
 

Steve was impressed with the topography of the Judean desert and greatly appreciated being able to stop occasionally to view the desert from many perspectives, especially after experiencing the zigzag road down from the Jordanian mountains which A'be says are higher than the Judean hills on the Palestinian side of the Jordan river.

Nabi Musa

Bev appreciates A'be helping us stay oriented as we travel through and often crisscross Palestinian Territory, especially on our way to Nabi Musa, a Muslim holy site because of the tomb of Moses.

Cenotaph of tomb of Moses

A'be is passionate about his Palestinian heritage. Born in Kuwait. Had a Jordanian passport, and now has a Palestinian passport issued by the Palestinian Authority. He has a permit to guide in Palestine (of course) and also in Jerusalem. He has clients pilgrims to the Middle East visiting holy sites but not archeological sites.

Other notes about today:
- We visited the Tomb of Lazarus and the Greek Church of St. Lazarus, in Bethany (also called al-Eizariya).  See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Lazarus_%28al-Eizariya%29.

- We ate lunch at Beesan restaurant in Bethany. The usual very delicious Palestinian appetizers, this time followed by grilled chicken (1/2 for each of us). We three said we couldn't eat that much, but we did though feel very full now.
- A'be explained the difference between two types of Byzantine monastics: (1) lauras [low'ras] who are loner monks who each live alone in his own cave; (2) coenobiums which are monks living in communities or which are communities of monks living together.
- We ate some supper but were not very hungry. Bev ate some Palestinian appetizers, a bit of bread, and mushroom sauce (but not the chicken).

Food note for Oct. 8th:

-Tahini
-Humus
-Eggplant -> baba ganoush
-Middle eastern salad (chopped tomato, celery, garlic, with olive oil and lemon juice)
- Tabouli: Parsley finely chopped + bulghur wheat + olive oil + lemon juice
- Pita bread