Israel 2018 Day 6, 9July

Garden Tomb:

·       Considered by some Christians to be the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus.

·       Skull hill looks like a skull and was thought to be the Golgotha mentioned in the Bible. When they killed people they also throw skulls here.

·       Would Jesus have been crucified up the hill or down the hill? Probably down, because the Damascus gate was here. The Bible says Jesus was crucified outside the city walls. He would have been crucified where everyone can see him. Joseph and Nicodemus were the only people who could help Jesus. Pilates didn’t really want to crucify Jesus, but then people had to be loyal to Caesar.

·       Wine press floor belonging to Josephus

·       Jesus said he will be like Jonah, in the depths of the earth 3 days 3 nights

·       Our Jewish Garden Tour guide, Maureen: born in HK, her mother was an Iraqi Jew born in Shanghai. One day she was so upset she didn’t want to live. Suddenly she heard 4 words in her mind and heart: I died for you. She went to sleep, and when she got up the next day and the next few days, nothing changed but she changed.

The Holocaust Museum - Here are some notes I’ve taken in the museum:

·       1933 Hitler came to power.

·       Christianity was ambivalent toward Judaism from its inception, for rejecting Jesus as Messiah and blamed them collectively for his death.

·       WWI: Germany lost, so they thought Hitler could lead them to victory and worshipped him like a god.

·       Towards the 19th century, just as Jews received equal rights, and upon seeing the Jew’s economic achievements and participation in society, a new type of anti-Semitism appeared in Europe. Judah sounds similar to Jew/Jude, similar word roots, so people linked this up with the Judas who betrayed Jesus.

·       Nationalism: myth of “the Jewish Conspiracy” claiming Jews are engaged in a secret plot to take over the world. The seemingly “scientific” racist theory was propagated that defined the Jews as having negative and immutable biological traits.

·       Painting of Jews cooking up a Christian boy for Passover meal: people illiterate but understand pictures.

·       Nazi ideology saw the Jews as a race that throughout history deformed the “natural order” of the world. In contrast, the “Aryans” stood as a superior race destined to restore that order.

·       April 1, 1933 boycott, don’t buy from the Jews. First nationwide anti-Semitic action.

·       April 7, 1933 Jew not allowed civil service

·       Martin Niemoller: a German theologian and Lutheran pastor. He is best known for his opposition to the Nazi regime during the 1930s, and for a widely quoted statement which he made in different versions, one of which begins "First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out-because I was not a Communist," and concludes, "Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me."

·       Hitler became very powerful and neighbouring countries were afraid of letting Jews migrate. They cannot take their assets when they immigrate and got nothing to contribute to other countries.

·       Many tried America. St Louis ship: America didn’t want them. They returned to Germany and all died in the concentration camps. A world closed to the Jews.

·       The only place open to Jews was the Shanghai harbour , so even today Jews are very thankful to the Chinese. 何豐山 was a Chinese diplomat that helped many Jews.

·       On the eve of Nazi’s rise to power:

o   <1% Jews in Germany, why Hitler view them as such threat?

o   Poland 10.3% so Hitler was quick to take over Poland. Invasion of Poland sept 1 1939, marking beginning of WWII.

·       Hitler said he’s the saviour of Germany, and he is sent by God to judge the Jews.

·       Burning of synagogues.

·       April 1940 occupation of 6 countries in 1 year

·       Hitler built many ghettos in these countries, many died of disease and starvation there.

·       2000 Jewish converts to Christianity were put in Warsaw but they suffered similar fates to other Jews

·       The Wannsee conference January 20, 1942: Final solution to Europe’s problem: kill all the Jews, using the most efficient method possible: poisonous gas. They were tricked that they need to have a shower after such a long journey.

·       It was harder to kill British Jew because they were not on continental Europe.

·       The Jews were tattooed numbers and worn stripped prison clothes.

·       Israel restaurants: very few have meal orders organized by numbers. They call your names.

·       At the end of the war, many of the survivors had no family left and had poor health. They didn’t know what to do other than return to Israel.

·       70,000 migrated to Israel. They had to be farmers because doctors and lawyers don’t have jobs in the desert.

·       1948 solution to all these displaced people was decided by the new organization, UN: to create the state of Israel.

In the afternoon we went to Bethlehem (meaning=house of bread). Bethlehem used to be 50% Christian but is now only 10%.

Jerusalem cross: Centre cross=Jerusalem, Centre of Christianity. The other 4 cross 4 corners of the earth/ all sides of the world. It can also mean Jesus in the middle and 4 evangelists. Jesus was born in cave used as a staple, not the wooden European type. Although Jesus was a “carpenter”, the houses in those days were built with stones, so Jesus was working with stones and was not really a carpenter (might explain why Jesus uses so many "stone" analogies).

The Shepherd’s Field Church: This was where the angels told the shepherds the good news about the birth of the Messiah.

We went to a souvenir shop owned by Christian Arabs. I saw some shofars and blew them, but thought they were a bit expensive and didn’t buy them. My mom bought a second Jerusalem cross!

Church of Nativity: Bethlehem was where Jesus was born. Other events that happened in Bethlehem included: Rachel dying after giving birth to Benjamin (Genesis 35:19), and Ruth and Boas’ love story.