Holy Land Trip, Day 7

Holocaust Museum

I've been to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. Jon's been to actual concentration camps in Poland. Now we have both been to the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. No matter how much you read, no matter how many places you visit, there is still room for more shock and horror. This isn't the type of place for taking pictures, so the one above is all I have. They are planting trees outside the museum in honor of those who risked their lives to help people escape during the Holocaust, and we found the plaque for Oskar Schindler. The children's section of this museum was breathtaking. I really cannot even describe it, other than to say you are in a dark room full of mirrors reflecting a candle and flame from floor to ceiling, representing all the lights of the children that we try to remember. Each known child victim's name and age is read aloud in succession. There were so many children murdered that the names we heard read will not be read again for 20 months.

The Garden Tomb

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is one possible sight of Golgotha and the tomb. The Garden Tomb is a much more peaceful possible sight for the same two places. It is the highlight of many trips to the Holy Land, and it is the favorite final stop. We had a worship service and communion here, at our last stop in Jerusalem.

Above is the beautiful garden it is today. Below is an ancient olive press, proof that it was a garden in the time of Jesus, as the Bible mentions.

"Golgotha," means, "the skull," in Aramaic. This rock mountain looks like a skull, giving another nod towards this being the real location.

This is a tomb that was discovered here in the 1860s, and the man who discovered it blocked part of it back up to protect it once he realized what he discovered.

Here is Jon inside the tomb, near the place Jesus' body may have been. The picture below shows it more clearly.

Here I am, entering the tomb.

A highlight of Jon's trip was getting to speak at the final worship service in the Garden of the Tomb. What an honor.