Bethlehem

Bethlehem - ancient city, modern cars. 

Yesterday I went to Bethlelem in the West Bank, about 10 km south of Jerusalem.  We had just finished our tour of Jerusalem. and Bethlehem was the next stop.  But Bethlehem is now under Palestinian control, and you are required to pass through a check point to enter the town.  Just after we crossed the border, Hezi, our guide, parked the mini-bus and everyone onboard switched over to two local minivans, driven by local drivers.  As my seatmate Hector said, it felt like we were in a spy movie.  I admit I was nervous, though tour groups visit all the time without incident.     

As we drove through the narrow winding streets of Bethlehem, I thought to myself that it looked a lot like Jerusalem, with its ubiquitous golden limestone.   It looked clean and prosperous.  (Frankly, I didn't know what to expect.  Rubble perhaps? Hezi said this city is well maintained, in consideration of the tourists.)  Unlike Jerusalem, where Jerusalem stone is the mandated building material, Bethlehem uses the stone because it is the most accessible and cheapest building material.

Christmas decorations were still up, even though it was late January, including a massive (fake) tree that seemed to rival the one at Rockefeller Center in size.  Ironically, and very sadly, the population of Christians in Bethlehem is down to 18-20% of the entire population of about 25,000.  I say sadly, because most Christians have left due to persecution.  They once made up 98% of the population.  Ironically, Bethlehem's main industry is tourism.  It makes no economic sense to me to drive out the Christian population, and certainly no moral sense.  Hezi, our tour guide, says it is important for foreigners to visit Bethlehem to support the remaining Christians.

Aramaic alphabet.  Source: https://www.omniglot.com/writing/aramaic.htm

Our tour guide in Bethlehem, Abdul, was one of those Christians.  Abdul was born in Bethlehem and is an Aramaic Christian.  Aramaic was the language of Jesus, one of the ancient Canaanite languages spoken in Judea, along with Hebrew and Greek.  Abdul told me that only about 5,000 people still speak this language, and it is a dying language.  The Christian services he attends are conducted in both Arabic and Aramaic, so all attendees can understand the services. Abdul is also multilingual.  In addition to his native tongue of Aramaic, he also speaks Hebrew, Arabic, English and German.  That last language came in handy, as half of our tour group was German, so Abdul spoke first in English, then repeated himself in German.

See that small door in the center?  That's the Door of Humility.

Abdul met us outside the sacred Church of Nativity.  This is the oldest church in continuous use in the world.  The church rests on the spot identified around 160 A.D. as Christ's birthplace, and the Roman emperor Constantine ordered a church built on the site in 326.  As we were soon to see, apart from the mosaic floor and some of the limestone column, the original church has been continously transformed over the centuries. 

We entered the church through the "Door of Humility."  Even I had to stoop, the entrance was so small.  Originally shortened to prevent men on horseback from ransacking the church, the size of the entrance has taken on a spiritual meaning.

Abdul, our guide, points to the mosaic floors of the original 4th Century church.
They sit under the current floor, their existence only discovered after an earthquake. 

Once inside, we looked up to a wooden ceiling that is 900 years old, and looked down through trap doors at the original mosaic flooring from the 4th Century, over 1,600 years old.  Conservators from Italy sat on scaffolding restoring painting on limestone columns dating from the Crusader period.
At the end of the nave, monks sang hymns.

An Italian conservator is restoring the 12th Century painting on the column

Greek Orthodox section of the church.  At the podium a monk was singing. 

Abdul said we were in luck that day, because the church was relatively quiet, and we would be able to visit the Grotto of the Nativity, the focal point of the church. To do so, you descend a narrow staircase to what looks like an ornately decorated fireplace  (but this one has a monk seated next to it), and on the floor of the fireplace is a large silver star.  Abdul told us each point of the star represents the ancestors of Jesus, beginning with Abraham.  A line of devout Christians kneeled at the star, which marks the exact location of Christ's birth, and kissed it, while around  them swirled the perfume of incense.

The silver star marks the location of Christ's birth

We exited throught the cloister of St. Catherine's Church,  a peaceful courtyard filled with orange trees.  It was here that Abdul sang the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic for us, a unique and special moment in our harried tour.