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Wayne Neubarth

Victoria 952-443-1910

Tom O’Connell, CPA

Income Tax Preparation. 952-474-6509

Bertas Funeral Home

Chaska * 952-448-2137

CORNERSTONE Insurance Agency

David Barsness * 952-448-5028

Sebenaler Chiropractic Center

Chaska * 952-448-9908

Christ Victorious Lutheran Church

Just south of Victoria * 952-443-2993

Custom New Homes

Victoria * 952-443-2740

“We spent a full day walking the Old City of Jerusalem,” he continued. “It was walled off in the 1600’s and built by the Ottoman Turks.

“In the Old City is the Via Dolorosa which is the Way of the Cross, the path where Jesus carried the cross to His crucifixion. Words can’t describe that experience of walking where Jesus walked and fell. It’s indescribable.

“We went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also in the Old City. That church was built where Christ was nailed to the cross. I touched the stone where Christ was laid after He was taken down from the cross. I purchased crosses for my family -- for my wife’s collection and a couple smaller ones for our kids -- and laid them on the tomb where Jesus was laid, before I packed them to bring home.

“The Western Wall is in the Old City. It’s also known as the Wailing Wall. It’s the last relic of the temple built by Herod the Great. We see it on television where people pray and place written prayers in the cracks of the Wall.

“The Dome of the Rock is a Muslim shrine in the Old City built directly over the site of the Holy of Holies of Solomon’s Temple. Many Moslems live in the Old City and are Israeli citizens. Much of the city is residential.”

Paul was fascinated by all of it. “All of Jerusalem, both old and new, is around 750,000 population. It is very small compared to other major cities or travel destinations. Jerusalem is small yet it has the third largest media presence in the world. This is because of the existence of the three largest religions in the world. When something happens in the streets of Jerusalem, everybody hears about it.”

In that regard, Paul referred to fist fights in the city just two days before he arrived. “When something like that happens anywhere else, it’s ignored,” he said.

Paul pointed out that the entire country of Israel is tiny. “It’s the size of the State of New Jersey. Bethlehem is only three to four miles to the south of Jerusalem. It’s amazing how close together all of these places are.”

Did they visit Bethlehem? “That city is controlled by the Palestinians,” he explained. “Our tour guide couldn’t go into Bethlehem because he is an Israeli so we didn’t either, but Americans can go there.”

Continued Paul, “We went to the section of Galilee where Jesus walked on the water. When you read or hear about the Sea of Galilee you envision this large expanse of water. It’s not that big.

“We stood where Jesus stood when He gave His sermon on the mount. We saw the ruins of Peter’s house. We drove to the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth, in elevation. Then we drove north along the Jordan River to the Golan Heights.”

Paul explained that the West Bank is so called because it lies along the west bank of the Jordan River. On the east side of that river is the country of Jordan. The Golan Heights is located in the northern part of Israel and borders on Syria and Lebanon.

“It’s very scenic in the north,” said Paul, “very picturesque.”

He said the group was guided to the north to get a better grip on the security situation. He spoke of the two terrorist groups that are so often in the news in the United States, and in the world. Hezbollah hangs out in Lebanon to the north of Israel, and Hamas operates out of Gaza to the south of Israel. With the contentious circumstances regarding ownership of the West Bank, Israel is surrounded by enemies and the Mediterranean Sea.

Said Paul, “People in Gaza are launching rockets and shooting them into Israel. You see a lot of people walking around with machine guns and women getting their purses checked at the door, but I never felt unsafe.”

While in Golan, the nine visitors stayed at a Kibbutz which, Paul explained, is sort of like a commune, a cooperative, primarily agricultural. “There was a guest house for us and we ate well,” said Paul. “There are a lot of similarities to American food except there’s no pork.”

***

In addition to being touched by the ancient sites of Jerusalem, Paul spoke in reverent tones of their visit to the Holocaust museum, called Yadvashem, which tells the history that is only decades old.

“It was very, very moving,” he stated. “The museum focuses on the survivors and their stories. For many years, and for many reasons, the Jews didn’t talk about the Holocaust, but finally they did. They had to talk about it because some of the stories were being lost and even unbelieved. The museum was redone in the last ten years. One of the major benefactors of that renovation was Ziggy Wilf, owner of the Minnesota Vikings.”

Said Paul, “The most difficult part of the museum for me was the Children’s Memorial. There were 1.5 million young people killed during the Holocaust. In the Children’s Memorial it’s dark with lots of candlelights and mirrors reflecting those lights, and all you hear is the sound of a woman’s voice reading the names of the children who died, and their ages. It was so disturbing, so awful to me that it brought tears to my eyes.”

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