Holy Land Journey 

Our last day of the Israel trip — I felt sorry to be leaving but looked forward to going home. We started the day with a tour of the Supreme Court of Israel and learned much about Jewish history.

7-branched Menorah

From there, we drove to Yad Vashem, the national museum and memorial to the holocaust. Quite a moving display. Outside of the museum, was a beautiful walkway called The Path of the Righteous. They planted trees to pay tribute to the Righteous Among the Nations who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. 

We then headed over to Bethlehem. Because it is now part of Palestine, our Israeli guide, Rafi, was not allowed to join us. Instead, a new Palestine guide boarded the bus after we drove through the checkpoint.

He took us to the Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity. It was very disappointing as we had to stand in line for a long time just to walk through the church and then down a stairwell to a small room where it was tradition that Jesus was born. It all seemed so much hype and commercialism.

Jesus’ Manger

The highlight of the day was a visit to the Garden Tomb. The beautiful gardens surrounded the traditional site that many believe was the actual garden of Joseph of Arimathea. It was striking. Our tour guide went over all the reasons that this place was most likely where Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. I was moved to tears once again. Here, we had a lovely ceremony and shared communion, followed by singing and group prayer. 

Inside the Garden Tomb

After the Garden Tomb, we returned back to our hotel for our last buffet dinner followed by a group meeting to talk about the significance of our journey. Our wakeup call was scheduled for 12:30 a.m. — a long journey home.

Highlights

At the museum of the holocaust, Mom and I had opportunity to walk along the Path of the Righteous. It was a wonderful surprise to find a tree planted in honour of Corrie Ten Boom.

On the Path of the Righteous

Along with the boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, the visit to the Garden Tomb was my all-time favourite experience. I marvelled at the size of the rock needed to cover the tomb entrance and found it very interesting the way that they rolled the rock.

The groove used to roll the stone

The tomb stone

That concludes my blog on my journey to the Holy Land. I would encourage you to start saving your money to take the pilgrimage. You won’t be disappointed!