hat a treat for my final activity in Jerusalem to attend a Catholic Mass in Arabic in the Byzantine Rite. I was looking for a sung Mass to attend before I departed the Holy Land when a Jesuit friend recommended this Greek Catholic Church of the Annunciation. It is arguably the most representative Byzantine church …
stroll into new areas of the Old City late on a Saturday afternoon rewards me; the smell of incense and spices wafts up from the skylight grates in the roof of the covered maze of Markets below. I take in ‘suburban’ backstreet activity in this 2,000 year-old setting; and somehow I end up by stumbling …
ast night I attended a Shabbat Service at the Reformed Synagogue, Kol HaNeshama, with a local friend. It was quite obvious from the singing and enthusiasm in a congregation of all ages that they really regarded Shabbat as a day of great joy eagerly awaited throughout the week when they set aside all weekday concerns …
walk alone in the extensive gardens of the King David hotel reflecting on the past three days of touring through a land that embodies stories that have been told to me from earliest childhood. In more recent times, it’s more about the search for peace and justice between Israel and Palestine that has my attention. …
n enticing smell of wild thyme assaults my nostrils as I walk down the new Mamilla Mall towards Jaffa Gate and approach the old walls of the Holy City. I wonder what the Crusaders would have smelled, over and above themselves, as they approached the Holy City hundreds of years ago? A more important quandry …