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[nathan-apexart-blog]

Nathan Catlin in Jerusalem day 22

I learned today that Jesus was born in a cave and the whole barn idea was made up by Europeans cause it looks nicer. The manger was also a cave, the same cave actually, just about 5 feet away. I mean all this also requires that you believe in Jesus and the stories of his birth, if not it's just an overly ornate cave under a church. I spend the first half of my day in Bethlehem, just five miles from the center of Jerusalem but separated by wall made of concrete. You need a passport to visit since it's in the West Bank and Israelis are not allowed to go there. A town once full of christians, many or most Arab, has now been mostly abandoned by them as the wall and conflict keep tourism to a minimum and since Israelis can no longer visit they don't get income from there either. Now the Christian population is around ten percent, if I remember correctly, something slightly insane seeing as it's the birthplace of Jesus Christ and there are churches all around. Our driver who was Arab was able to drive us across the boarder where we picked up our tour guide. My guess is that is much easier for the tour guide to wait on the Palestinian side then try to get a permit to come into Israel. Someone on our tour asked him about Ramadan and the traditions. He said he didn't quite know everything because he's not Muslim. A common misconception among people, the idea that an Arab person in the Middle East must be Muslim. When we entered the church of the nativity the dress code requires no hats and shorts must be below the knees. My shorts almost didn't make the cut as I had to unroll the cuffs and sag. Damn me and my love of short shorts! They still hold mass in the cave so we had to wait until it was done. As the crowds formed at the mouth of the cave we were told to back up so they can sweeps the steps before we went it. I feel like this was a test patience as people around me started to quietly complain to each other about how long it was taking. Part of me loves that. We are standing on the supposed birth place of the lord and people can't handle five minutes, in a beautiful church, cause they have things to do. After that we visited where Mary supposedly took shelter with Joseph and lil baby Jesus on their way out of town. In this cave she supposedly dripped breast milk onto the stones turning them all white and instilling in the stones the magic of fertility. Needless to say I've been wanted to get pregnant for a while so I licked the entire cave to ensure my uterus would be fertile. The guide then explained to me that it only works for women. I asked for my money back. On the way back, while waiting at the border to cross we got a closer look at the wall, the area covered in spray paint and images. It was what it was. I spent most of the day after that relaxing and waiting to go to Shabbat dinner with Tamar who has a studio at the artcube. We met in the same village I was in yesterday, Ein Carem, where I went to synagogue for the first time. It was brief since we spent a good amount of time talking, mostly about Judaism and history. Tamar's partner Minni (spelling could be off) is very religious and as so she keeps Shabbat, along with their child. A nice point to mention is that at synagogues the men and women pray separately and as so I was by myself on the men's side (Tamar, Minni, and child all on the woman's side). I felt a little out of place but a nice guy chatted with me, offered me a kippah (yamika in the US), and at the end asked if I had a home to eat Shabbat at. That is a really nice part of this community, they open their doors to new people on Shabbat so they have people to eat with. Tamar's place we beautiful, on the side of a valley with an amazing view. I learned so much about the Jewish culture, religion, and even language. It was like an endless supply of knowledge coming from them. The meal was delicious, conversation interesting, and company great. I had another wonderful Shabbat dinner with a lovely family.