Day 6 Part 4

We eventually gather inside the main church and are instructed to go to a courtyard outside.  The outside light is dazzling and I reach for my sunglasses to keep from going blind.  In a group this size, nothing happens quickly.  So I wander around the courtyard while everyone shows up.

We are eventually led down another set of stone stairs and by the grates and locks looks like it is generally off limits.  

I have no idea what we are going to see but down I go.  Everything is very close, the sides of the stone steps going down are barely wider than my shoulders, the doorway into the rooms at the bottom of the stairs is very short. 

The ceiling inside does not allow me to stand up straight.  It unexpectedly is well lit.  It looks like and feels like a cave that has been chiseled out of solid stone.  

Each room has features like tables and sitting benches that were hewn from the stone and are integral to the space.  Indiana Jolie would not like that with no way to rearrange the furniture.

The cave begins to fill up with our group.  It is a bit claustrophobic as the air grows dense with all of us breathing in there.  The temperature goes up with all of us burning our recent lunch calories up in this cramped space. It is about as medieval feeling a place as I can ever imagine.

Our American guide, Dr. Wave Nunally begins to tell us about where we are.  It is in this very place that St. Jerome translated the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament into the Latin Vulgate!  

The very stone table that my hand is resting on is where he sat as he translated!  The stone benches are where he would have sat.  This was so unexpected I am experiencing this brush with antiquity with an incredulous mind.  All of the Bible history classes come crashing back and connecting with this place.  The idea that I am not just the general area, but the actual spot is a great surprise.  This amazes me.  No wonder the access  is limited.  I feel privileged to have been here.

We have a few minutes and I look about, trying to imagine what might be like to live your life in a place like this.  Who knows, maybe in its context these were pretty luxurious digs.  All of mankind should be grateful for the man who spent his years translating the Word of God for us to hold in our own hands the Bibles that we too often take for granted.  

We reemerge into the bright sun and I go for my sunglasses again.  We backtrack through the courtyard, down the block, turn left down the long block passing Stars and Bucks and half a dozen falafal shops.  The sidewalks remain crowded, the traffic still has to once again come to a stop to allow all of us to cross over to the mall where we parked the buses.

We are told that we are going to the "best" souvenir shop in Israel.  I am mildly interested, I am not the kind of person who needs a lot of trinkets to bring home and set on the shelf.  We don't travel very far and we are there.  It looks like an inner city pawn shop with an iron bar gate and wall in front of the shop.  It is unlocked for us and we all shuffle in.  We are asked to all assemble at the back of the shop for instructions.  

The proprietor tells us that the quality of their offerings are the finest.  He explains in much detail as to why they are the best.  For us, since we are the best of friends, a special discount today.  After 20 minutes, we are turned loose to make our selections.  I am interested.  A ram's horn shofar - $500 US.  Not interested any more.  An olive wood hand carved nativity scene, $1,000 US.  Not interested any more.  I am done looking around after 15 minutes, yet I am trapped in this shop.  Many in our group are filling a shopping bag with their choices.  They must have many empty shelves at home.  I wander around and around.  I can't leave.  I can't even get back on the bus since the locked door through which we entered is locked behind us.  This turns into a very long wait, so long that I begin reading the fine print on the miniature Greek Orthodox icons depicting the saints of the church.  I find a huge bin of replica coins of antiquity that strangely look like coins I was offered just earlier today by the pool of Siloam....

I see someone heading out the door of the shop.  I follow.  I am now a caged animal in a narrow space between the actual front of the shop and the iron grate locking cage that faces the street.  There is a space that is about 4 feet by 12 feet that I can pace back and forth.  There are a couple of Palestinian men smoking (lots of people smoke here) at one end of the cage.  Just on the other side of the cage are hawkers awaiting our exit from the shop with their wares.  I have really had enough of this, I could have been totally satisfied after visiting St. Jerome's digs, yet we are told we have much to see yet.  

I reenter the shop hoping that everyone is winding down and ready to check out.  Most people have enough for their own empty shelves and most of their relatives.  I guess they came ready to spend some money.  I am ready to leave.

The doors are unlocked for us.  I follow someone out the iron security gate and they are set upon by the hawkers.  I take this brief opening to squirt by and on to the bus where I hide for what seems like hours until it slowly starts to fill up with our fellow pilgrims.  A hawker follows someone on the bus breaking a taboo for which he is soundly rebuked and shooed off the bus by our American guides. 

It is not soon enough for me that we slowly pull away from the best gift shop in Israel.  We are on our way to the next interesting site....