Christian tours of Israel

PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

Hundreds of Christian leaders in British Columbia and Alberta were treated to a visit by one of Israel's top archeologists last week, in a series of events that could provide a massive benefit to Israel's struggling tourism sector.

Dr. Daniel Bahat, a former chief archeologist of Jerusalem who worked for Israel's national antiquities department and who now lectures at Bar-Ilan University, figuratively walked Christian clergy members along the footsteps of Jesus. But he acknowledged that tradition and historical fact sometimes collide, and it is left to archeologists like himself to mediate fact and fiction.

The problem, Bahat explained to 195 Christians, many of them ministers, over dinner at a hotel in Surrey last week, is that contemporary Jerusalem was effectively built on top of ancient Jerusalem. With the Temple Mount as a constant, the city changed dramatically after the Roman invasions, the advent of Islam and centuries of imperial domination. So, Bahat said, when Christians walk the Via Dolorosa, the path along which Jesus is said to have borne the cross to his crucifixion, they follow the path of centuries of pilgrims, but no one is quite sure whether Jesus actually walked the exact route. The physical realities of the city had changed so much from the time of Jesus until pilgrims began tracing the route, about 600 years later, that tradition, rather than known fact, dictates the destination.

Though the path of Jesus may be lost to history, it may yet be rediscovered, Bahat said.

"The only possibility to learn about the city at the time of Christ is in the hands of archeologists," Bahat said, outlining some of the excavations, especially around the Temple Mount, where he and his peers have unearthed the very slabs of stone Jesus must have walked on.

"Most of the activities of Jesus in Jerusalem took place around the Temple Mount," said Bahat.

Even the last century's discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls did not shine as much new light on ancient Jerusalem as archeology does, he said.

"It was quite disappointing," Bahat said of the scrolls' value to his profession. However, the immutable fact, he told his Christian audience, is that the steps of the ancient Temple and the immediate surroundings of the Temple Mount have remained unchanged since the time of Jesus.

"Jesus walked on the same pavement slabs as you walk on today," said Bahat.

The event was part of a series in which representatives of the Israeli Government Tourist Office travelled to Edmonton, Calgary, Kelowna, Victoria and Surrey to spark interest among clergy and other Christians to bring group tours to the Holy Land to explore their spiritual history. Since 2000, when Arab violence re-erupted, a collapse in tourism has gored the Israeli economy. One of the few sources of continued tourism to Israel has been North American and European Christians.

Several in the room had already been to Israel and offered glowing, emotional tributes to the experience of visiting the heart of Christianity's history, including the places where tradition says Jesus was born, sermonized, died and was resurrected.

A clergyman who has visited Israel 12 times said being in Israel is a remarkable experience for a Christian.

"The prophesy really is true, the desert has been made to bloom like a rose," said one, while others flipped the pages of travel brochures replete with pictures of Christian pilgrimage sites.

Neal Chark, a travel tour operator who organizes group tours to Israel, urged the audience to make the trip.

"Please make it this year in Jerusalem," he said.

Pat Johnson is a native Vancouverite, a journalist and commentator.

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