Eye on the Cure

Israel was always on my bucket list, and despite losing my luggage and my computer going into a coma, it was indeed the trip of a lifetime. To be in a place of such history was magnificent. I saw the church where Jesus was entombed. I stood atop Masada, where nearly 1,000 Jewish rebels committed suicide to avoid slaughter by the Romans. And I visited the Wailing Wall, one of the most sacred sites for the Jewish people. Because my family straddles religious lines — some of us have Jewish heritage, some do not — I felt connected on multiple levels.

Thankfully, I was able to achieve the minor miracle of reviving my computer, so I didn’t lose any of the many photos I took during the trip. I hope you enjoy this sampling.

Several men pray at the Western (Wailing) Wall. A remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple‘s courtyard, it is one of the most sacred sites in Judaism.

A man blows a ram’s horn, known as a shofar, near the Wailing Wall. It is typically used to announce Jewish holidays … or that the matzoh ball soup’s on.

In Israel, the bagels aren’t just good — they’re holy.

A street market in Jerusalem. Great dates, figs, nuts and other delicacies.

Light shines through the domed roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection. This church is where Jesus is entombed.

Entry to the Tomb of Jesus at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There’s no picture-taking allowed inside, but if you look closely, behind the stone vessel that holds the holy water, you can see the room that contains Jesus’ tomb.

Known as the Stone of Anointing, this is the stone upon which it is said Jesus’ body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea after his crucifixion.

Masada is the site of ancient palaces and fortifications built by Herod the Great in the Southern District of Israel, atop an isolated rock plateau on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea. Masada is best known for the violence that occurred there in the first century CE. In the final accords of the First Jewish–Roman War, the Siege of Masada by troops of the Roman Empire led to the mass suicide of the Sicarii rebels.

These are the walls of the grain storage rooms at Masada. When the Jews committed mass suicide, they left these rooms full of grain (and the cisterns full of water) to show the Roman troops that they didn’t commit suicide due to lack of food and water.

Qumran is an archaeological site in the West Bank. It is located on a dry plateau about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. Many scholars believe the location to have been home to a Jewish sect, the Essenes, who were dedicated to writing the Jewish Bible and history. The cave pictured is where the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls, written by the Essenes, were found.