Journey to The Middle East - Shalom Jerusalem

The Holy City
"I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD"~Psalms 122:1

Israel sendiri sebagian wilayahnya adalah milik Palestina, kedua negara ini memang memperebutkan wilayah yang sama. Jerusalem sebagian dikuasai Israel dan sebagian dikuasai Palestina. Orang - orang berpakaian sipil atau berpakaian militer bawa senjata jadi pemandangan yang biasa terutama di daerah perbatasan antara kedua negara tersebut. Pindah - pindah antar perbatasan sendiri untuk turis tidak terlalu masalah, hanya sesekali kami diminta siapkan passport untuk pemeriksaan.

Jerusalem menjadi kota kudus bagi banyak agama dalam 4 kategori besar, Yahudi, Islam, Kristen, Katolik. Di sana tempat dahulu raja Salomo mendirikan bait Allah. Dimana di ruang maha kudus tersimpan tabut perjanjian (the ark of the covenant). Bait Allah Salomo tersebut sudah dihancurkan dan sempat dibangun lagi pada masa Herodes. Di tour ini kami juga mengunjungi The Wailing Wall, satu2 nya bagian dari Bait Allah yang masih berdiri, dan ada museum yang membawa kami masuk ke dalam sisa reruntuhan Bait Allah tersebut. Tempat ini jauh lebih luar biasa dari yang saya bayangkan sebelumnya, tembok2nya dibangun dari batu2 yang kurang lebih sama besarnya seperti pyramid, dan sistem pengairan (aquaduct) di dalam reruntuhan tersebut yang dibangun untuk menampung air (curah hujan sangat terbatas di sana) supaya cukup untuk pembasuhan (pada masa itu korban sembelihan dilakukan tiap hari) adalah luar biasa.

The Golden Gate, Salah satu dari 12 pintu gerbang Bait Allah

"Bait Allah, Bait Suci, atau Kenisah adalah sebutan untuk pusat peribadahan Yahudi di Yerusalem kuno, di Bukit Bait Suci. Dalam bahasa Ibrani, tempat ini disebut Bait Suci (Beit HaMikdash בית המקדש). Bangunan ini digunakan untuk beribadah dan mempunyai fungsi utama untuk mempersembahkan kurban korbanot. Selama beberapa abad tempat ini menjadi pusat ibadah agama Yahudi. Menurut Kitab Suci Ibrani (Perjanjian Lama), Bait Allah ini dibangun oleh Salomo untuk menggantikan Kemah Suci yang dibangun Musa." ~wiki

Bait Allah ini terdapat pelataran, ruang suci dan ruang maha suci, sebagai bangunan yang pertama kali dibangun oleh raja Salomo untuk menggantikan kemah tempat Musa

"The cloud of the LORD hovered over the Tabernacle during the day, and at night fire glowed inside the cloud so the whole family of Israel could see it. This continued throughout all their journeys." Exodus 48: 38

Pada jamannya, di ruang maha suci dari Bait Allah Yerusalem tersebut adalah tempat disimpannya tabut perjanjian (The Ark of Covenant). Ark of Covenant ini pada masa sekarang menjadi salah satu barang arkeologi yang sangat berharga, sering disebut-sebut di game atau film, salah satunya adalah film Indiana Jones sebagai the lost treasure.

""The tabernacle of meeting, the ark of the Testimony and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furniture of the tabernacle; the table and its utensils, the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the laver and its base; the garments of ministry, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests, and the anointing oil and sweet incense for the holy place. According to all that I have commanded you they shall do." Exodus 31:1-11

Pemandangan dari salah satu sudut Yerusalem

Journey to The Middle East - The Story of Jesus

The Birth of Jesus
" So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2.

Hari keenam dalam tour tersebut kami mengunjungi Betlehem. I really love this place, kotanya kecil, agak sepi dan karena kita mulai tournya pagi jadi toko-toko masih banyak yang belum buka. Di Betlehem ada 2 gereja yang kami kunjungi, gereja Padang Gembala dan Church of Nativity.

Sebelum mampir ke gereja ini, kami mampir dulu ke toko souvenir, barang - barang yang dijual seputar gantungan kunci, magnet kulkas, perhiasan (mulai dari imitasi sampai emas), ukiran - ukiran dari kayu ara, kaos2, dsb. Semua barang dihargai USD, magnet kulkas +/-3-4 USD, kalung2 imitasi +/- 20 - 40 USD. Hehehe, konversi ke rupiah sih lumayan yah :D bagi yang kekurangan bawa cash, kartu kredit visa, master berlaku kok di sini.. billingnya juga dari dollar.

"All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”)." Mat 1:22-23

Gereja yang berikutnya kami datangi adalah Church of Nativity, gereja ini keren banget soalnya terletak di pinggir pantai, gerejanya dari batu (like most of other buildings there), bentuk gerejanya seperti benteng, dan di belakang gereja langsung danau galilea, jadi seperti pantai (bukan laut).

The Ministry
Yesus memulai pelayanannya dengan mujizat di Kana, di sana kami mengadakan kebaktian penguatan janji nikah untuk peserta tour yang sudah menikah. Anggur Kana salah satu souvenir yang bisa dibeli, terutama untuk peserta yang memang suka mengkonsumsi alkohol, kami (my sister and i) cuma beli botol kecil aja, USD 7 kalo ga salah harganya, buat sekedar coba.
Tempat pelayanan Yesus yang lain adalah Kapernaum dan Betesda, tempatnya masih seputar danau Galilea.

Kolam Betesda

Kapernaum

The Famous Story - Walking on Water
Dari sana kita menuju ke Tabgha tempat Yesus menggandakan 5 roti dan 2 ikan untuk memberi makan 5 ribu orang. Di sana ada museum, "Man in the Galilee", kami tidak explore lebih jauh museumnya tapi museum ini menuju dermaga ke danau Galilea, di sana kita bisa naik kapal yang konon replika kapal yang dinaiki oleh murid2 Yesus dimana mereka melihat Yesus berjalan diatas air. Galilea memiliki beberapa nama lain seperti Tiberias, Genesaret, Kineret, keempat nama ini menyebut danau yang sama, satu - satunya danau di Israel.

Danau Galilea

Dari sana, kita menuju Gunung Tabor, kali ini ga perlu naik unta, cukup pindah dari bus ke mobil kecil aja :D Gunung Tabor waktu kita ke sana (winter) keren banget... kabut tebal sekali jadi buat pemandangannya luar biasa. Dalam perjalanan ke puncak gunung, kita bisa lihat lembah Armagedon.

"Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!.."Rev 16:16-17

Mt. Tabor

Journey to The Middle East - The Promised Land

Canaan
"It is a land of wheat and barley; of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey." Deut 8:8

Setelah satu malam menginap di Nuweiba, tur group kami berangkat pagi - pagi menuju perbatasan Mesir - Israel di paling selatan Israel ,Taba Border. Sayangnya tidak boleh ada foto samasekali setiap kali kami melewati perbatasan atau daerah militer, jadi tidak ada dokumentasi samasekali seperti apa perbatasan di sana. Perbatasannya sendiri adalah perbatasan darat, jadi ada satu kantor imigrasi untuk keluar dari Mesir, kemudian dengan berjalan kaki sejauh kurang lebih 200 meter ada satu kantor imigrasi lagi untuk masuk ke Israel.

Beberapa orang bilang kalau masuk ke Israel tidak mudah, bahkan ada beberapa group yang bahkan tidak bisa masuk ke Israel, tetapi pagi itu group kami cukup beruntung karena kami masuk Israel dengan cukup mudah, hanya beberapa hal kecil saja seperti salah satu anggota group yang diharusnya membuka bagasi dan karena panik, somehow tidak dapat menemukan kunci kopernya jadi harus dibuka paksa, tour leader kami yang harus masuk ruang pemeriksaan :D tapi overall lancar :) sekitar 2 jam di migrasi seluruh anggota tour sudah dapat cap imigrasi dan masuk ke Israel. Suasana yang sangat berbeda dari yang tadinya padang pasir sepanjang jalan, masuk ke Israel yang tetap padang pasir tetapi dengan bantuan teknologi sudah mulai menjadi lahan pertanian dan peternakan. Dari Taba perjalanan dilanjutkan dengan bus, menuju Eliat menyusur timur Israel ke Utara menuju Jerusalem.

Perkebunan Jeruk (di padang pasir..)

Peternakan Sapi (juga di padang pasir)

Delima (Pomegranates)

Waktu kita ke sana lagi musim delima, mantap bener, di peras jadi juice, 2 USD segelas. Btw karena di sana tourism jadi salah satu pendapatan yang cukup tinggi, USD jadi mata uang yang diterima umum, mulai dari toilet sampe beli makanan bisa dihargai dengan USD (dari jakarta kita sudah siap2 pecahan USD 1).

Jalur cerita Musa selanjutnya adalah Mount Nebo, dimana Musa melihat tanah Canaan dari kejauhan. Mt. Nebo saat ini ada di wilayah Yordania (berbatasan di bagian timur Israel). Kami mengunjungi Mt. Nebo ini di dua hari terakhir perjalanan kami. Dari Israel menuju ke Amman-Yordania melalui King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge Border Crossing.

Mt. Nebo cukup cerah waktu kemarin kami datang, sayangnya karena winter, site ini tutup jam 4. Sedangkan kami sampai di sana sudah jam 3:30 hehehe, jadilah judulnya cuma selayang pandang aja. Sempat lihat semacam museum yang menyimpan batu - batu dan mozaik2 (I didn't really pay attention itu batu2 apa hahahaha, sibuk foto2 soalnya :p) kemudian ada tongkat Musa dari atas gunung Nebo dimana Musa memandangi tanah perjanjian.

Mt. Nebo

Journey to The Middle East - Exodus

The Red Sea Crossing

Perjalanan dilanjutkan dengan bus menuju Nuweiba, dimana setelah keluar dari tanah Mesir, Musa membawa bangsa Israel menyebrangi laut merah Teberau). Kami menginap satu malam di Elaria, salah satu hotel di Nuweiba. Pemandangan di Nuweiba luar biasa karena di belakang hotel langsung pantai laut merah, dimana di sebrang laut adalah Arab Saudi. Pemandangan pantainya beda dengan pantai - pantai yang pernah saya datangi, terutama juga udaranya, karena masih terpengaruh dengan winter dari benua Eropa, air lautnya dingin, tetapi matahari tetap terik luar biasa. Lautnya seperti danau karena kalau biasanya pemandangan laut adalah horizon, pemandangan laut merah ini adalah gunung - gunung batu.

Nuweiba
Nuweiba dalah kota di tepi pantai laut merah, masih dalam wilayah Mesir, di sana Musa membawa bangsa Israel keluar dari tanah Mesir menuju tanah perjanjian.

Exodus Route (source: http://www.arkdiscovery.com)

Chariot wheels fixed to axels standing at attention on the seabed (source: http://www.arkdiscovery.com)

Tour group kami sore itu acara bebas. Saya ambil waktu untuk foto - foto daerah sekitar laut merah sebelum sore. Sore hari di sana memang tanah terlihat lebih kemerahan dari sinar matahari. What a great view!.

To the Promised Land
Buat tour group kami, hari ini adalah hari terakhir di Mesir, selanjutnya kami akan menuju Taba border untuk menuju tanah perjanjian :D
Tapi untuk bangsa Israel pada masa itu, melewati laut Teberau adalah permulaan dari 40 tahun di padang gurun, tempat-tempat yang kami lewati hari sebelumnya.

Sumur di Mara (air yang pahit menjadi bisa diminum Exodus 15:22-27)

Pemandangan Sepanjang Perjalanan di Gurun Sinai

Journey to The Middle East - The Trail of Moses

Homeland of Moses
My pilgrimage journey starts with the story of Moses born in Egypt. The place where Moses born now has become a sinagoga (a place for praying) called Ben Ezra synagog. But because by the time I got there it is already 4 pm and December is winter time, office hour ends at 4 pm and so does all tourism sites, so we didn't had the chance to go and see the synagog, we only took pictures of the way to the synagog to remember the ambiance there. Honestly, for me there was nothing much to see there :D

We ended the day by night cruise at Nile river and dinner at the vessel. Nile river makes the surrounding land becomes very fertile, especially because most of Egypt land is dessert, there is only very small debit of rain each year, river is the source of water. Most of people activities related with water, especially back at Moses' times where agriculture is the main livelihood. That is the reason why Nile river is so famous, it is the source of life.

We started the next day a little early, wake up at 5am, breakfast at 6am and leave the hotel to continue our journey at 7 because of winter time. The first site to visit the the great Pyramid of Giza.

Giza Pyramid

Pyramid is AMAZING!! Each stone's height is more or less like of me, the size of pyramid itself vary, the biggest is Giza, it can stand for more than 5000 years, in the middle of nowhere (the source of the stone for sure not the dessert, they must bring it from somewhere up in the mountain) and there are 100+ pyramids all over Egypt.

"It is believed the pyramid was built as a tomb for fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu and constructed over a 20-year period concluding around 2560 BC. Initially at 146.5 metres (480.6 ft), the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years, the longest period of time ever held for such a record. Originally, the Great Pyramid was covered by casing stones that formed a smooth outer surface; what is seen today is the underlying core structure. Some of the casing stones that once covered the structure can still be seen around the base." ~wiki

"The Great Pyramid at Giza was originally about 146 meters tall, but it has lost about 10 meters in height over the millennia. The base of the Great Pyramid is about 55,000 meters." ~ About.Com

"The original entrance to the Great Pyramid is 17 metres (56 ft) vertically above ground level and 7.29 metres (23.9 ft) east of the center line of the pyramid. From this original entrance there is a Descending Passage .96 metres (3.1 ft) high and 1.04 metres (3.4 ft) wide which goes down at an angle of 26° 31'23" through the masonry of the pyramid and then into the bedrock beneath it. After 105.23 metres (345.2 ft) the passage becomes level and continues for an additional 8.84 metres (29.0 ft) to the lower Chamber, which appears not to have been finished. There is a continuation of the horizontal passage in the south wall of the lower chamber; there is also a pit dug in the floor of the chamber. Some Egyptologists suggest this Lower Chamber was intended to be the original burial chamber, but that King Khufu later changed his mind and wanted it to be higher up in the pyramid

At 28.2 metres (93 ft) from the entrance is a square hole in the roof of the Descending Passage. Originally concealed with a slab of stone, this is the beginning of the Ascending Passage. The Ascending Passage is 39.3 metres (129 ft) long, as wide and high as the Descending Passage and slopes up at almost precisely the same angle. The lower end of the Ascending Passage is closed by three huge blocks of granite, each about 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long. At the start of the Grand Gallery on the right-hand side there is a hole cut in the wall (and now blocked by chicken wire). This is the start of a vertical shaft which follows an irregular path through the masonry of the pyramid to join the Descending Passage. Also at the start of the Grand Gallery there is a Horizontal Passage leading to the "Queen's Chamber". The passage is 1.1m (3'8") high for most of its length, but near the chamber there is a step in the floor, after which the passage is 1.73 metres (5.7 ft) high"
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza

After visiting the great pyramid of Giza, we went to a Papyrus Gallery nearby to see a short demonstration of how the ancient Egypt created paper from papyrus. The person who gave us the demo also told stories of replica of image found in some temples in Egypt. One of the story that quite interesting is about the weighting of the heart, it was told that when a man died, his soul will be judge by 7 Egyptians and 7 non-Egyptians, after that Anubis will bring him for final judgment by weighting his heart with a feather, if his heart if lighter than feather then that man will enter heaven.

Story Weighting of The Heart

Pyramids and stories related to it show a lot of things, few things among many others are: How rich Egypt was at Moses time (if you are not rich for sure cannot build such thing) and how they believe in gods.

The Calling
Moses was the prince of Egypt, he gave that away and chose to be with his people even before he got the calling from God. (Exodus 2). Then Moses moved to the land of Midian and God came to him there.
"1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴ When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. " (Exodus 3)

"And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. (Exodus 3)"

Journey to The Middle East - Preliminary

The Journey Begin

Perjalanan kali ini kita putuskan buat beli paket tur, sedikit beda dari cara traveling kami yang biasanya. Perjalanan dimulai dengan berkumpul di bandara Sukarno-Hatta tanggal 29 November 2010 jam 21:00 untuk penerbangan jam 23:00 dengan Kuwait Airways ke Cairo dengan transit di Kuwait City.Total jam terbang dari Jakarta (GMT+7) ke Cairo (GMT+2) ditempuh dalam waktu 14 jam hehehe, mayan panjang yah...

Plus waktu untuk singgah di Kuala Lumpur buat ganti kru dan transit di Kuwait 6 jam, dan setelah melewati 4x makan di pesawat :D (Jakarta take off - makan, Kuala Lumpur take off - makan, malem2 lagi enak2 nya tidur dibangunin - buat makan, pagi-pagi sampe di Kuwait sebelum landing - makan, dari Kuwait ke Cairo, makan lagi hehehehe) akhirnya keesokan harinya, tanggal 30 Nov jam 14:00 waktu setempat sampai juga kita di Cairo :)

Cairo
Di pesawat menuju Cairo dari jendela pesawat tampak pemandangan yang memang berbeda, padang pasir, bangunan-bangunan yang kelihatan kotak-kotak, plus udaranya berkabut karena memang sedang winter. Cairo ibukota Mesir adalah kota dengan kepadatan yang ga beda jauh dengan Jakarta, di sana macet juga, cuma yang menarik nyetirnya pada asal, parah deh.. main puter dimana-mana. Supir bus kita juga sama aja, udah bus nya kapasitas 52 (padahal kita cuma 19 orang) hehehe, bisa aja masuk jalan sempit - sempit yang kalau di jakarta udah diteriakin orang kampung kali :D
Diceritain sama tour guide nya, salah satu kebiasaan orang - orang di negara Arab, mereka suka banget jalan - jalan kalo malam. Mungkin karena udara juga kali ya, kalau siang kan panas banget, jadi semakin malam di Cairo ini semakin macet, di jalan mobil - mobil makin rame, cuma indahnya, sepeda motor ga sebanyak di Jakarta, jadi berkuranglah satu masalah hehehe (yang naek motor jangan tersinggung yah).

Kendaraan umum di Cairo sepertinya ga terlalu beda jauh dengan Jakarta (keliatan kan yang biasa naik bus, pertama kali yang jadi perhatian langsung public transportationnya), malah bisa dibilang lebih parah, bus2 nya kelihatan sudah ada dari jaman "Dono'' (maksudnya kayak jaman di film2 nya Dono-Kasino-Indro). Tapi yang bikin ngiri adalah mereka udah ada subway (or metro atau apalah sebutannya buat kereta bawah tanah). Pengen banget liat lambang model2 kayak begini di Jakarta. Hampir semua kota besar di dunia sudah ada MRT, Jakarta kapan? Hehehehe. *Wishing*

Ziarah

Pada dasarnya ziarah di timur tengah ini mengikuti 3 cerita:

1. Cerita zaman perjanjian lama mengenai kisah Musa mulai dari tempat bayi Musa dihanyutkan dan ditemukan oleh putri firaun di Mesir (Abu Sirga), Musa berjumpa dengan Allah lewat semak api (St. Chaterine), perjalanan bangsa Israel keluar dari tanah Mesir menuju tanah perjanjian (Gurun Sinai, Mara, Rafidim, Jerusalem).
2. Cerita Yesus, mulai dari tempat kelahiran di Betlehem, tempat pengungsian di Mesir, Mujizat pertama di Kana, tempat mujizat di Kapernaum, Sabda Bahagia, danau Galilea (the famous story - berjalan diatas air, mujizat 5 roti+2 ikan) dan karya penyaliban (getsemani, via dolorosa, kubur batu, pengangkatan)
3. Tambahannya adalah cerita Abraham (hanya beberapa tempat saja, tidak sampai membentuk alur cerita).

Karena mengikuti letak lokasi kejadian2 cerita tersebut, tempat - tempat yang didatangi tidak mengikuti urutan waktu kejadian cerita dan bercampur antara ketiga cerita tersebut (kalau harus mengikuti alur cerita bisa mondar-mandir donk hehehehe). Posting ini akan menceritakan tempat2 dari alur ceritanya masing2 sedangkan Itenirary dari perjalanan bisa didowload di website Mahaloka, .

Dreams Do Come True

As a little girl my dad loves to tell me stories, or.... I love to hear stories so much that he had to do that hehehehe.. either way I still remember vaguely some stories before bed time. Snow White, Cinderella, Huwi-Duwi-Luwi, HC Anderson's are my top rated stories.

Kehabisan cerita yang itu-itu aja, sampe akhirnya Cleopatra jadi salah satu pilihan cerita :D

An Egyption princess, so beautiful and smart that she can saved her country from the Romans is the point of view my dad choose to tell me, soal alur ceritanya sih mungkin dia sambil setengah ngarang juga hehehehe but I enjoyed it very much. Ceritanya satu paket lengkap dengan suasanya egypt yang adalah negara sangat makmur, pyramid yang mereka bangun pake peralatan yang dari jaman itu, ilmu 'kedokteran' that able to balm a body to become a mummy, the labirin inside the pyramid and how they murdered all the people that deliver the king's body so nobody finds a way out of the pyramid makes a little's girl heart so antusiast and felt adventurous.

To see these places in my bed time stories for real is near to impossible for my family back then and only by God's grace now I can see and feel the ambience of those places to imagine once again my bed time stories and especially the person who told it. Love you dad!


"When you see a shining star
raise your hands toward it
reach it with your heart
and it will be yours forever" ~ Rini, dec 2010

The Three Wisemen

They who seeks God will find Him
They who seeks wisdom will taste the sweetness of understanding
For it is sweeter than pure honey and you will be content

"1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’"

Matthew 2:10-11