Emmaus Monday

Jewish priests covered by their prayer
shawls and raising their hands
in blessing

Today large groups of pilgrims made their way to Emmaus to celebrate the Resurrected Lord's appearance to the 2 disciples while on their way back to Emmaus. The village is closed by Israeli military and special permission is required to enter the area in order to visit the basilica. But today access was opened for the festive celebration of Mass and the blessing of bread.

For the jews, it's the 3rd day of Pesach ... and the national priestly blessing took place at 8am and again at 9.30am at the Wailing Wall. Hundreds of descendants of the priestly cast came to give the blessing that their ancestors once gave when the Jewish Temple was still standing. And according to reports, 75000 jews and tourists gathered at the Wall to receive the blessing. Security was high ... police helicopters flying low overhead all morning and soldiers everywhere.

Young boy in the midst
of jewish priests

I was cleaning out the bird cages and putting the canaries in 6 nesting cages when sudeenly I heard the opening words of the blessing. I'm one km away from the Wailing Wall but the cantor was loud enough on the microphone to sound the blessing. It was an incredible experience ... hearing the blessing from such a distance reverberating through the City.

The Orthodox christians on the otherhand are celebrating Holy Week. There is an unprecedented number of Copts from Egypt this year ... they are flooding the entire Old City. I have a feeling there'll be a clash during the Orthodox Triduum when the Copts outnumber the Greeks at the Holy Sepulchre.