Information about Ein Kerem Village itself will be provided after this announcement.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to work as a tour guide as from Feb 2020
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Zahi Shaked
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Church towers, green mountains, and European-style restaurants. No, this is not a Swiss Village, but the old Jerusalem neighborhood of Ein Kerem, in whose walls treasures of gold are still hidden
Many pilgrims believe that a tour in Ein Kerem is a tour of the Switzerland of the Mideast - Imagine a village surrounded by green mountains, church towers all around, a spring, amazing scenery at every point, and European-style restaurants.
Think about lost treasures of gold waiting to be discovered by some lucky person. Tell yourself that generals, noblemen, and even the Pope have visited here. Now stop imagining, because this place is nearby, in Jerusalem.
We will begin the tour of this western Jerusalem neighborhood at the main road that crosses it. You can park (for free) in the parking lot at the top of the road to the northwest or near the spring in the heart of the village.
From the junction go north on the narrow road to the Church of St. John the Baptist. Pay attention to the “hands” that are carved into the wall of the entrance gate to the churchyard. Both hands have a hole in their palms, one symbolizing the crucified Jesus and the other the hand of St Francis, who established the Franciscan order that protects the holy sites for the Vatican.
Honor to John the Baptist
Enter the yard and notice a well in front of you. Although this Church was built in the 19th century, underneath it you can see the remains of a temple dedicated to Aphrodite (Venus) - a Byzantine and Crusader Church. In 1939 when a troop of British gunners arrived here, one of the cannons collapsed onto the ground, and remnants of mosaics and inscriptions were found as well as a statue of Aphrodite (Venus) from an earlier temple that stood here.
More than a billion Christians consider Ein Kerem to be the birthplace of John. This is the place to note that John, like Jesus, was a Jew. His father, Zacharia, served as a priest in the Second Temple, and his mother Elisheva (Elizabeth - she was the granddaughter of Matan the priest from the house of Aaron) lived here, according to Christian tradition.
Inside the church there is an impressive apse (a niche on which the main altar is placed) facing east, in which stand the two statues of Zacharia and Elisheva. To the left of the apse, there is a small cavern or crypt, where according to tradition, John was born.
Pay attention to the drawings on the wall of the cave, where you can identify John by his beard, clothing (goat’s hair), and his staff that has a snake on it. Keep in mind that for hundreds of years the simple people could not read or write, so the solution throughout the Christian world lay in drawing figures, called icons.
As in every Catholic church, you can see the confession booth, baptism font, and the 14 Stations of the Cross, the Via Dolorosa, which are painted onto the walls of the church. This and more was donated to St John’s Church throughout the years by pilgrims, European royalty and other interested parties.
Paradise in the heart of Ein Kerem
Leave the church area toward the Monastery of the Sisters of Our Lady of Zion, a five-minute walk. After you ring the bell on the gate and enter, turn right into the pretty yard. In the middle of the nineteenth- century a Jewish convert to Christianity named Alfonse Ratisbonne arrived in Jerusalem - the Ratisbonne Monastery next to the old Bezalel building and the Sisters of Zion Church in the Old City are also named after him.
Zahi Shaked A tour guide in Israel and his camera [email protected] +972-54-6905522 tel סיור עם מורה הדרך ומדריך הטיולים צחי שקד 0546905522
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