Good Friday in Jerusalem

By Sue

When we first scheduled our time in Jerusalem, we were completely clueless to the fact that our stay coincided with Holy Week and the first night of Passover. To our great fortune, there were many opportunities throughout our stay to witness how Jerusalem holds such enormous religious significance for Muslims, Jews, and Christians. None was more poignant than our experience on Good Friday/the first night of Passover.

Our first activity for the day was to walk the Via Dolorosa, the route that Jesus took between his condemnation by Pilate and his crucifixion and burial. We had originally planned to get an early start, but as is often the case, we were out the door much later. To access the starting point of the Via Dolorosa, it is easiest to enter the Old City from one of the gates into the Muslim Quarter. As it happened, our tardiness afforded us the opportunity to be swept along with crowds of worshippers making their way to Friday prayers at the Temple Mount. For nearly 15 minutes we walked quietly alongside the faithful making their weekly trek through the alleys of the Old City to the third holiest Islamic site in the world.

Walking through the alleys of the Muslim Quarter

View of Temple Mount in the background

Eventually we made our way to the start of the Via Dolorosa. For many Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem, the most important and meaningful thing they do while in the city is to walk the Via Dolorosa. The route begins near the Lions’ Gate in the Muslim Quarter and ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Christian Quarter. It covers 500 meters and incorporates the 14 Stations of the Cross. This being Good Friday, there were many large and small groups making the walk with us. Some were chanting and praying, many were singing. The final five stations are located within in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and it is here that you find the holiest of Christian sites – Jesus’ tomb inside the Edicule on the main floor of the church.   It was truly extraordinary to follow the 14 Stations on the actual day that Christians commemorate Jesus’ journey along the same route.

Station II – Where Jesus receives the cross

Pilgrims make their way into Station III as worshipers return home from Friday prayers

Station IX- Where Jesus falls for the third time

Station XIV – Tomb of Jesus

Finally, we returned to our apartment around 6pm giving us about an hour to get ready and head out the door again to participate in a Passover Seder at a nearby Jewish Community Center. Knowing we did not have the capacity to prepare a Seder meal in our apartment, we searched on-line earlier in the week for other opportunities. As it happened, the only community Seder we could find on-line also happened to be at the JCC in the German Colony – a 10 minute walk from our apartment.

Not knowing what to expect, we headed out the door greeted by a huge full moon rising in the sky. We arrived at the center and headed upstairs to a room that was set for at least 100 people. To our delight, the Seder was attended by community members as well as out of town visitors and travellers like ourselves. The Haggadah was in Hebrew as was the Seder (with occasional breaks for English translation), but we thoroughly enjoyed the evening and the amazing food which just seemed to keep on coming! As we stumbled out of the community center around midnight and made our way back to our apartment, we couldn’t help, but feel so much gratitude for this day that had offered such an incredible window into the religious and cultural life of this amazing city.

At the Seder