Planes and prayer shawls

Most people from Cincinnati, perhaps the Midwest, would probably not think of flying on Israel's airline, El Al, for their trip to the Holy Land. Normally groups schedule their flights with U.S. carriers, bypassing El Al. But I must say that flying to Israel on El Al was an experience to remember. It was for virtually all the passengers (except for our group of journalists and three small groups on a tour of Christian sites in Israel) the return home. And so the Airbus 300, which technically was Israel territory, served as the first phase of a homecoming for numerous Israelis. It seemed to me that the lion's share of those on the flight were Orthodox Jews, the men dressed in the dark suits and felt or fur hats that hearkened back to 18th century Eastern Europe. There was a great deal of friendship displayed; it seemed like everyone knew everyone else, reminding me of the home town environment you'll find in small towns where nobody's really a stranger. At dawn, one-by-one these men rose, put on prayer shawls and began chanting a prayer that dates back at least a couple thousand years or more, praising the Lord after donning the shawls, each of them playing a significant role in the wait for the Messiah. I watched later as we deplaned in Tel Aviv, watching the men and women I had chatted with on the flight to Israel. And after being up almost 36 hours straight, I'm signing off until tomorrow.

Sitting in the El Al lounge

Some thoughts before landing in Tel Aviv. Four years ago, I traveled with a group of Catholic journalists to Jordan to gain an appreciation of that country's portion of what we generally know as the Holy Land. What especially comes to mind is the beautiful facility the Jordanian Tourism Ministry had built along the River Jordan to celebrate the ministry of John the Baptist. Across the river from the Jordanian "historical" site (there is some doubt as to exactly where John baptized Jesus), Israel had built its own facility. There was some open animosity expressed by the folks from Jordan, and I think our group took that in stride. But during our travels in Jordan, what struck me was the complete lack of any kind of foreign presence in the country's major public places. This was, you will recall, just a month before the United States and its "coalition of the willing" conquered Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein. I recall that everywhere we went, waiters or workers, everyone, really, would ask us hopefully, "are you British?" No, American, was the reply. Then we received what I remember as a tight-lipped litany of something that bordered on contempt. "You are welcome" was the greeting, then. We were in Amman, Jordan, when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell made his ill-fated weapons of mass destruction speech to the United Nations. I think everyone from our entourage was not just a little worried that we might get stuck in the Middle East just as Shock and Awe commenced. But we were able to get away. So, I frame this current trip -- understanding that circumstances are indeed much different now than they were four years ago -- with an eye towards presenting something of a "wholistic" view of the Holy Land based on an understand I already have, benefiting from visiting the region before. My next entry will be from Israel.

More on "Jesus tomb"

Posting this from O'Hare in Chicago awaiting flight to NY: Catching up on the news about James Cameron's Discovery Channel show about how a tomb discovered almost 30 years ago contained remains of Jesus and family members. The documentary, to air on the Discovery Channel Sunday, March 4, asserts that a crypt unearthed during excavations for an apartment complex project, holds the bones of Jesus, and also contained the remains of Mary Magdalene and their son, Judah. Shimon Gibson, a senior fellow at the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem told the NYT that he remains skeptical of Cameron's claims. The press conference on Monday that announced the findings coincides both with the 90-minute show's debut and a new book on research conducted over the past 27 years since the tomb's discovery. According to a report on NPR this morning, there was a lapse in research time of about 16 years when nothing was done with the 10 ossuaries -- bone boxes -- that contained the remains of what Cameron says is Jesus' family. Another skeptic was Lawrence E. Stager, the Dorot professor of archaeology of Israel at Harvard, who told the NYT that Cameron's "findings" take advantage of the groundswell that followed Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. Stager worries, like numerous Catholic leaders did at the debut of the movie last year, that some people with a less sophisticated understanding of the biblical world will be confused about what is true or not, what is conjecture or not. There was another story in today's Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com) noting that officials are considering opening this tomb to the public. More on this story when we arrive in Tel Aviv tomorrow.

James Cameron and Jesus

Just in time for our departure for Israel, reports from that imminent news source, the Discovery Channel, that "Titanic" director James Cameron is pitching a new documentary that sheds fascinating, statistical light on a nearly 30-year-old discovery of a tomb from the era of Jesus. Back in the late 70s, while putting up an apartment complex in Jerusalem, construction workers unearthed an ancient cave used as a tomb that contained 10 ossuaries (small caskets that contained human bones) holding the remains of what looks like a family group, with the names Jesua son of Joseph, Mary, Matthew, Jofa and Juda son of Jesua, among others, etched on the stone containers. You may recall the recent brouhaha about an ancient ossuary that had carved upon it the words "James, brother of Jesus." Yep, that apparently was one of the same 10 caskets. At a press conference on Monday (Feb. 26), Cameron and a crew of experts explained the findings that will air on the Discovery Channel March 4: It will say, in essence, here lies Jesus, his wife Mary Magdelene and their son, Judah; his father Joseph and his mother, Mary, and other family members. Bypassing earlier archeological dismissal of the tomb as just another burial identifying names that were common in that day, Cameron and his entourage appear to rely heavily on statisticians to back up his opinion that this could indeed be Jesus Christ. Odds are 100-1 against it, though, according to the numbers boys. DNA evidence supposedly will clarify the relationships between family members interred in the cave, although I still can't see how a statistician can use math to create "good" odds that this is Our Lord. I'll wager 10-1 that this story has some legs, and it will overtake the Anna Nicole Smith tragedy lickety-split. And I'll be in Jerusalem March 4-7 measuring the reactions to the Discovery Channel program.

Meanwhile, I just read in the Jerusalem Post that a public servant's strike is scheduled for Wednesday, the day we land in Tel Aviv. Thank God for democracy!

Change in schedule

Just received notice from the Israel Tourism Ministry that the dates for the trip all have shifted back one day. I will depart Feb. 27 and return March 7. I probably will not blog until Feb. 28.

Cost-conscious in Cincinnati

In the days leading up to departure for Israel, I've made contact with a New York City manager for the Israeli Tourism Board named Ruth who has been extremely helpful putting details into place for my trip. There are a total of six of us, all from Catholic newspapers across the country, from Oregon to Ohio to the East Coast; and we're all converging on JFK for departure on Feb. 26. The only hitch in the program, according to Ruth, was trying to get reasonable fares for me from Cincinnati to JFK. "We tried several times to get the prices down, but in the end, we could not justify the costs of a direct flight from Cincinnati to JFK," she told me last week. "I'm sorry to inform you that we're going to have to route you from Cincinnati to Chicago, then on to LaGuardia. At LaGuardia you'll take a taxi to JFK." In closing, Ruth tells me she's never seen anything like the fares out of CVG. It would have been more expensive to fly me direct to JFK than the journalist out West.

Hey, we know Ruth. It's the most expensive hub in the country. (So much for those Delta frequent flyer miles.)