2023 May Study Tour

Rachel’s Tomb

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Our first day in Bethlehem it was suggested to us that we might want to go to the other side of the wall that took a quarter of Wi’am’s land, to the side of the wall where those who live in Bethlehem are forbidden, to Rachel’s Tomb.

So today, that’s what we did.

We were asked if we wanted to walk through the Palestinian checkpoint. We thought it would be good to know what our guide experienced every time we left Bethlehem—though, with our American passports our experience would not be like his.

As we waited on the Israeli side of the checkpoint we looked over the olive tree groves of those in Bethlehem; Palestinian olive tree groves in Israel; groves that their owners are only allowed to visit once a year.

We took the bus to Rachel’s Tomb.  It’s surrounded by concrete.  I won’t go into details, but some not nice things were said to a few of us.  During one of the incidents someone also stood up for us.  There was no graffiti of protest—the angels were bolted out.

All I could think was, “Rachel is weeping for her children.”

By Celene Lillie

The Sea

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Our final Study Tour Day- a mini one hour vacation on the beautiful Mediterranean and a delicious meal at Samirs in Remle.

Thank you all for a profound, beautiful, and meaningful trip. I will go back in next few days and post more stories here.

Meet Abuna Chacour and MEEI Faculty and Students

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Mar Elias Educational Institution, Abuna Elias Chacour and the wonderful students and teachers of MEEI- we really enjoyed meeting and talking to Archbishop Emeritus Elias Chacour (Abuna),students, teachers, and administrators of this school. They acknowledged and thanked Pilgrims of Ibillin multiple times for all of our support through the years that pays for scholarships, classroom improvements, an upgraded teachers lounge, and much more.

 

By Brenda Mehos, Toor Coordinator

We Are On Our Way

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Dr. Lillie at the Garden of Gethsemane in 2019

Our May 2023 Study Tour Pilgrimage to Israel and Palestine is just around the corner and we are excited! A couple of us have already arrived and the majority of us are putting final touches in our preparations to leave.

Twelve of us will be traveling with early Christian Historian Dr. Celene Lillie, and Wi’am Guide Usama Nicola. We look forward to learning about the past and listening and sitting in the present with the people on the ground, the “living stones”. We will meet many people who are working for a just and lasting peace. We anticipate many conversations about the current situation and the future of this place that so many people call “the Holy Land”.

As poet John O’Donohue put it in his poem For The Traveler, “may we travel in an awakened way, gathered wisely into our inner ground; that we may not waste the invitations which wait along the way to transform us. May we travel safely, arrive refreshed, and live our time away to its fullest.”

Brenda Mehos