Rachel's TombSpeaking of Rachel's Tomb, which is located just inside Bethlehem and just south of Jerusalem, recently I read a description of how beautiful the complex now looks.
Perhaps the complex is more aesthetically pleasing now, but it's also a fortress. Personally, I think it's sad that one must enter a very heavily secured area to pray at Rachel's Tomb.
During a visit to Israel in the early 1990's, I took a bus to Rachel's Tomb, walked about a block and prayed for about 45 minutes. There were probably two, maybe three IDF soldiers there. When I was done, I waited for the public bus across the street, where Arabs walked around. With my kippa on, I walked into an Arab-owned store, and bought a Diet Coke.
It's not as though things were so peaceful back then. It's just that the Palestinians hadn't yet been given arms.
posted on 4/12/2005
