Learn Hebrew Live From Israel
Posted by eteacher on April 5, 2009 under Holidays | 
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Posted by Shira Cohen-Regev on April 2, 2009 under Traveling in Israel | Be the First to Comment
On the last weekend we traveled to Ein Karem (עֵין כרם) – a picturesque village in the outskirts of Jerusalem. Ein Karem means “spring of the Vineyard” in Arabic and the spring that is holy to Christians will be one of our stops. We strolled along the lanes, watched the beautiful ancient buildings and the breathtaking Mountain View decorated with the magnificent spring bloom.
We went to see the Visitation Church(כְּנֵסִיַּת הַבִּקּוּר) (also known as the Church of the Magnificat) which is nestled in terraced hills and carries much importance to Christians. The story tells that after angel Gabriel visited Mary and announced the future birth of Jesus, she went to Bethlehem (בֵּית לֶחֶם). On her way, she stopped to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth (אֱלִישֶׁבַע, Elisheva) and her husband Zacharia (זְכַרְיָה) in their summer house in Ein Karem.
Mary stopped to drink from the spring before she climbed to Elizabeth’s house; therefore, the spring, known as “Mary’s Spring” (מַעְיָן מִרְיָם) is Holy for Christians. A mosque, whose tower rises above the structure of the spring, was built over Mary’s spring in the 2nd half of the 19th century.
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When Elizabeth saw Mary, she felt John (the Baptist) moving excitingly in her womb. At this event Mary glorified the Lord in the well known hymn known as the “Magnificat.” The Magnificat is inscribed in 47 languages on one of the external walls of the Church.
 
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In the Church designed by the Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi and built between 1938 and 1955, you may see the cave in which a miraculous spring broke forth at the exact moment when Elizabeth welcomed the Virgin. You may also see the stone, which is believed to bear the imprint of the infant John, who hid there with Elizabeth from Herod’s (הוֹרְדוֹס) soldiers at the time of the “slaughter of the Innocents.”
| The cave of the miraculous spring.
Church of Visitation, Ein Karem. Picture: Shira Cohen-Regev |
The stone that hid John and Elizabeth
Church of Visitation, Ein Karem. Picture: Shira Cohen-Regev |
There is much more to see in Ein Karem, the birthplace of John the Baptist, such as the Church of St. John the Baptist, Les Soeurs de Notre-Dame de Sion, and the recently finished Russian Orthodox Church (Gorney Convent). But, as the children became hungry, we decided to stop by one of the charming restaurants for dinner. Reading the introduction of the menu, we realized that we just stepped in yet another piece of history, as it happened to be one of the places that confirmed the legend that the walls in Ein Karem hold gold.
