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National Geographic : 1950 Dec
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712 George Pickow-Three Lions "Come and Dance the Hora!" Israeli Students Shout at a Jerusalem Festival With bright blue-and-white Israeli flags flying in the background and the orchestra beating out a stirring rhythm, young people perform their national dance before an eager audience at a park in the New City. Most popular of all Hebrew folk dances, the hora is frequently danced at farm settlements. labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). If some tired believers fall asleep beside the prayer niche, it is Allah's will. Jerusalem's "House of Prayer" In the center of the Sanctuary stands the magnificent Dome of the Rock, whose large, dark-gray dome is probably the most grace ful in the world (page 735). The beauty of this mosque is even more remarkable when one considers that the original Dome was built at the end of the 7th century. The rock mass on which it stands is said to be the stone from which the Prophet Moham med ascended to heaven on his winged steed, el Burak; but long before the 7th century it had been revered. The mosque (also called Mosque of Omar) stands as a masterpiece of Moslem architec ture. Next to Mecca's Kaaba and Medina's mosque, it is the edifice most revered by Mos lems. Jordan's King Abdullah (page 745) often comes to it to pray. Indeed, as Isaiah prophesied and Jesus desired, the Temple area has become a "house of prayer for all people." Visitors pay admission, but there is no commerce in the area from which Jesus "cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple" (Matthew 21:12). So I was sur prised to see people coming from the Golden Gate carrying food. I went for a look. What I found was a 20th-century echo of Isaiah's glad call: "Come ye . . . that hath no money"! Red Cross relief rations were being distributed. Christmas activity in Jerusalem is rivaled only at Easter. Then the visitor could easily do nothing but go to church all day for nearly two weeks. When the Jewish Passover and the Easter of the Roman Catholics are finished, the Easter celebrations of the Greek Orthodox, Syrians, Copts, Armenians, and Abyssinians begin. In 1950 the Catholic and Orthodox Easters were celebrated on the same day. Pilgrims Hail a Modern Saviour The first big event of Holy Week is the Palm Sunday procession (page 715) from Bethphage to Jerusalem, along the route by which Jesus rode into Jerusalem and "a very great multitude spread their garments in the
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