A busy town. Population is 60,000. 60% are christian arab; the remainder moslem arab. Very unusual for a big town in Israel. I saw only one Jew here wearing his kippa. No soldiers to be seen. The towering Catholic Basilica of the Annunciation dominates the centre of town. I feel more drawn to the very small Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation; it's near the site of what was once the town well. There's a tradition that the angel came to Mary while she was drawing water from the well. What's preserved in Nazareth, in a number of places, is really the meaning of the Annunciation: that God is in our midst; with us; within us. Nazareth is also the place where Jesus grew up, went to school in the synagogue, spent "30 obscure years" as a builder's apprentice. From my reading it seems more accurate to regard Joseph as an Artisan; an all-purpose village builder. By the way, he was about 17/18 at the time of Jesus' birth; Mary would have been about 16/17. Near where I'm staying, in the middle of the souks, as the "Synagogue Church". It's a Crusader building (now a catholic church). Late tradition (12th century) regards it as having been originally a synagogue (much later than Jesus' time). What's important about this place is that the memory is preserved of Jesus' coming to the synagogue in Nazareth; and especially the time he was given the Book of Isaiah to read (Luke 4); after which he was threatened with being taken to the brow of a cliff and thrown off. This would have been the Jewish punishment for blasphemy. Jesus escaped them and headed for Capernaum. By the way, the receptionist at Casa Nova where I stayed - his name is Osama. I mistakenly called him Obama on one occasion. I went from Nazareth to Jerusalem on Sunday morning for my last few days in Israel. (Top left photo: Catholic Basilica; Top right: Greek Church; Below: interior of the Synagogue Church).
