Bethlehem or The House of Bread in Hebrew

Going to Bethlehem means travelling back in time and also having the possibility of discovering religious pluralism. The town of Bethlehem is south of Jerusalem and has 30 000 inhabitants most of whom are Muslims. The town is also the base for one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, the majority of whom are Catholic.

In June 2012, the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem was listed by UNESCO World Heritage. Bethlehem is one of the territories  administered by the Palestinian Authority and under the authority of the State of Israel for security matters.

To reach Bethlehem you need to pass a sort of border through a check point that is easily accessible for tourists. However, it's forbidden to Israelis who must get special authorisation from the army.

Every year millions of tourists go to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ and this reaches record levels in December.

Bethlehem for the 3 monotheist religions

For christianity, the town of Bethlehem is very important not just as the birthplace of Jesus but also as the place where King David came from. In the Jewish Bible , the term “messiah” or “Mashiah” in Hebrew, often refers to King David , who according to Christian texts is an ancestor of the Messiah Jesus Christ (Matthew- Chapter 1, first verses). The birth place of Jesus Christ is recognised to be in Bethlehem, under the Basilica of the Nativity.

The bible has many references to Bethlehem : Matthew 2:1 "Now hafter Jesus was born in iBethlehem of Judea jin the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men1 from kthe east came to Jerusalem" and Luke 2:4-6 "So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David"

For Judaism, the town of Bethlehem (also called Efrata) has a special place because it's the town where the second great king of the Israeli people, King David successor of King Saul, was born.

Bethlehem also has the tomb of one of Judaism's matriarchs, Rahel or Rachel (Book of Genesis- Chapter 48 verse 7), beloved wife of Jacob whose descendants are Joseph and Benjamin. Rachel is important for Judaism because she is the mother mourning her son, crying for her children to survive and by extension for the Jewish people. Rachel's tomb is at the entrance to the modern town of Bethlehem and is easily accessible.

For Islam, King David (Daoud in Arabic) is an important prophet and Jesus (Isa in Arabic) is one of the 5 fundamental prophets along with Noah, Abraham, Moses and Mohammed. So since King David and Jesus were born in Bethlehem, the town is important to Muslims.

An ancient route

The geographic situation of Bethlehem in relation to Jerusalem is most significant: the journey between the two towns is part of an “ancestral”, historic route. This road is called the “Way of the Fathers”, the word “fathers” refers to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who travelled on this road from Beer Sheva to Schem passing through Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

It is also called the “Pilgrimage Road” because it passes the traditional entrance to Bethlehem, then by the Church of the Nativity and continues in the direction of Manger Square. At Christmas, pilgrims look on this road as the one taken by Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus as they made their way to Bethlehem.