{"id":102271,"date":"2025-08-30T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T05:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/?p=102271"},"modified":"2025-08-29T19:22:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T16:22:47","slug":"bus-163-from-jerusalem-to-rachels-tomb-faith-and-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/bus-163-from-jerusalem-to-rachels-tomb-faith-and-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"Bus 163 from Jerusalem to Rachel\u2019s Tomb: Faith and Memory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"428\" data-end=\"829\">Every hour, Bus 163 departs from Jerusalem\u2019s central station toward Rachel\u2019s Tomb. On board are young and old, strollers beside wheelchairs, all turning a simple ride into a journey of faith, memory, and identity. The route through Sarei Israel, Malchei Israel and Shivtei Israel streets feels like a symbolic road uniting Jewish history on the way to the mother who still watches over her children<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"836\" data-end=\"881\">Bus 163 from Jerusalem to Rachel\u2019s Tomb<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"882\" data-end=\"1104\">The road to the matriarch\u2019s resting place passes Jerusalem\u2019s walls, church towers, and historic buildings alongside new cranes and traffic lights, blending past and present. For some, the ride becomes a spiritual ritual<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"\u05ea\u05d7\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05de\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05e7\u05d1\u05e8 \u05e8\u05d7\u05dc (\u05e6\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd: \u05d9\u05e8\u05d5\u05e9\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05d5\u05e0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d9\u05df - \u05d1\u05d0\u05e8\u05d9 \u05e9\u05d7\u05e8)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bRC4Fvp27vc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>(Video &#8211; Jerusalem Online, Barry Shahar)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1106\" data-end=\"1308\">Yael Levi from Netanya, a frequent passenger, shares: \u201cSince the age of three my life has been filled with miracles. This is not just a visit, it is a meeting with the one who protects me from above<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1310\" data-end=\"1630\">Ninety-year-old Malchi Cohen, accompanied by a caregiver, adds: \u201cFor decades I have taken this route almost daily. This place is holier than the Western Wall. Here the Shekhinah dwells, here Rachel\u2019s soul hovers, the mother who gave up for fourteen years while waiting for Jacob. Her sacrifice founded eternal values<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"1637\" data-end=\"1692\">Hebron Road in Jerusalem and the hostages in Gaza<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1693\" data-end=\"2120\">As the bus continues along Jerusalem\u2019s Hebron Road, the landscape shifts. Rachel herself would no longer recognize the fields once leading to Bethlehem. Towering apartment blocks, heavy traffic and yellow flags recall that dozens of hostages remain in Gaza\u2019s tunnels. Yet stubborn olive groves, centuries old, still cling to the hills, silent witnesses that history is not just written in books but rooted in the land itself<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">(<a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/jerusalems-nahlaot-silence-revolution-honking-no-more\/\">Jerusalem\u2019s Nahlaot silence revolution: honking no more<\/a>)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"2127\" data-end=\"2178\">Rachel\u2019s Tomb as a mirror of Israel\u2019s society<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"2179\" data-end=\"2472\">The road from Jerusalem to Rachel\u2019s Tomb is more than a commute \u2013 it is a reflection of a nation. On Bus 163, people come seeking health, marriage, livelihood, and peace. When the bus reaches its secure gates, men and women divide into separate sections, each whispering prayers at the tomb<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2474\" data-end=\"2730\">A journey of less than an hour transforms into sacred moments of faith and collective memory. Each stop along the way becomes a testimony, each passenger carrying a personal basket of hopes, emptied and filled again \u2013 just as the cycle of life continues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jerusalem\u2019s Bus 163 carries prayers, stories and thoughts of hostages in Gaza on its journey to Rachel\u2019s Tomb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":102265,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"9333","_seopress_titles_title":"Bus 163 from Jerusalem to Rachel\u2019s Tomb: Faith and Memory","_seopress_titles_desc":"Jerusalem\u2019s Bus 163 carries prayers, stories and thoughts of hostages in Gaza on its journey to Rachel\u2019s Tomb","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10327,9314,10346,10348],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-102271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking","8":"category-main-item","9":"category-religion-judaism","10":"category-tourism"},"acf":{"subtitle":"Jerusalem\u2019s Bus 163 carries prayers, stories and thoughts of hostages in Gaza on its journey to Rachel\u2019s Tomb"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}