Mideast's Jordan River: Rich in holiness, poor in water
ALONG THE JORDAN RIVER -- Kristen Burckhartt felt overwhelmed. She needed time to reflect, to let it sink in that she had just dipped her feet in the water where Jesus is said to have been baptized, in the Jordan River.
“It’s very profound,” said the 53-year-old visitor from Indiana. “I have not ever walked where Jesus walked for one thing.”
Here, tourists and pilgrims, many driven by faith, come to follow in Christ’s footsteps, to touch the river’s water, to connect to biblical events.
Symbolically and spiritually, the river is of mighty significance to many. Physically, the Lower Jordan River of today is a lot more meager than mighty.
By the time it reaches the baptismal site, its dwindling water looks sluggish, a dull brownish green shade.
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Its decline is intertwined with the decades-old Arab-Israeli conflict and rivalry over precious water in a valley where so much is contested.
A stretch of the river, for instance, was a hostile frontier between once-warring Israel and Jordan. The waterway also separates Jordan to the east from the Israeli-occupied West Bank, seized by Israel in a 1967 war and sought by the Palestinians for a state.
“It’s a victim of the conflict, definitely. It’s a victim of people, because it’s what we did as people to the river, basically, and now adding to all this it’s a victim of climate change,” said Yana Abu Taleb, the Jordanian director of EcoPeace Middle East, which brings together Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli environmentalists and lobbies for regional collaboration on saving the river. “So it’s a victim in every way.”
EcoPeace has said for years that the Lower Jordan, which runs south from the Sea of Galilee, is threatened by decades of water diversions and by pollution. Only a tiny fraction of its historical water flow now reaches its terminus in the Dead Sea.
Standing at the Jordanian baptismal site Bethany Beyond the Jordan, Burckhartt grappled with many emotions — among them, sadness for the river’s dwindling.
The river’s opposing banks are home to rival baptismal sites where rituals of faith unfold, a reflection of the river’s enduring allure.
The river holds further significance as the scene of miracles in the Old Testament.
At the Jordanian baptismal site on a recent day, a woman dipped her feet in the waters and then cupped some with her hands, rubbing it on her face and head. Others crossed themselves or bent to fill bottles.