Israel Day 7/12 - The Milk Grotto

The Milk Grotto, hollowed out of soft white rock, is traditionally believed to be the place where Mary and Joseph stopped so Mary could nurse baby Jesus on their escape to Egypt. Legend says that a drop of milk fell onto the floor, turning the entire grotto pure white.

Now women who want to produce more milk or become pregnant go and get some of the chalky white powdered rock from the cave to drink in water. Even Muslims go to the site. Letters and pictures of testimony to the effectiveness of the powder and prayers to Our Lady of the Milk are all over the grotto.

The site has been a place of veneration since the 300s and the first structure was erected over the grotto in 385. Beginning in the 600s, pieces of rock from the grotto were sent as relics to churches in Europe. But the Franciscans didn't build a church on the site until 1872.

Then it was time to head back to the hotel for an early pizza dinner. We made one last stop at a liquor store near the hotel and found a Shepherd's Stout made right there in Palestine. The store keeper totally wanted to open it for us before we left but we wanted to save it. It would have been perfect with our pizza, but we still had one more site to visit before the day was over.