By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
 |
Illustration from NPR website |
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (ANS) -- The Israeli police department this month activated a special unit established years ago to deal with the annual phenomenon of Christian tourists who during their visit to Israel develop "Jerusalem Syndrome," a psychological condition that causes a person to believe they are a biblical character.
This was revealed a story carried on the http://www.israeltoday.co.il web site.
"Police officials cited by Israel National News said the number of visitors
suffering from 'Jerusalem Syndrome' always spikes around Christmas and Passover. Thirty to 40 Christian tourists are hospitalized every year with symptoms of 'Jerusalem Syndrome,'" stated the story. "Most recover after about a week. Some, however, have had long careers roaming Jerusalem's streets in antiquated garb preaching loudly on public streets and at holy sites.
"A rare psychiatric disorder known as the 'Jerusalem Syndrome,' can make tourists in the holy city believe they are characters from the Bible."
Reuters says that in a 2000 article published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, Gregory Katz from the Kfar Shaul Mental Health Centre in Jerusalem described the seven clinical stages of the syndrome:
STAGE 1-The afflicted tourist becomes agitated, nervous and tense.
STAGE 2-The person declares a desire to split away from his or her group and tour Jerusalem alone. Katz warned tour guides to be aware of this symptom because after stage two, the progression is usually irreversible.
STAGE 3-The individual has the need to be clean and pure and will obsess about bathing and cutting fingernails and toenails.
STAGE 4-The person prepares a long, white, ankle-length, toga-like gown, often using a hotel sheet. Katz said this act stems from passages in the Bible that mention dressing in white.
STAGE 5-The person feels the need to shout or sing psalms, verses from the Bible or religious hymns.
STAGE 6-The person marches to one of Jerusalem's holiest places, often along the Via Dolorosa or near the Western Wall.
STAGE 7-The psychotic traveler delivers a sermon at the holy place. Katz described the sermon as being: "very confused and based on an unrealistic plea to humankind to adopt a more wholesome, moral, simple way of life".
I first became aware of the "Jerusalem Syndrome" not in Jerusalem, but in Bethlehem, where I was staying with some colleagues to help celebrate Brother Andrew's 70th birthday. We went to a local hotel and there Joseph, the innkeeper, told us that he had recently had two "crazies" stay at the hotel.
"One of them wanted me to change my wife's name to Mary and told us he was Jesus," he said. "However, he kept changing his name to various Biblical characters and finally one day, paraded outside in the street with no clothes on and carrying a Bible. The people were shocked and he was arrested by the police. I got his home phone number in the States and told his father about what had happened and he replied, "Oh, he hasn't gone and done that again, has he?"
Joseph then told us about a woman who came dressed all in white who was convinced that she was a Biblical character and kept using precious water to clean everywhere in the hotel. "We found out at that she was from Finland and so I asked someone from the Embassy in Tel Aviv to come and collect her. In the meantime, a doctor gave her a 'shot' to calm her down, but when the man arrived and told her that he was taking her back to the airport to put her on a flight home, she jumped up and punched him on the nose."
He concluded by saying, "I am a Christian Palestinian, but I don't think I can cope with these kind of crazy people and I'm going back to the States."
So I guess we now also have the "Bethlehem Syndrome."
| Dan Wooding, 67, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma of 44 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. danjuma1@aol.com. |  |
