After a WICKED late night last night, most of the fellows arose at the designated 6:30am wake up time, while two others continued to rest peacefully in their beds. The former ate breakfast in preparation for our walking tour of the Kotel tunnels and the latter gulped down theirs in the form of challah and honey on the bus, sympathetically provided by Dr. Halle Watkin.
We arrived at the Kotel and saw it in full day light for the first time. This provided a different view and reference for our journey through the tunnels below. The tunnels, an archeological journey back through time, were well lit but slightly cramped. We marveled at ancient Herodian and Hasmonean roadways and pillars stories beneath current ground level and parts of moats sitting dormant for thousands of years. We also passed by women praying in the tunnels, at the closest point of the wall to where the Holy of Holies (kodesh hakodashim) once stood. It was interesting to see that although designated space for the sexes is disproportionate at the Kotel (men have 75% of the space) the women and not the men are able to pray at this incredibly special spot. This observation prompted some discussion later at night about egalitarianism and the Jewish religion.
After exiting the tunnels, we walked through the Muslim Quarter to a final opportunity to spend time at the Kotel. Some fellows decided to write notes and place them in the wall. Some fellows experienced similar feelings to the night before. However, some had different feelings. We all spent some time struggling with what the Kotel meant to us on a personal level.
After leaving the Old City of Jerusalem we travelled to the Israel Museum, where we could actually visualize Jerusalem at the time of the second temple (and put together all the archeological pieces we have seen in the past 2 days) because the museum houses an amazingly realistic scale model of Jerusalem at that time. The temple was HUGE! With Herod’s expansions, the temple took up a great part of the walled city. We talked about the role it must have played in the religious and national lives of the people. We also learned about the various fortifications and how the Romans ultimately breached and decimated the city, putting an end to Jewish sovereignty of Jerusalem for thousands of years.
From the model we walked over to the Shrine of the Book to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was fascinating to see how such scrolls had been discovered and preserved for so many centuries and how the religion’s canonical and apocryphal liturgy connects it to the land. We also saw the famous AHAVA sculpture (taken from the LOVE sign in Philly) and posed for many fun photo s despite the sign clearly stating: “Do not climb.” The rest of the museum included paintings by Van Gogh, Picasso, Chagall and other Jewish artists, Jewish cultural clothing, and models of synagogues from around the world. For those who saw the Italian synagogue on Shabbat morning it was exciting to see the similarities between the functioning synagogue and the model in the museum.
It was only a hop, skip and a jump to the K’nesset (Israeli Parliament) building across the street where Benyamin briefed us on its makeup and functions. We spent majority of our time there in front of the symbol of the State of Israel, the menorah the British had gifted to the new state. The menorah has symbols representing historic Jewish events and personalities. Some fellows noted the significance of the menorah having being carried out of Jerusalem by the Romans now being returned to the Jewish people – a real symbol of rebirth.
After our extraordinarily busy morning we travelled to one of the loudest and most vibrant places in Jerusalem - the Machane Yehuda shuk (open air food market. Hannah L. briefed us on what to expect and proper shuk etiquette and we were each given a stipend of 35 shekels to purchase our own lunches. Most of us, tempted by the irresistible aroma, purchased falafel or shwarma to eat, and bought fresh fruit, nuts, and candy for dessert. It was great interacting with the Israelis and experiencing the atmosphere of the shuk as it is completely foreign to us in the States. One fellow bought a Breslav knit kippah with Na Nach Nachman M’Uman written on it and began to sing and dance in the middle of the shuk. We surmised that he was either inspired by a woman we had seen dancing and singing outside the Jaffa Gate yesterday or else he was overcome with
“Jerusalem syndrome”.
Our afternoon programming brought us to studying and thinking about modern Jerusalem. We drove to Gilo, the neighborhood on the periphery of Jerusalem to view the wall that is either referred to as the security wall or the separation wall (which separates Jewish Jerusalem from Palestinian territories). We’ve decided just to refer to it as the swall. We had an intense discussion about what led to the building of the swall and how it serves as a micro chasm of the greater issues between Jews and Muslims in this country. Meirav, our Israeli tour guide, explained the history that led to the construction of the swall as well as her own experiences with the complexity of the issue. We struggled with the gray area between Israelis needing to feel safe and secure and Palestinians needing to feel that their basic human needs are met. It was an emotional discussion which challenged many of us to see this issue through multiple perspectives and left many of us feeling more confused and unsure than ever. This was the main reflection topic of our maagal layla this evening, with fellows sharing thoughts about the duel nature of all the walls we have seen the past few days (it was interesting to think that a wall could either be comforting and offer security or isolating and create tension) and sharing stories about grandparents affected by walls in Germany years ago.
This evening was much less intense as we met with friends and family and went in groups to enjoy dinner and shopping on Ben Yehuda Street. We feel sad to be ending our time in Jerusalem because we now feel so connected to the city, its history, and its conflicts but we are also excited about discovering other parts of Israel and shortly meeting our Haifa peeps.
Layla tov!
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