A Beautiful Day in the Lank of Milk and Honey
What a beautiful day in the Land of Milk and Honey. We began this morning with a quick breakfast and then went on to the lovely beaches of Tel Aviv. We all sunscreened up and headed to the surf. It was rad! The warm waters of the Mediterranean quickly relaxed and revived us from several busy days of sightseeing and hiking. After several hours of hitting the waves and bathing in the sun, we packed up and headed to the holiest city in the world, Jerusalem.
As we arrived in this holy city, we were given a brief, but informative, bus tour of some of Jerusalem's neighborhoods. When we arrived at one of those neighborhoods, Emek Refa'im, we then split up for lunch. For some it was burgers, while for others it was classic falafel. Regardless of the food choice, the Israeli cuisine did not disappoint. Now that we were all filled up, we headed for a tour of the Old City of Jerusalem. When we arrived, we took a moment to view the city from a beautiful lookout point. It was a very pretty view. We then began our walking tour of the Jewish Quarter of the city. We started in the tomb of King David. This was a terrific place. We were able to see such a major part of Jewish history, it was very powerful. From there, we walked around the neighborhood and enjoyed many of the sights. We took a short break to fill up on Israeli iced coffees and some delicious pastries, which was a great little break. While we ate, we learned about the remains of what was once a market place during the time of the First Temple. There were some ancient columns that gave us a small picture of what the market used to look like, and it was very cool to imagine that scene while we sat and ate our snack. We walked around for a little while longer and even got a chance to buy some beautiful Judaica and other souvenirs. Finally we were ready to see the Western Wall.
We started by hearing a brief history and the religious significance of the two temples and the remaining walls that we were about to experience. The anticipation was building. It was very interesting to see the influence of the three monotheistic religions on the area, and we couldn't wait to learn more. Then we all linked arms and walked with our eyes closed to a lookout just above the wall. On the count of three, we all opened our eyes and saw the wall for the first time all together. It was a very powerful moment. We walked down to the wall carrying our little notes or prayers to put in the wall. The boys all went to one side and the girls the other. Many of the guys wore tefillin, most for the first time, as they stood and prayed at the holiest site in Judaism. We took some pictures and discussed this powerful emotional and religious experience as we headed back to the hotel for dinner.
After a quick dinner, we headed into a discussion about the Holocaust. Since tomorrow we will be going to Yad Vashem, it was important to have this conversation to put us in the right mindset. We had a short activity that allowed us to share some stories as well as personal thoughts about the Holocaust. It brought our group even closer together.
It was a long but great day here in Jerusalem. Tomorrow is sure to be a very emotional and eye opening day for a lot of members of bus 358. It will be emotional, but it is important for us, as Jews and members of the human race, to study this atrocity and learn from the mistakes of yesteryear. Goodnight from Jerusalem! We will check in tomorrow from the Negev!!!
Photo Credits: Header Image-@illinihillel, Image 1-@yahnza17, Image 2-@jc9611, Image 3-@meganvanderah, Image 4-@greenbergj23, Image 5-@lex_onthebeach
