An Inspiring Day
Hello world,
A quick dip in the Mediterranean was a great way for Bus 169 to wake up and get going this morning. The cold salt water splashing in our faces was refreshing after a long day of traveling yesterday. The time on the beach gave me a moment to pick Coby's brain about the culture and composition of the Israeli people. So interesting!
Then we took to the streets attempting to understand the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. We began by visiting the site of the assassination. First, I began by sitting in front of the wall covered in graffiti repeating the word shalom among others. It struck me that Rabin's followers honored his memory by continuing the search for peace in his absence. The disorganized but repeating patterns of words highlighted the end goal of peace despite an inability to find a true and clear answer as to how to get there. Moving over to the memorials monument, the shaken tiles of pavement scattered across each other created a feeling of unrest. It reminded me of standing inside the holocaust memorial in Berlin. The discomfort of standing in between the pillars in Berlin was reminiscent of the unsteady tiles I saw before me.
As a group, we moved over to Rabin square in order to further develop our understanding of the impact of the assassination. Moose gave us a list of questions to use as a guide in asking the Israelis passing by in the square about the assassination.
We broke up into groups - nervous at first - and we began approaching people in the square. After an hour, our group had two major successes. We discussed Rabin's death by speaking with a young Arabic woman and an older Jewish woman. They both added depth to our understanding of how the Israelis viewed this tragedy and both believed that the death of Rabin destroyed the peace talks.
Our last major stop of the day was in Jerusalem at the western wall. I simply did not know how I should approach this amazing experience. This is our holy site. This is the place where so many Jews have journeyed just to pray. How could I possibly understand the significance of such a site?
After Moshe led us in a prayer for the sick, it was time to walk across the courtyard to the wall. I started by staring from a distance, first watching the the people around the wall. Then I pondered the history of the wall, the hundreds of years that had passed since it was first erected, the thousands of people who have stood under it in the position I was about to assume, and the many more who would have gone had they been given the opportunity.
I then washed my hands, grabbed a yammikah, and approached the wall. My mother had given me a message to deliver to the wall at the behest of my grandmother. My grandmother insisted it would provide luck because you're not supposed to kill the messenger. I then rested my hand on the wall and leaned in. After some time I leaned back and inserted my own message into the wall.
I had planned to walk away with out turning back inside the prayer area; however, a man wishing to wrap me in tafillin had a different plan. At his insistence, I decided to give it a try. It turned out he was from the same town as my grandparents. I had him explain the importance of the tafillin to me again and the significance of the wrapping of ones arm. I headed back toward the wall for another round of prayer. And eventually ended up back with the group.
To try and reduce that moment into just a series of words seems silly. I had just visited a place that was our Sisteenth chapel, a place that had been built by the Jewish kings. But, what kind of inspiration should I draw from such an important place? Was it just an ancient wall with holes where the men stand divided from the women? No, it was our most powerful connection to the biblical past of Judaism and the original Jewish state. It was a place where everyone can find their own meaning and purpose.
Photo Credit: @liveyourlife489
