Day 5-Old Jerusalem during the day

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In the spiritual highlight of the trip, we went to Old Jerusalem this morning. We started with a virtual tour of the Second Temple that was very informative. It helped to explain the history of the site and allowed us to understand what was still around from the Second Temple. We were quizzed by our guide about the origins of many ancient concepts that evolved into today's world. We talked about what happened to the old temple including what happened to the Ark of the Convenant, which of course we all knew was found by Indiana Jones as the guide confirmed 😊.

We then went to the Southern Wall Excavation, where we all sat on the steps and were led in song by Cantor Rica. She mentioned that when she was there many years ago with a number of cantors, they got into an incident with muslims shouting down from their mosque. In constrast, today was a beautiful sunny day and multiple Jewish groups were doing the same as us and singing and praying in this area.

The Western wall was next, and we brought our written prayers and those that we collected from our congregation. The men and women separated, of course, and we each had our personal moments at the wall as a group, with our children and ourselves. On the men's side, we were surprised by the number of Jews that asked us for money or to get involved with their practices. I was expecting a more silent and unobstructed experience.

Those of us on the women's side had a little more trouble getting to the wall, but were able to gather with Cantor Rica, join hands and a Mi Sheberach for a congregant who is ill. It was a very moving experience and many tears were shed. Although the experience in total was awe inspiring, many of us had conflicting emotions including resentment about having to separate from our families and the discomfort of being in a much more confined space. I, Caroline, would have liked to see my sons have such an important experience.

We were all impressed and confused by the history of the site and how many different groups have claimed and transformed such a small area over thousands of years. It is a shame that it has to be this way.

For our secular side, we moved on to lunch and shopping. Lucas, Max, Carly and Ezra all purchased tallits for their upcoming Bar & Bat Mitzvahs. In addition, some women picked out a tallit for Carol for her upcoming adult Bat Mitzvah. We walked thru the jewish and arab markets in the old city before taking this break. Tonight we go back to see the tunnels under the temple and we are on our own for dinner.

- Caroline & Jeff

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Comments

[Cantor Rica]

The Western Wall
Caroline - your sentiments are echoed by liberal Jews across the world. It is why we are so delighted that the excavations of the other end of the western wall by Robinson's arch and the southern wall have been opened to all who want to pray together as families. The Western Wall remains a complex place for us. - Rica