Thursday 29 May 2003

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Today was Yom Yerushalaim, which marks the retaking of the Old City during the 1967 war. Most of us started by having breakfast with Alvin Mars, who has been active in camping for many years. We then had project group meetings. The youth project group met with a staff member and a teen leader from the Israeli Scouts to discuss the structure and activities of the Scouts. We then went down the hill behind Ramat Rachel to observe part of a most interesting ceremony. Ethiopian Jews mark Yom Yerushalaim as a memorial day for those who died on the trek through the desert during their journey to Israel. The ceremony included chanting by the leaders of the community, but it was interesting to observe the variety of traditional Ethiopian clothing, in bright colors, as compared to those (especially the younger generation) dressed in more contemporary Israeli styles.

In the afternoon, we went to the Jerusalem Time Elevator, a multi-media overview of Jerusalem's history. We then had free time to walk around the city and record our impressions of Yom Yerushalaim. I went with Cobi, Michael, and Robin, and we recorded video and audio interviews with a number of people in the street as well as taking still pictures. We did not go to the main ceremony on Ammunition Hill because the weather was miserable. There had been a sandstorm in the desert, and this was causing it to rain mud in Jerusalem. Despite the rain being heavy at times, everything in the city was absolutely filthy.

We had dinner as a group at the JCC office to celebrate several birthdays (mine on 5/28, Jaime's on 5/30, and Elana's on 6/1). We also gave presentations about our impressions of Yom Yerushalaim from the afternoon.

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