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Published: February 14th 2017
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Day three jumped off to a great start. As we gathered downstairs in the lobby earlier than needed we headed once again over to Maganda at around 7:30 that morning. This time around we decided to try something new and I ordered the bean soup. I wasn't sure what I was expecting but it turned out to be something entirely different but it reminded me of a Mexican soup called Menudo which made it easier to eat. After we finished we headed back to the hotel lobby. Today was the day that we were going to visit the Temple Mount. One of the most religious sites in the world was going to be seen with my own eyes. It's remarkable how these things work. The guide informed us that it would take an hour or so to get to Temple Mount. We drove on and arrived around 10:30 am. After we parked the car, we began to make our way to the entrance. in order to enter the Temple Mount, we had to pass through the Western Wall plaza. I could hear singing and chanting from the Mughrabi Bridge that led to the Temple. As we stepped in (by the way,
there were a ton of guards) to the Temple Mount, my eyes became a blur as I witnessed beauty as its finest. It was somewhat terrifying as many others watched our group and how close the guards paid attention to us.
According to the Bible Genesis 22:1-14, God told Abraham to bring his son Isaac to the land of Moriahand offer him as a sacrifice on a mountain there. As Abraham was about to complete the sacrifice, God stopped him and provided a ram as a substitutionary sacrifice. In this same location, nearly 1,000 years later, God led Solomon to build the first temple (2 Chronicles 3:1). David had identified this location as the place for worshiping God because it was there the plague was stayed when he confessed his sin, and he purchased the place so he could build an altar 1 Chronicles 21:18-26. Solomon’s Temple stood until the Babylonians destroyed it in 586 BC. Zerubbabel led the efforts to build the Second Temple, which was completed in 516 BC, then enlarged by Herod the Great in 12 BC. The tour guide gave us this brief history as we looked on. To believe that so much was constructed
here and much has changed over the years was incredible. The guide gave us a fact that was quiet interesting. The ark of the covenant is said to be under the Temple Mount. As we took pictures, we neared the end of the trip. It was 3:35 when we reached our car. We decided to eat at a café called Tmol Shilshom which was a restaurant room on the top floor of a classic Jerusalem stone building in historic Nachalat Shiva, overlooking the Yoel Salomon pedestrian mall. As we entered into this small but cozy restaurant we were seated near the center. Against every wall were hundreds of books that anyone could pick up and read. I ordered a salmon filet in fig sauce which was amazing. For dessert I ordered something called sahlab, which was a hot Egyptian pudding. we spent almost two hours here in this restaurant that by the time we were exiting the café it was 6:02. We headed back to Tel Aviv and reached our hotel at 7:12 pm that evening. We were exhausted by the time we got to the Hotel and we all went upstairs and turned in for the night.
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