Above, Below and Through the Old City

Day nine of our ten-day tour of the Holy land! “What did we do today?” you might ask, and let me tell you, it was a crazy full day. Energy is running low as the Joshua students get more and more tired from all the crazy things that we have seen and done during our trip so far. However, that doesn’t stop us from being excited about the things that are ahead and the things that we still have to see here.

Our first stop of the day was the Temple Mount. It was really interesting having to go through so much security and seeing so many guards. While we were listening to our guide Ronen we were even being told that our beliefs are myths by one of the guards that was on duty. We were all super excited to be in this place where not only the Temple used to be, but also the place where people believed that Abraham went to sacrifice his son Isaac as God commanded. Seeing the Dome of the Rock was also a super cool experience. The whole thing was covered in mosaic tile. We only wish that we could have gone inside and seen all the wonders that are concealed within.

After that we went to the Western Wall Tunnels. It was really cool to see how the wall was built. Ronen gave us a presentation on a model to show us the progression of building on the Temple Mount. From there we moved through the tunnels to get closer to the Western Wall. We got to the wall and there was a room only for the women, so the girls of our group were allowed to go into this room where a few women were praying. It was a super awesome thing to see and to hear, because there was one person who was praying loudly and everyone else was doing their own prayers, but it was just a super awesome community thing that we got to see there at the wall. We continued along the tunnels that lead alongside the Western Wall. It was just a super awesome learning experience where we got to learn a lot about the significance of the wall and why it is still important to the Jewish people of today.

Once we exited the tunnels, we were allowed to approach the upper portion of the wall that is accessible to the public. This small plaza is a place that is open 24/7 so that people can pray at the wall. It is divided into two sections, one for the men and one for the women. We were all given the chance to go pray at the wall and experience their culture and traditions. It was really cool to see how many people were there reading from their prayer books and leaving prayers in the wall. Some of us even left our own prayers there. Those prayers are taken from the wall every two to three months and are buried on the Mount of Olives and become Holy Scriptures.

From there we went to lunch and we got to eat bagels bigger than your face! We tore them into small pieces and dipped them in hummus, a soft cheese called labneh, goat cheese with date honey, olive oil with a green herb called hyssop, and even a chocolate spread similar to Nutella. It was a very traditional meal.

After lunch we went to the Holocaust museum. The name of the museum is Yad Vashem, which means “a name and a memory.” This was a completely different experience from the museum we visited in L.A. The museum here is very focused on preserving the memory of the people who suffered and those who died; and it very much defends their honor. While in other museums you hear and see a lot about the torture and experimenting, there was none of that at this museum. It showed a lot of videos of people who survived, and just seeing how even so many years after are still struggling to tell their story is evidence of how much the people suffered, even the small children. There was one room that was a hall of names, it was a half circle room and inside along the walls were bookshelves full of books with peoples names in them, the name of every person who died during the Holocaust, which I think shows and emphasizes how they try to preserve the honor and memory of all the people who died. It’s always crazy to go to these museums and to hear about the super real struggles that people were put through, but it really puts things into perspective for us today and how we have so much freedom and take so much for granted.

We got back to our hotel kind of early in the afternoon, so we have had plenty of time to rest and journal and process through what we’ve been learning. We are looking forward to going to bed tonight and getting to sleep in a little tomorrow morning. One more day!

Lindsey Pent and Jessica Griggs

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