Walls, tunnels, and flutes!

Shabbat Shalom! Another great day today friends, our first day in Jerusalem! Today started earlier than the rest of our days here, with our wake up call at 6 and breakfast at 6:30 (normally it's 6:30 wake up and 7 breakfast).

Western wall and tunnels- known as "the Wailing Wall" in pop culture, the Western Wall is the prayer for all in the Jewish faith. Where the temple of Jerusalem used to stand, there were also walls built up around the outside, almost like a retaining wall, but the temple is long since gone and the area above under Palestinian control. So where people go now to be as close as they can to where the temple was, is the Western Wall. Being there was very surreal. There was a Men's side and a women's side; the men's side was of course larger, and required all men to wear a kippa or yarmulke. We were able to stand in the prayer areas with the people praying to observe them. Many people were pressed up as close as possible to the wall, and everyone would hold a prayer book while they mumbled their prayers. Your heart is not supposed to face away from the wall, and when people would leave, they would take several steps backwards (heart still facing the wall) before they would turn around and leave completely. We then went down into the tunnels below the houses that run along the walls. Though there was not a lot to see to the untrained eye, the tunnel is also a place of prayer and education for many people. We learned more about King Herod's construction of the wall, and we were able to witness many people praying. It made us joyful for our ability to pray whenever and wherever.

Hezekiah's tunnels- We walked through the tunnel that was constructed during the reign of Hezekiah which was used to bring water into the city of Jerusalem. This required a change of attire. Having just come from the western wall, where we had to dress modestly, we then changed into shorts and water shoes to trek through the water. The water was shocking at first, but then your feet were so cold, you got used to it! We walked through tunnel with only a flash light and knee deep water, but imagine in the time of its construction, it must of have been hard to carry torches and build!

Yad Vashem- Here on the mountains of Jerusalem, there is a memorial. Not any memorial, but a Holocaust memorial and museum actually. We had only an hour and fifteen minutes due to the fact that it closed early today (Shabbat), so we didn't have time to doddle through the exhibits. We were humbled. Soon after, we had our lunch on the hillside below.

Bethlehem- Sadly, we had to leave our friend Ronen behind in Jerusalem, since Bethlehem is in Palestinian control. So we crossed the border into Bethlehem and stopped first at a Christian gift shop, where they sold the most beautiful Olive wood Nativities. We shopped around for awhile, and then our new guide took over from there. We climbed into two vans and headed through the busy streets (let's just say, they drive worse than Californians). The Church of the Nativity is under-going a fair bit of construction, so there was not much to see, and the line to go down to see where they believe Jesus was born was too long, so we spent only 20 minutes there before heading back to our bus (which we left at the gift shop) and heading back to the hotel. I think many of our favorite part was leaving Bethlehem, mainly because of the street vendors. The line to leave Palestinian Territories is usually longer than the line to get in, so we had time to kill. The vendors come up to your car and if you have your window open, they will force their goods inside to get you to buy. Normally, we wouldn't have even talked to the vendors, but here's the thing: our fearless leader TJ has been looking everywhere for flutes. The vendor came up, so TJ and 5 others bought $3 bamboo flutes. The ride home was loud, to say the least...

We just finished our Shabbat dinner, and now we are going to enjoy an extra 30 mins of sleep tonight since we don't have to wake up until 7! Goodnight from Jerusalem!