Jerusalem-Day 1

Waking up in Jerusalem we had another good breakfast full of salad, vegetables, cheese, and chocolate pudding. Then it was off to the Jaffa Gate. Some really incredible anonymous person gifted Shira and me a tour of Jerusalem (if that person is reading this…THANKS!). We got a little lost and realized we left our cell phone back at the hotel, but eventually met up with our tour guide Ayal. Off we went to the City of David. We learned that the City of David is actually located just outside the walls of the current Old City. Check out the link for the City of David for a virtual tour and bunch of other cool information about the city:  http://www.cityofdavid.org.il/about_eng.asp. Ayal explained to us the difference between the minimist and maximist archeologist. The minimist believe that the City of David has lots of really old stuff at it, but may or may not have belonged to King David, while the maximist believe based on Bilblical references this is indeed the palace of King David. Seals from the period of Jeremiah have been found in the ruins, so everyone agrees that this is a very old important place. One of the highlights is walking through the water tunnel of King Hezekiah. The king built this tunnel to help protect Jerusalem from the Nebachanezzer and his invading army. From the Gihon Spring to the water tunnel to the Shiloah Pool this is how the people at the time of the First Temple got water. While the road connecting the Shiloah Pool to the Temple Mount has not been completed excavated you can get a good picture of the time period. We walked through King Hezekiah’s tunnel where the water got up to my thigh in some parts and could see the different direction of the pick axes depending on what side of the tunnel we were on. Two different groups worked long and hard until they met each other in the middle. Pretty good for a group of people lacking walkie-talkies, GPS coordination, etc. Since the road is not completely connected yet, we walked through a local neighborhood back to the Dung Gate to the South Wall Excavation site. We couldn’t walk through the entire area as it was almost noon on Friday and the parts closest to the Temple Mount were closed to allow the Muslims to pray. It was impressive to hear the calls to prayer and the chanting. Along the South Wall is an excavated street and Robinson’s Arch. Many Conservative Bnai Mitzvot are taking place in this area where and men and women can participate in the service equally. Robinson’s Arch was named for the Edward Robinson, an American, who discovered it in 1838. During the Temple period a large path of stairs lead up to the Temple from the street. One of the carving in the stones along the South Wall talks about the trumpet signaling the start of Shabbat. To this day a siren still sounds in Jerusalem giving warning that Shabbat is about to start and another siren when it actually starts. There was a small museum here complete with a little movie explaining how a pilgrim came to the Temple to make a sacrifice. http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/SouthernWall.html

After all this walking we were hungry and headed to the Jewish Quarter for something to eat. We found a pizza place that actually had very good pizza. We walked around the Jewish Quarter learning about the Hurva Synagogue. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/jerusalem-hurva-synagogue This synagogue has been built, destroyed, and rebuilt many times. For the longest time the government decided to leave it in its destroyed state as a reminder, buy in the 2000s it was rebuilt. We walked through the Armenian Quarter and learned that the Armenians had been very nice to the Crusaders which is why they got their own quarter and that there was a set number of Armenians that lived there.

After leaving the Old City, we walked to the Mahane Yehuda Market. Apparently this is the place to be on Friday afternoon to prepare for Shabbat. Fruits, vegetables, Challah, cookies, spices, etc. It was even busier than Shop Rite. It was pretty overwhelming, so we brought a bouquet of flowers to bring to Shabbat dinner and headed back to the hotel to prepare for Shabbat. Sitting in the garden of our hotel were able to hear the Shabbat siren. It was then off for a really great Shabbat dinner at the home of my cousins. It was a very festive meal, since we it was also the lead in for Purim. I was especially excited by the dessert of sorbet made from the sabra fruit. 

Here are a bunch of photos from the first day in Jerusalem: Jerusalem Day One Photos