Shout out to my followerrsss!!!!! I see you Rachael, I SEE you! Hollla.
(I appreciate my other follower too but the account is private so I can't give you a shout out. But still thanks.)
Also: the Ein Gedi & Masada pictures are UP. Very exciting, check them out on my Picasa website. Sometimes I start fooling around with my pictures and make them look kind of whacky or abstract (still cool though!). If you find those weird just ignore them because I included all the regular versions too, so enjoy! I posted all the ones that made the final cut into my personal library, so you have what I have... albeit the "final cut" still included a lot of pictures. I couldn't help it.
So Mike and I wrapped it up in Ein Gedi and caught the next bus out. My griping about the heat and getting all salty and the Ibexeem (just kidding I love those guys) was mostly playful; Ein Gedi was a beautiful place and a great experience and I was never in any rush to leave it. Alas, all good things must come to an end and it was time for us to move on. We only had a couple days before we would be heading up to school and Jerusalem was calling. I couldn't show up to school without having seen Jerusalem! Everybody would know I was an Israel-noob.
Because we decided to skip out on our second night in Ein Gedi, and because we got up at...
OK sorry have to interrupt here. An Israeli just came up to me while I was blogging in a common area and was all like, "Excuse me, I am thinking about getting a Mac but I'm not sure...", and I was all like, Oh boy, you don't even know who you're talking to. I was almost an Apple employee in Boston (by that I mean they didn't hire me). I totally sold him on that. He was worried about sending word documents to PC users. I was like, pfft no sweat I've got Microsoft Word on this baby. No viruses either. Go buy it. NOW.
Anyway so we got up at 4am to hike Masada so even though we spent hours up there we were down by 10ish. This meant we made it into Jerusalem by probably 2pm or so, and still got to spend a half day's worth of daylight out in the city. Aweeesoommme.
We decided to save money upon arrival by walking from the Central Bus Station to our hostel instead of taking a bus or taxi (the taxi drivers at the bus station realllly wanted us to take a taxi. They were kinda right about it being far too, but we toughed it out.) You know its bad when you are about half way there and you ask somebody for directions and they still tell you to get on a bus. Plus let me conjure up the image of both of us with pretty full hiking backpacks on, our daypacks on backwards so they are on our stomachs, and I also have my laptop bag. We must have looked like pack mules on those Jerusalem streets.
We finally made it to the hostel and semi-collapsed as we dumped off all our stuff. But you can't sit for that long in Jerusalem without getting the itch to explore. No rest for the weary. There are umpteen places to go in Jerusalem and Mike had already been a few times so he didn't have much preference, I had never been so I didn't have much of a preference as long as we saw something cool... and this meant indecision. So, we went with the default obvious choice: the Old City.
If anyone is a little unfamiliar with Jerusalem, the 5 second explanation is this. There is West Jerusalem, and there is East Jerusalem. West Jerusalem is Israeli, and for all intents and purposes, a fairly modern and developed city. East Jerusalem is a dicier situation. It was annexed by Israel in the 1967 War and a lot of people don't acknowledge their possession of it (think Israeli-Palestinian conflict). Somewhere in the middle area there is the Old City, which is famously surrounded completely by walls with specific gates for entrances.
I digress from my 5 second explanation, but one interesting thing (although I was having trouble quickly finding the specifics on this) is that the walls of the city were not "originally" there. They were built by a Roman leader (maybe emperor? see this is why I was trying to find the story) who got scared when he dreamed that he was being attacked by lions or something. So, he built walls around the whole thing. They are still really old though.
Also, the Old City is again divided into ethnic/religious quarters: Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Armenian.
So we went to the Old City which was a little walk down from our hostel, and I really had no idea what to expect, but it was pretty amazing and totally unlike any city experience I have ever had. Most of the "roads" in the Old City don't fit cars, they are narrow paths packed with people and shops, and the stones are all worn and smooth (I slipped a lot on my worn out flip flops). Parts of the streets are completely covered, others open up into large squares, people are everywhere, it is jam packed full of life, color, and activity. Great vibe, very fun to walk around, incredibly hard to describe.
Here is a picture of a quite exceptional display that we saw. You might have to click on the picture to get the larger version to be able to see what it is... a tower of spices with a miniature model of the Dome of the Rock on top (one of the most iconic landmarks of Jerusalem). So cool!
This is in the Arab quarter, which is the area with the most tightly packed market experience from what I saw. You can get cheap, exciting food everywhere and see things like the Tower of Spices as I'm calling it. Very very fun. Although if you go, DON'T FORGET TO BARTER. Although that is a good general rule for Jerusalem in general. I mean Israel in general.
You can have a great time just walking around aimlessly in the Old City, getting semi-lost, seeing what places you find, and ending up somewhere you wanted to go when you least expected you'd get there. So we did that for a little while. Eventually we ended up in the Jewish Quarter. The building on the right is the Great Synagogue.
If you don't think the Old City is super cool, then I'm wondering where else it is that you found a shofar sale. So? Didn't think so. PILE OF SHOOFFAARRSSSS!!!!
More walking around, walking around, soaking it in, being amazed, feeling super Jewish, wanting to speak Hebrew and Arabic so I could talk to people, and just like I said, when you least expect it... Western Wall!
If anyone is unfamiliar... the Western Wall is the single holiest site in the Jewish religion. Why? I'll explain briefly and don't feel guilty if you didn't know because I actually had the concept slightly WRONG. Yep. Embarrassing. I had the story / significance of the Western Wall slightly wrong. Bad Jew. Baaadd Jew. BUT I made the pilgrimage to the Wall. So good Jew again.
Ok so basic idea. The mountain where Jerusalem is located is also the mountain where Abraham brought Isaac to sacrifice him to God before God sent down an angel to stop him. So, this was the site for the original Temple of Judaism. THE Temple. But, the Temple was not simply built on top of the mountain. Instead, there was a giannntt box (basically) built on top of the mountain. The Temple was built up on top of this box where there was a big flat area with a plaza and everything. The box is called the Temple Mount, so the Temple was mounted on the Temple Mount. Clever huh? Way back when the Temple got destroyed, and rebuilt. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans when the conquered Jerusalem (and caused the ensuing revolt by the Zealots who took refuge in Masada for a few years before committing suicide as the Romans broke in like I explained in the last post... see the connections??). This was very sad for all Jews because the Temple was the holiest site for Jews and it was a commandment to make the pilgrimage to the Temple (I think it was a commandment...?). Since the Romans totally scrapped the thing, the holiest place for Jews to pray is now the next best thing, the Western Wall. The Western Wall is the wall of the Temple Mount that was closest to where the Temple actually sat on top of the Temple Mount, but the wall is not an actual part of the Second Temple itself.
If you want to understand a large part of the tension between Jews and Muslims, look no further than this: What now sits on top of the Temple Mount where the Second Temple was located? The third holiest site in all of Islam, al Aqsa mosque. There is also an Islamic monument to Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac up there (since Islam includes Hebrew prophets). So these two extremely holy sites for Islam and Judaism are LITERALLY ON TOP OF EACH OTHER. Bad news bears. The top of the Temple Mount is currently under Islamic control. When I go back to Jerusalem I will go up there to look around, but there are strict hours when non-Muslims are allowed up there and it is closed most hours of the day. If you wander down towards the entrance during non-visiting hours, which I did twice by mistake, the armed guards yell "CLOSED". I think non-Muslims were allowed to go inside the Dome of the Rock as recently as 10 years ago or so, but when Israeli leader Ariel Sharon took the army up there he effectively started the second intifada, and ever since security up there is much tighter. Sigh.
Anyway WOW enough history. My first ever view of the wall (not counting anything I saw when I was 3 years old):
Ok so what's weird about this picture. I had to use Mike as a reference, but apparently the extra structures / makeshift walls around the right side of the picture are not normal.
Neither is the music.
You can't see that well, but neither is the whole square being full of soldiers.
Hmmmmm. What's going on. Soldiers running around the square everywhere, some dry-firing their weapons in a line, others shining shoes, all sorts of activity. Oooookkk...
We decided for visit wall first, ask questions after. Me at the wall:
I told you I was being a gooood Jew! One thing that is kind of fun about the wall is interacting with all the Orthodox rabbis that hang out there. One came up to Mike and me and started talking with us. After a short bit he asked me if my mom was Jewish. "Yes, she converted". Did she convert in the Orthodox way? "Ha, nooo...". I wasn't sure what was going on, but he rapidly lost interest in me. Turned out not to be such a bad thing, because after talking with Mike and making sure everything checked out with him (his mother isn't Orthodox, apparently that is more to make sure the conversion is appropriate or something), he basically forced Mike to put on tefillin, which we began to refer to as "getting tied up".
Thanks Mom! I dodged a bullet on that one. Also apparently you aren't Jewish or something like that. Hahaha, I'm probably not either. Crazy people. It is kind of fun to argue with those guys though. He was funny and good natured, and he was telling us that we should learn real trades, not things like Economics and Literature, so that we could make sure to be able to provide for our families. Oh brother. He said something like the most important 3 things are all providing for your family. Then he used my camera to take a picture of Mike with the tefillin on and tried to get him to promise to marry a Jewish girl (his girlfriend isn't Jewish). Hahahaha all fun times. We also argued with him about his reasoning about how the Jews have only been in one war and how Muslims start wars all the time, stuff like that. Crazy stuff. Oh well. He also pitched us his website. I haven't looked at it but feel free to check it out... at your own risk. Let me know how it is. What a character.
I wouldn't consider myself a super spiritual / religious Jew. However, I did my thing at the Western Wall and I have to say that is about as spiritual as I have ever felt. Knowing the history and the meaning of the place, and sensing all the belief and prayer that surrounds it is just a very overcoming feeling, and regardless of what might make sense and what might not make sense (to me or anyone) in the Bible or in religion as a whole, knowing what the place represents and being a part of the mutual consciousness that centers around it does feel truly very special. It is a goosebumps, shiver down your spine moment, at least for me. I liked it, it felt like I was really getting in touch with my spiritual side, in both a significantly Jewish way, and also a way that makes sense specifically to me, which I like as a general idea: people getting in touch in a way that makes sense to them. Sorry, I'm getting a little abstract... basically I felt super Jewish and in touch with Jewish history / religion, etc., but also felt I could talk with myself / spiritual world in a way that made sense specifically to me. Both of which I liked.
I figured it was probably good that I felt all bubbly going to the Wall or else maybe I would suspect I made the wrong choice studying in Israel. No worries. We decided the natural thing to do after visiting the wall was go check out those guns.
I found the soldiers to be pretty friendly. I even chatted with a couple for a little while.
Man I was just getting super Israeli down there at the wall! I got so caught up I even signed up to join the Israeli army! Jk obv. But it turns out what was going on was that they were setting up for a ceremony to welcome the new Paratroopers to the army. Cool! Mike and I nudged into front row seats only to find out the ceremony wasn't for 2 hours so we decided to leave and come back. Having trouble finding our way out (this was one of those times when we wandered down the entrance to the Temple Mount), a little Muslim boy offered to help us find our way out. How nice!
He took us to a scenic overlook on the way. Gold dome is the Dome of the Rock which I mentioned. The grayish greenish dome on the far right that is mostly cut off from the picture is al Aqsa mosque, and the Western Wall is in the middle (wall of the Temple Mount... they are on top of the Temple Mount).
So he led us out and... "Don't you want to pay me something?" What? Huh? Not really... I thought you were just being nice... Oh. I get it. I gave him like a shekel or something and he looked shocked (not in a good way). Mike was perfectly happy not to pay him anything as he knew something like this would happen, but I felt bad. He told me he only worked for "big money". Are you kidding me kid? I figured, fine, I'd give him 5 shekels more, for a total of like $1.50. Whatever. He peered over into my wallet and specified that he wanted "that one" and started to take it. I was like OOOKKKK and grabbed his hand and he looked very dejected as I took back my 10 piece. I gave him the 5 and left him standing there looking non too happy, although that was probably a good haul for him.
I'm a sucker. I'd been had. Never again. That was my one time. He got my 6 shekels but whatever, we were out. We came back later for the ceremony.
Pretty cool, although it was kinda weird with some singing and such and after about 10 minutes I think we had the jist although we stayed longer... oh well, it was neat. (I guess they were being accepted into the army but not sworn in as full members or something along those lines.. that ceremony is later and I believe it happens on top of Masada, where they swear "Masada shall not fall again!!!!").
Ok this is getting pretty long so I'll try to be efficient. The next day (October 5th) we did some walking around Mount Zion (right next to Old City), including King David's Tomb, the room of the Last Supper, a small Holocaust Museum, and then the main event for the day was the Davidson Center, which was a very interesting excavation project that is revealing tens of feet down below street level around the Temple Mount, which had been covered up over the years. It shows how there were once shops and trade along the paths around the bottom (the street with bustling trade was right next to the wall, and thus was aptly named "Wall Street"), how the rocks were built up in decreasing size, and all sorts of things of this nature. Very cool. Here is a big pile of rocks that got chucked off the top by the Romans.
Did you see me? I'm very small. The thing coming off the wall in the top right of the picture is the remains of an enormous arch that served as a staircase for people to the top of the Temple Mount. There were baths and such around the bottom because not everybody was allowed up top in the time of the Temple, and even if you were you had to be ritually cleaned first. The arch was so big that they are afraid to try to rebuild it because it is so structurally difficult.
We also visited the large food market known as Mahane Yehuda.
On October 6th, a Wednesday now, we kept it pretty casual with a short half day. We did the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is one of the extremely holy sites of Christianity. I believe it is supposed to be the site where Jesus was crucified, and maybe resurrected as well?
Interesting custom, apparently you are supposed to rub towels or cloth on this rock, which I think is where Jesus was laid when he came off the cross.
We went into a room with a large wooden structure and a huge crowd of people and a long line of people walking through this big box thingy (no picture for now, sorry).
Me asking one of the many tour guides in the room: "So, um, what is that?"
Tour guide: "The tomb of Jesus"
Me: "Oh... thanks"
Hahahahahaha. Oops. Jewish after all. Also I found out later that apparently Adam's bones are in there too? I don't know if that is supposed to be true or not but I heard it, and we did find a downstairs room and we weren't sure what it was, so maybe that was it. I dunno how they got those bones but they did. Kind of cool though, I guess Adam is supposed to be buried directly below Jesus, with the idea being the blood from Jesus drips down on to Adam cleansing the sins of man or something like that... sounds neat but I'll try and verify that.
Anyway I won't keep you much longer (aka I'm falling asleep). Jerusalem was amazing and we did a lot, and I could talk for awhile longer about it, but I don't want your eyes to start bleeding from looking at your screen too long. I gave you our basic itinerary, and in short everything was amazing and I can't wait to go back. Awesome. Very fun. I think we slept in Jerusalem again that night after doing a little more general exploring, some in West Jerusalem as well, and then got up early on October 7th to head back to Tel Aviv, get our bags from Mike's aunt, and immediately turned around and headed up to Haifa to finally check into school!!!!!! That's next post...
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