July 3rd; Jerusalem all over!

July 4, 2014

I think I say this at the beginning of nearly every post, but what an amazing day today was! Before I get a chance to update, I want to list the places we went to: The place of the last supper; the Tomb of King David; the City of David including the water ways and sewers (lots and lots of climbing up and down and IN sewers!); Robinson’s Arch at The Wall, Davidsons Center at The Wall, The Jewish Quarter for Lunch; the visit to the Kotel (The Wall) along with prayer opportunity for me; and then we went to Walk the Stations of the Cross. We did Stations 1 – 8 and will do Stations 9 – 14 next day when we go to Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is where all these stations reside.

Ran out of time to do a proper update; but didn’t want to forget the itinerary! Will add more soon!

It’s Friday, Shabbat, July 4th, etc. as I write this update. I wrote on a piece of paper everywhere we went because I knew I would get the order all skewed!! Our itinerary is no longer a good reference check for me as it has changed and is changing regularly with the tension and situation surrounding the kidnapping, murder, discovery/recovery of the 3 Israeli teens and a day or two later the death of a Palestinian teen. Between rumors and individual uprisings, some places are less safe than others to be. I haven’t felt intensely unsafe but have noticed an increased military presence, tighter security checks, etc. and everyone seems to understand that it is what is required just now; and we move about our day. Some of our visits this day have been much less attended The student groups going through would not have been allowed to come to most of these sites in this state of alert.

We began the day of walking (I achieved over 12,000 steps today!) at the place of Jesus’ Last Supper (the Coenaculum). Coincidentally, maybe, a floor above and/or below, is the tomb of David. No one can truly confirm or not if David is really there as due to past plundering in different periods of history, there just isn’t any true evidence. Women and men were allowed to view the tomb, but had separate entrances, etc. The feminist in my gets so tired of this! But it is the true history of most ancient religious practices (argh!).

We then began the steep walk down to the City of David which is unbelievable. http://www.cityofdavid.org.il/en Theya re constantly uncovering more and more and have to be so careful because there are so many layers of architecture to sort through. We wandered through water “caves”, I’ll call them…sounds much better than ancient sewer systems. These were different even than I went through 2 years ago. The terrain was rough and tough and I was so happy that I wore the right shoes! Between mild claustrophobia and the rough ground we walked through, I was scared, but more determined than anything not to hold up the crowd. But, I do show strain and stress fairly easily on my face so I was fairly transparent! But, I made it and I was right behind the guide so I was definitely not last!

After we came out, we ended up at The Shiloach Pool: “It is to this pool that King Hezekiah diverted the waters of the Gihon.”

Then we transcended Up Up Up Up and Up and I was shocked to find out that we came out at Robinson’s Arch…which is a newer excavation of the Western Wall. Women are allowed to pray and worship there with and without men; they can read Torah, etc. all which is not allowed at the other two sections (Mens/Womens) of The Wall. The Men of course are allowed to do all of that at their side of the wall. There are even study nooks filled with books and Torah for them to use. The women’s section does not have a few book shelves. They were probably there when I last saw them, but I don’t’ recall them being there.

The Robinsons Arch area is really wonderful as several stages of excavation remain so you can really see the immense structure that the Temple Mount Walls were to create: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson’s_Arch. I can’t believe they could build with stones that size.

We then transcended further UP Up Up Up Up to the Jewish Quarter for lunch. I was so lucky that I stayed right near the entrance as a group of musicians came and played and there was clapping and happy music to accompany my Felafel sandwich and bottles of water!

Afterward we went back down and went IN TO the Wall area where I had the opportunity to pray. Everyone in our group had the opportunity to pray and put prayer papers in the wall if they chose. Many were thrilled to go where they knew Jesus had worshipped. It was, as I expected, wonderful.

From there we walked to the Via Dolorosa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Dolorosa ) which is the path that Jesus is said to have walked to his crucifixion. We only did stations 1 – 8 and our intention is to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where the remaining 9-14 are.

Some of the areas were quite ornate and lovely; but most were merely signs on a stone wall or doorway. But it’s not so much what they look like, but the steps in Jesus’s walk that they represent.

We came back to the hotel afterward and had dinner. I have grown to love our discussions after dinner. OUr guide leaves and we have an opportunity to learn from these great minds that are on this trip. Dr. Zinni Fox brought us each a small booklet on the Vatican II policy on the Jews and a lively and informative discussion ensued…until they sort of threw us out of the restaurant!!! We were way past dinner time and that seems to be a pattern for us!

I have finally learned a way to caption my pictures so here’s hoping that’s helpful!

Love, Lila OX

12,314 steps