Shabbat in Jerusalem was definitely a unique experience. The bus dropped us off on Friday evening just outside the Old City walls, where we sat in a circle and talked about the meaning of Shabbat. Then we walked through the old city and stopped in a secluded area to light the candles and say the blessing together.
Then...we went to the Western Wall. I have never seen so many Jews all celebrating together in my whole life - what a powerful and moving sight! Unfortunately, we had a tech-free Shabbat, so I didn't get pictures, but that memory will stay with me for a long time. At the wall, there was a gender divide, so the women in the group went to the women's side. We all know that I'm normally not a fan of things like gender division that encourage discrimination and alienate people with complex gender identities. However, I am also a huge fan of communities of women spending quality time together, and this felt like that. All the women - Orthodox mothers with young children, soldiers, visiting tourist groups - were all singing and dancing together and generally having a fabulous time. It was totally surreal and a little overwhelming to be celebrating Shabbat at the Kotel in Jerusalem.
When we'd had our fill of snging, dancing, and general merriment, we went to Shabbat dinner. This was awesome! They had set up a catered dinner for us in an archaeology museum, so we were eating dinner in a restored living room from the time of the Second Temple. The food was good, company was good, and the location was amazing! Our tour guide Merav is finishing her Masters in Archaeology, so there has been a lot of really interesting archaeological information on the trip.
After dinner, it was already 11PM (aka 23:00), but the Orthodox were still CRAZY partying in the streets of the Old City. We walked the six miles back to the hotel (authentic Shabbat experience!), and then crashed. The walk back through Jerusalem was lovely - cool desert air, beautiful surroundings - and the sleep was pretty great too.
Saturday was a much needed restful day. After the late night, we slept in, then had a kiddush and a checkin session where we shared stories about our experiences in Israel so far. After lunch, we had FOUR HOURS of free time, so we all went to the pool! The hotel we're staying at is part of a kibbutz, so the pool area was filled with hotel guests and people from the kibbutz. It felt so good to swim and relax and have fun after the busy last few days. There was also an amazing water slide that we went on!
After showers, we took a leisurely group walk around the kibbutz, then had dinner. We met on an outside porch area for a lovely short Havdalah service. Havdalah is one of my favorite parts of Judaism. The candle and spices and feeling of togetherness is always really special - I remember that from youth group.
Once Shabbat was over, we actually had a free night out in Jerusalem! They dropped us off on Ben Yehuda Street, an area with lots of shopping, cafes and bars. Matan, one of our Israeli guys, had a friend who worked at a bar, so he set all of us up with free cover and drink specials! Pretty much the whole group went. There was a dance floor, but I stayed upstairs and spent quality time with my new friend Sarah! Sarah is awesome! She's a musical theater writer, and we know lots of people in common. Hopefully we'll stay friends once we're back in New York. Toward the end of the night, two Israeli guys came up and started flirting with us - the authentic Taglit experience? They had just moved to Jerusalem. We weren't really interested, don't worry, but we had to admire their effort. We talked with them for a bit, then said goodbye, walked up Ben Yehuda Street and got some gelato, then met up with the group to go back to the hotel.
Such a lovely, restful, fun-filled Shabbat! Today we are touring the Old City - more on that later!
No comments:
Post a Comment