Day 12: July 19th, 2010 (Jerusalem)

Woke up at 7:00 AM showered and went downstairs for breakfast. Then went to the bus at 8:15 AM. Our first stop was the Western Wall and Robinson’s Arch where we set up for a Bat Mitzvah. One of the group’s daughter’s (Hannah Kalash). It was very interesting, we had a scheduled time near the Southwest corner of the Wall where we picked up a table, Torah, Seders and set up right in front of the Wall. The rocks from the destroyed second temple lay right in front of us.

Bat Mitzvah at the Western Wall

The ceremony was very nice and lasted about an hour. Three of recently Bar Mitzvah’d kids that were on the trip also participated as a symbolic gesture. After the service we returned the borrowed items and had a small Kiddush with drinks and cookies near the Dung Gate entrance. When we finished eating we took a tour of the southern portion of the Temple Mount and saw a video explaining what the Temple Mount used to look like. We then went over to the “true” Western Wall where Zach and I took pictures on the men’s side.

Zack in deep meditation at the Western Wall

There was a lot of police presence because they were getting ready for Tish B’Av which started at sundown. Tish B’Av is a holiday that commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temple. This is a heavily celebrated holiday especially in Jerusalem since the Temples’ destruction occurred at the Western Wall. When we finished at the Wall we headed over to the Jewish Quarter. Within the Old City there are multiple sections; Jewish, Armenian, Christian and Moslem. In the Jewish Quarter we grabbed some lunch. Zach and Al had pizza and Hannah and I had Falafels. Throughout the Quarter there were many Israeli soldiers most of them carrying M-16 automatic rifles.

Soldiers walking down the street in the Jewish Quarter

It was a very strange scene to see that many young kids with guns hanging out at the stores and restaurants. We finished lunch and went over to the Hurva (“ruin”) Synagogue. This was an old Synagogue that was recently renovated. The inside was nice but the best part of the tour was the view from the roof. We were able to get a 360 degree view of the surrounding area.

View from the top of Hurva Synagogue

After the tour we spent some time walking around the Cardo area of the Jewish Quarter. The stores were much nicer in this section than the Moslem Shook we had been in the previous day. Even though most of the stores sold very similar things, I.e. menorahs, Kippah’s, Kiddush cups, etc… we did buy a few presents. We shopped for one and half hours and then met the rest of the group. Instead of walking back through the Moslem section to get to the bus we walked the long way around the eastern and southern walls of the city. It was a nice walk even though it was a little hot out. By the time we reached the bus we were not that far from the hotel. Alan Silverman and I decided to walk around the outdoor Mamila mall since he wanted to get some new sunglasses. We had been to the mall before but this was the first time the stores were actually open. We went into a number of stores but could not find cheap sunglasses. There were some other cool stores including an interesting art gallery that sold 3-D cartoon art. On the way back we stopped at the supermarket and picked up some snacks (hummus, pita, fanta) and beers. Al and the kids were hanging out in the lobby having drinks, bread and a cheese platter. I went to the room, put the beers on ice and had a snack. An hour latter I joined Al at the restaurant downstairs in the hotel since many of the stores/restaurants were closed for Tish B’Av. For dinner, Al had the yam raviolis and I had the fusilli. When we finished dinner I went upstairs to get the kids because we needed to head out for Tish B’Av services. The Rabbi’s sister lives in Jerusalem and we met her and her congregation on an area on top of a mountain overlooking the city.

Kids sitting on a blanket for Tish B'Av services

There must have been about 150 people that congregated together and a Rabbi led the service. During the service we could see fireworks near the Western Wall. We found out that the Arabs actually shoot the fireworks because they want to celebrate the destruction of the Temple while the Jews are in “mourning”. We spent about one and half hours there and then the bus took us back to the hotel. Since it was our last night there we decided to meet up in the lobby for drinks and snacks around 10:00 PM. The kids played cards while the adults drank. We hung out until 12:15 AM and then headed back up to the room. We went to bed around 12:45 AM.

Day 13: July 20th and 21st, 2010 (Jerusalem and Atlanta)

Woke up at 6:45 AM showered and went downstairs for breakfast. Then went to the bus at 8:00 AM. We all have mixed feelings about leaving. We love it here and had a great time but it has been two weeks and we miss home. Our first stop was the Israeli Museum. At the museum there was a 1/50th scale model of old Jerusalem that took six years to build.

Miniature City of Jerusalem

Our guide explained the layout of the city and how it was back then compared to today. It was interesting to get a big picture view of the city especially after walking around it the last few days. Also at the museum was the Shrine of the Book. This is a structure that looks like a big Hershey kiss and houses the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Zack holding up the Shrine of the Book

We walked around inside the building but no pictures were allowed. We spent a couple of hours at the museum and then boarded the bus to our next location. We drove by the Knesset

Knesset Parliament

which is Israel’s Parliament building and continued for another 30 minutes to the outskirts of town to Latrun. Latrun is Israel’s Armored Corp Museum/Memorial. A soldier of the Armored Corp division was our guide and she took us around. Latrun was the site of a British Police building and an armored tank battle. On the grounds of Latrun there must have been close to 50 tanks from different countries and different time periods.

Kids on top of an Israeli Tank

Our guide showed us the cross section of a real tank and explained the roles of the various crew members. In addition, they had the modern Israeli tank that is currently in duty. You were allowed on most of the tanks but not inside of them. Next she showed us the memorial wall of fallen armor corp soldiers. Within the old police force building they had a few exhibits including a video of the corp, a database of the fallen soldiers and a detailed video of each soldier that was killed on the specific day of the year, i.e. who was killed on this date. There are only two dates out of the year that no one was killed on. After she finished her walking tour they gave us time to check out all the tanks on the grounds. Hannah and I went on a bunch of the tanks and took some pictures.

Dad being silly

They had a great sampling of tanks from past and present. We then met up with everyone in the gift shop and then boarded the bus. Allison wanted to go shopping in a different part of Jerusalem so we asked the bus driver to drop us off at a street called Emek Refa’im.

Zack on Emek Refa'im

The Rittenbergs decided to join us also. This was in a nicer part of town and had more upscale stores. We went into a spa store and Hannah bought some exfoliating scrub. It was time for lunch so we stopped at a nice pizza place and each had a slice and a drink. We then picked up a cookie at the bakery and fries at McDonalds for Zach. Continuing down the street we came across a gelato store called Alda and Al and I split a couple of scoops while Zach had a cone. Across the street was a supermarket and we picked up some candy and chocolate bars to bring back home. We started walking back to the hotel but figured out we were going the wrong direction so we backtracked and grabbed a cab. We got back to the hotel around 3:30 PM and packed up our stuff. We finished packing around 5:30 PM and then put our luggage outside our room at 7:00 PM and headed downstairs at 7:30 PM to take the bus to Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv.

The kids with Scmuel at Ben Gurion Airport

It took awhile to go through security and they pull one of our bags to the side to double check. They seemed to have a concern with Hannah’s toothpaste (go figure). At the airport we spent time getting our VAT reimbursement and exchanging our left over Israeli money. Luckily we gave ourselves a lot of time to get to the airport but by the time we made it through security we were rushing to grab some food before boarding. I had a chicken laffa from McDonalds and Al and Zach had a Pizza Hut pizza. Hannah bought a tuna sandwich and ended up throwing it away. We boarded the plane and took off around 11:30 PM. I watched three movies (Green Zone, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Clash of the Titans). I slept a few hours but not very restful. We finally landed at 5:45 AM local time and waiting on line at passport control for a while because their computers went down. Al’s parents picked us up at the airport at 7:15 AM and we went to IHOP for breakfast. We finally made it home at 9:00 AM after a wonderful two week experience in Israel.