|
| Day 2: The Holy City | | Date Created: Jan 04, 2005, 02:36 AM |
 The City
I would have never thought I would end up in the most meaningful place for all monotheistic religions. Jerusalem was majestic, beautiful and historic. We were walking the soil that held thousands of years of history. First, we passed the Christian Quarter, which houses the two most holy sites in Christianity-- the Holy Sepulchure, where Jesus was traditionally buried, and the church with Mary's remains. This was probably more meaningful to me since I appeared to be the only one in the trip with a Christian background. Then, we arrived in the Jewish Quarter where we visited the home of our tour guide's aunt. This place was unbelievable. it sits on the Northwest corner of the quarter; they live next door to Armenians, across the street from Muslims and near Christians. The buildings in each quarter looked uniquely different, the Jewish Quarter being the most upkept. We climbed to the dome of their library which gave us a magnificant view of the city, including the Dome of the Rock, the Mount of Olives and the rest of the Holy City. We then walked around the quarter, forbidden to cross into the other sections. |
 Holy Jerusalem
We worked our way over to the holiest of places in the Jewish and Muslim religions-- the Temple Mount. Thousands of years ago, a vibrant area bustled in the heart of the Holy City-- a large temple built by King Soloman and later rebuilt in 400 BC... Destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 AD. The most meaningful part of this adventure was that I finally understood the conflict between the Muslims and Jews.. Israel was under Muslim control for 1400 years- to teach the Jews a lesson, they built the Dome of the Rock, a mosque, directly on top of the temple ruins. Now, both share a claim to a tiny piece of land that has caused violent conflicts even today.
We went through the ruins of the old temple, down a windy staircase and saw history frozen in time... sadly enough, we also saw bullet holes from the 1967 war, which killed over 6,000 Jewish soldiers, about 1% of the population. We saw a video model of what the temple looked like around the death of Jesus and made our trip to the Western Wall, or what Jews refer to as the wailing wall. People come to mourn the destruction of the temple by the Roman army. It was a powerful experience; touching the wall brought me to tears.
We went back into the shopping district and ate falaffel. John and I started down the shopping row, but wandered accidentally into the Muslim Quarter... we realized we weren't in Kansas anymore and had to quickly return to the Jewish Quarter. Israeli Security forbade us from going.
Later, we visited Ammunition Hill, where are great battle took place in 1967. The Jordanian army held the area for 19 years, but this battle was a turning point in the recapture of the land for Israel. 40 Israeli soldiers died in this conflict; a proud representation of bravery and courage for the Israeli army- and evidence of the miracle that allowed the country to defeat the arab nations in a very short amount of time.
We returned to the hotel to shower and change for the mega event that would take place that night. |
 Mega Event
During the evening, all 3,000 participants of Birthright Israel came together to celebrate solidarity and the programs values. Honestly, it was bit much for me- with thousands of students waving Israeli flags and chanting to show and be proud of their Jewish heritage. The concert was great, filled with pyrotechnics, dancers and great singing groups. Everyone was out of their seats, dancing and celebrating their heritage. The evening ended with the "largest disco for Jews in the world"-- we ended the evening with more beer and a late night order of Israeli pizza. |
|
