Mashiv HaRuach...

Today (Tuesday) I awoke and looked out my hotel room window, expecting to see that beautiful view of the windmill and nearby neighborhood of Yamim Moshe, pale limestone turning golden in the rising sun. But this morning something was different. The windmill was there, the buildings were there—but in place of blue sky and sunlight there were dark, ominous clouds. Oh yes, I reminded myself—this is, after all, WINTER in the Holy Land, the time when we pray for God to cause the wind to blow and the rains to fall. Well, today, God must have heard those prayers. While the rain never became a downpour, the day was chilly and damp. But there was still plenty to see and do…

We began the day with an early morning visit to Mount Herzl, the national cemetery of Israel. The cemetery is located on a hilltop near two other significant sites—Yad VaShem and the Knesset. As Roni (our tour guide) explained, the three sites taken together tell a story: the Jewish people experienced the most horrific of tragedies, but vanquished despair and fought to maintain the right to sovereignty in their own homeland, and are still governing that homeland today. We visited the graves of some of Israel’s most important leaders—Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, Levi Eshkol, Teddy Kolleck, and of course Theodor Herzl himself. As we traveled, we heard stories about each of them and their place in Israel’s history. This country is truly built upon passion and dreams!

For our next stop, we decided it was time to see a bit more of modern Israeli life. And so we went to the Kanyon, Jerusalem’s shopping mall. It was bustling. Israelis busily shopped, drank coffee in the cafes, wheeled their many baby strollers from store to store. Some of the store names were familiar---Toys R Us, Tower Records (yes, it still exists here in Israel), Burger King. Others housed Israeli brands we know--Gottex, Naot, Nimrod. And still others were completely new to us.

Having had our fill of modern Israel, we went back to the Old City. Walking through Jaffa Gate, we entered the King David museum. This museum, housed in the David Citadel, tells the history of Jerusalem, beginning with its earliest settlements, and continuing, room by room and era by era, through the 20th Century. So much history to absorb!

The rest of the afternoon was devoted to walking around in the Old City. Some of us went back to the Kotel for a last glimpse of this most treasured sight. Others tried their hand at bargaining in the shuk, the Arab market. Others opted for more upscale shopping in the Cardo and Judaica shops nearby. And still others engaged in that most popular Israeli pastime—drinking coffee and watching people go by.

We capped off the evening with a stupendous group meal at a restaurant set back from the main street in a residential part of Jerusalem. Our bus driver showed off his driving skill as he backed the bus down the narrow street and squeezed into the parking lot. We sat down to a long table for 20 already piled high with dishes full of different appetizers served family-style ---fresh beets, beef carpaccio, chopped liver with fig sauce, Israeli salad, lentils, two kinds of eggplant stews, and plenty of delicious, doughy bread to accompany it all. The main courses were equally delicious, and somehow we even found room in overstuffed bellies for dessert---vanilla ice cream in techineh sauce topped with halvah shavings, and rich chocolate pudding a la mode. If all kosher meals were this good, there would be a lot more people observing kashrut!

Tonight we pack our bags for an early departure tomorrow morning---we’ll head North to the Golan and Tiberias. More adventures await…