VIEW FROM JERUSALEM

We have only been in Israel for a little more than 24 hours, and yet it feels like much longer than that. The day + has been packed with sightseeing, davvening, eating (we’re Jewish, right?), and more than a few emotions. I am going to try to capture a few highlights…
We landed safely, if a little sleepily, at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Friday afternoon. We got our luggage without mishap, and walked outside. Bright sunshine, a clear blue sky, sixty degrees at least, and friendly faces---Yitzi, our bus driver, and Roni, our tour guide—greeted us. We loaded the luggage into the bus, and made our way west to Jerusalem. Along the road, we saw groves of orange and olive trees, some with the remnants of last year’s harvest still on the branches. The white blossoms of the almond trees signaled the approach of spring.
Before we entered the main part of Jerusalem, we stopped at Mount Scopus, one of Jerusalem’s many hills and site of Hebrew University, to get a glimpse of the Old City from afar. There, with the Dome of the Rock, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and the Kotel (the Western Wall) on the horizon, we shared wine and challah, and said the shehechiyanu in gratitude for being able to come to this beautiful land.
Last night, some of us made the trek uphill from our hotel to the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem for kabbalat Shabbat services. A huge, beautiful, and ornate sanctuary, with separate seating for men and women (the women in the group will come back in better shape than the men---we have to climb more stairs!). A cantor and all-male choir sang, a cappella, through the service. Prayerbooks were scarce in the women’s section, so for much of the service I just closed my eyes and let the beautiful melodies carry my spirit into Shabbat. What magnificent singing!
We had a festive Shabbat dinner at the hotel-- all 21 of us at a big long table in the dining room. Tables surrounding us would occasionally break into Shabbat zemirot (songs) or prayer. Then it was time to turn in early and try to shake off some of the jet lag…
This morning (Sat)began with another wonderful worship opportunity, this time at HUC-JIR’s Jerusalem campus for Shabbat morning services. Another joyous and moving Shabbat service, completely different from the one the night before. Whereas in the Great Synagogue the voices were male, and a cappella, at HUC the voices were female (HUC teachers and first-year cantorial students), accompanied by piano. Some melodies were familiar, and we sang and clapped along with ViShamru and Adon Olam. Others were not, --but some of them I would like to bring home to our worship at Temple Tikvah. and the voices!! Every prayer was beautifully sung, with the cantors harmonizing with one another and with us—the room filled with song! Sitting in the midst of the joyous tranquility, we added special prayers for the wellbeing of the Israeli soldiers, and for Jerusalem—a sober reminder that, despite the “shalom” of Shabbat in Israel, this is a land that still greatly needs our prayers for peace.
We spent the afternoon walking in the Old City. How can you begin to speak of this relatively tiny corner of the world that is in the hearts of so many billions of people worldwide? Every step, literally every stone, has a story to tell. If you walk down a flight of stairs, you travel through 1700 years of history. Take a few more steps, and you are back 1000 years further in time. And yet, in the midst of all this history, the Old City is teeming with modern life. We saw a group of Orthodox boys playing ball above the Cardo. We saw little children, still in their Shabbat finest, climbing on playground equipment overlooking the Kotel. The shuk, the outdoor market in the Arab Quarter, is alive with vendors hawking their wares. In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on the site where Jesus is said to have ascended to heaven, we witnessed a group of Armenian monks, clad in black robes, chanting prayers and filling the air with smoky incense. And then there is the Kotel—the Western Wall itself. Here too it is crowded, but there is a hush to the crowd, a feeling of reverence. This is the place to which Jews have made pilgrimage for thousands of years—and the air is thick with their (our) prayers. We will return here again before our trip is through.
More tomorrow…..