Pilgrimage to the Old City

Today I started the day with a bit of nausea, but luckily some Dramamine and ginger ale got me through the day spent in the Old City of Jerusalem. I took it easy with a few bites of cottage cheese, and it was actually amazing! I was told by many that the cheese would be good here, and it really was.

We started the day with talking about some Israeli history, which goes back for about 6000 years. We learned about the 12 tribes that formed after Joshua conquered Israel, and King Solomon building the first temple in Israel. We continued to talk about Israel’s geography and relationships with surrounding countries, past and present. It is about a 6 hour drive from the North-most to the South-most points. Ori continued to tell us more facts and then lead us to the Jaffa Gate.

Talk about Jaff Gate, We also saw Mount Moriah, where King Abraham was ordered by God to sacrifice Isaac. We then stopped by the Western Wall, spoke about it’s history, and went through an exhibit where we got to see ruins from the site. We got a chance to go up to the wall where I said a prayer and and stuck a note in between the bricks. It was pretty amazing seeing all the notes in the wall and some were extremely old.

We then got to spend some time in Mahane Yehuda Market which was such a treat. Ben and I got sandwiches which were pretty simple but were so fresh and delicious. I also got this coffee slushy drink and it was delicious. I’ve seen them all over the place so I’m sure I’ll be having a lot more throughout the trip. While we went to eat our sandwiches, a girl came up to us and asked us if we were on birthright and we ended up having an hour long conversation with her. She said this was her second trip to Israel (first was birthright), and she hasn’t left after 10 months! One of her friends came over to us as well and it turned out he was a rabbi from Maryland. I told him I’m moving to DC and he said he would connect me with people in DC! It was pretty amazing finding people in Israel that we have stuff in common with. They told us that would be happening pretty often on the trip. He even knew Ben’s cousin! Such a small world.

Finally we went back to the western wall for Shabbat and it was packed there. It was a pretty amazing feeling being in the holiest place in the world on Shabbat and I’m so happy I was able to be there. On the girls side of the wall, there were female soldiers dancing and singing and it was amazing  to see such happiness there.