Alex Kaslowitz said that "Everywhere else is a place, this is a feeling" speaking about Israel as he represented our bus in front of everyone overlooking Jerusalem at the Shehecheyanu ceremony that celebrated our group (and about 6 other groups) arrival into Jerusalem.
On Tuesday morning, our bus ride into the majestic Old City was breathtaking. White stone ontop of winding streets. As we arrived into the City of David, where the city of Jerusalem first began...this is where our tour of Jerusalem started.
We started in the Jewish Quarter and our tour guide, Guy had us all blindfolded and had us each place an arm on each others shoulder of the person in front of us. He then lead us in a single file line through the narrow winding streets of the Old City where the smell of Falafel and sounds of Yesheva kids playing soccer drifted through the air. He suddenly stopped us, and told us to turn and take off our blindfolds. And there, resting below the bright gold beaming off the Dome of The Rock was the Kotel, (The Western Wall), one of the holiest places in Jerusalem. It was not as large as some of us had originally thought but amazing to see with the black hats on the left and women on the right side of the barrier that split them down the middle. We just stood there and stared. And then of course we pulled out our cameras.
The view only got better as we actually went down to touch the wall. Most of us cried as we touched the wall and we were given time to look, touch, watch, pray, and just sit at the Kotel. One of the most touching things was watching people from the bus help Brandon DeJulius put on his new Talis at the Kotel. Some people react to seeing the wall and some are overpowered with emotions that they never knew they would feel, and some feel nothing. My favorite thing to do is touch the wall and look up at the fluffy white clouds moving quickly above the top of the Wailing Wall. It almost seems like a deeper connection is formed between the earth and the sky.
From our emotional experiences at the Kotel, we moved on to get some yummy falafel for lunch and then on to The Davidson Center to learn more about the Southern Wall Excavations. And then it was off to Latrun Army Base for the Mega Event!
Have you ever seen 5,000 Jewish students from all over the world in one confined area all high energy?! This was the most amazing sight! And to be able to hear from the people that made this trip possible made it that much more special. We heard from Michael Steinhardt, Lynn Shusterman, and saw a video tribute to Andrea Bronfman who passed away earlier this year. These 3 families are great philanthropists of the Taglit Birthright Israel experiences. We then heard from Shimon Peres. Following some amazing dancing and music, the crowd rushed to the ground floor and turned into a huge dance party and everyone had an amazing night!
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