MARC BOIN'S ISRAEL DIARY

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Day 6 (Friday, Feb. 8, 2008) - Letter to Lori

Oy, such a day we have had today.  It was rather emotional almost all day long, from shedding tears at the Kotel, to getting tingles walking the entire length of the Western Wall, to getting choked up at the Progressive service we attended tonight.

The day began, as it usually does, with an enormous breakfast buffet.  Fortunately, I am learning what I like and don't like, and am limiting my portions.  So instead of gaining 20 pounds, I'm hoping to limit it to 10.  We boarded the bus early and drove over to the southern gate (Zion Gate) of the Old City, adjacent to the Jewish Quarter.   Sharon took us through some of the more interesting streets and gave us a talk about why there is a mosque inside the Jewish Quarter.  From there, we walked down some winding and twisted alleys until we arrived on a rooftop.  Sharon told us that we had to walk with our heads down until such time as she told us it was OK to look up.  She brought us up to a railing and when we finally looked up, we were staring directly at the Kotel.  It was amazing!  Being a Friday morning, a few hours before Shabbat, the Wall was relatively uncrowded.  I put on my tallis, grabbed a prayerbook, and went up to the wall to do the Shacharit service (morning prayers).  I had trouble getting started because I was so emotional.  I placed the notes in the Wall and then I felt your presence alongside me.  Surprisingly, I then felt the presence of Josh and Warner, so there I was with my head against the Wall, with your arm around my waist and my arms enveloping my children at my sides.  That's when the tears really started.  It was difficult to get through the service because I kept getting choked up.  I mourned for the loss of each of my parents, and all the suffering that our people have gone through the last 4,000 years.  Eventually, after about 20 minutes, I got through as much as was appropriate, and then I left.  However, there were tears in my eyes and heaviness in my chest.  It was an incredible experience.

Unfortunately, the sanctity of the experience was broken by two episodes of “beggars”, one of whom was actually rude.  The good news is that each of our names was formally blessed at the Kotel.  The bad news is that I was angered, and was then out 10 Shekels.

In addition, some guy pulled up a chair alongside me at the Kotel, took out his cell phone, and got into a heated discussion with his girlfriend right there while I was trying to pray.  Guess much worse things could happen!

From there, Sharon took us to the southwestern corner of the Wall.  The Kotel represents maybe 1/100th of the wall, and isn't even on the ground level!  The excavations that the Israeli Archeological Association has performed are absolutely unbelievable.  We got to see where the archways stood that led from the Old City through the Western Wall (the Robinson Gate) and then into the area of the Holy Temple.  After that, we went into the archeological tunnel system and explored the area uncovered along the remainder of the Western Wall.  It is amazing that we were able to include this on our tour - most groups have to book the tunnels about six months in advance.  Must be that we had G-d on our side (plus the fact that we came during the non-busy season).  We walked through some extremely interesting exhibits, and then walked nearly the entire length of the Western Wall in a narrow tunnel, underneath the Moslem Quarter of the Old City.  It measures 12 soccer fields long in its entirety.   At one point, we were adjacent to the Holy of Holies - the place deep inside the Temple where the High Priest would enter a secluded room to communicate directly with G-d on Yom Kippur and request atonement for all of the Jewish people.  This is now an area where women are allowed to pray, so it was somewhat congested there.  Again, there was heaviness in each of our chests.  Then we walked the same tunnel back and exited the plaza.

This whole experience has caused me to rediscover my roots and to be proud to be Jewish.  The saying that we keep getting told is "Welcome Home."  For Jews around the world, this is the place where everything began.  This is clearly the home of our people.  It just feels comfortable to be here.

Anyway, I digress.  From the Old City, we drove to the Shuk - the open air market here in Jerusalem.  Every business has to be completely closed by 4 in preparation for the Shabbat.   It's so incredible to be in a place where 98% of the population is Jewish!  And what an experience the market was! It was a sea of humanity all pushing and screaming to get the best price for all their wares.  Quite a variety of fresh breads, vegetables, clothing, sweets, fish, meat, trinkets, and everything else in between.  Believe it or not, the excitement and commotion was actually quite a lot of fun!  At Sharon's urging, each of us brought back a little something that we could share at dinner.  Since all the merchants are anxious to unload their merchandise prior to Shabbat, there were some deals to be had.  Each of us returned with our bags full.

We came back to the hotel and had an hour-long relaxation period in preparation for Shabbat.  At 4:30, we planned to meet our tour guide and go to a Reform Synagogue nearby.  Actually, "Progressive" temples are quite a rarity in this country, so we took advantage of a good opportunity while we could.  (Sharon doesn’t travel on the Shabbat, so she coordinated for a substitute guide that never showed.)

The temple we visited (Kehilat Mevasseret Zion) was on the outskirts of Jerusalem, so it took us about 20 minutes to get there.  And what a service it was!  The female Rabbi and her three guitarists sang almost every single prayer, most of which had the same feel and tempo as how Rabbi Thalblum leads our services.  It was happy, it was upbeat, and it was a lot of fun!  Of course, none of us understood a word of the sermon, but that didn't matter.  Another American group was also there, with about 25 members from Tarzana, CA.  I spoke to a couple of them, and come to find out, several had relatives in Glendale and North Hollywood.  Small world.  As happy and upbeat as the service was, it is incredible that the Progressive movement is having such difficulty gaining acceptance in this country.  80% of the population describes themselves as "secular only" and wouldn't be caught dead going into a synagogue.  Of course, if the choices were Orthodox or nothing, I might choose the secular route as well.  With any luck, this movement will gain acceptance and will take off soon.

We came back to the hotel and had a very nice Shabbat dinner.  Sharon’s husband, Jeremy, joined us for the meal, which was actually nice since he tends to be quite shy.  He and the rabbi spent the evening discussing science fiction movies.  5 courses again, just like on our first night in the country.  It was a good thing too, because none of us have had enough to eat at any of our meals.  Most people didn't even finish their entrees because of the quantity.  Fortunately, we had plenty of dessert to pass around (from the Shuk), which meant that most of that went uneaten as well.   Thank goodness we have a long bus ride to the Negev on Monday!