MARC BOIN'S ISRAEL DIARY
Day: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Day 7 (Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008)
Shabbat is always a relaxing day throughout Israel, but in Jerusalem, this is even more so. All businesses throughout the city are closed, buses do not run, and for the most part, people do not even drive on the streets. This results in an amazing sense of peace and tranquility. It’s a shame that we are not able to duplicate this feeling in the US.Our day began by Todd, Roger, and me walking about two miles to a Progressive temple (Kehilat Kol HaNeshama) for Shabbat morning services. This was actually the synagogue that Todd and Sabrina used to attend while they lived in Jerusalem 13 years ago. Their rabbi, Levi Weiman-Kelman, is quite famous in the Progressive movement, and is the same Rabbi that Todd patterns himself after. As it turned out, the congregation was celebrating a Bat Mitzvah that morning. The interesting aspect was that the rabbi performed the entire morning service in the prayer book, the Bat Mitzvah girl (and her mother) chanted the entire Torah portion, and the girl read the entire Haftorah portion. I guess that when Hebrew is your native tongue, reading everything like this is not the challenge that we typically think of. The service lasted a little over 2 hours, and was a happy and pleasant experience (although not to the extent that we enjoyed the previous night). We then walked back to the hotel, which, on the return trip, seemed to go a whole lot faster.
After that, Roger and I walked over to the Old City, via the Jaffa Gate, in order to tour the museum at the Citadel in the Tower of David. As we walked in, we were accosted by quite a few Arab merchants who wanted us to come buy things in their shops. It was a bit of a challenge, but we were able to get by them, and went into a restaurant to have a quick lunch before the museum. To make a long story short, the service was slow, our shwarma sandwiches were “OK” at best, and the meal was ridiculously expensive (including the tip, the shwarma and can of Coke amounted to 80 shekels, or $24). It became a difficult lesson that Roger and I did not appreciate. After that, we toured the museum, which gave a fascinating overview of the entire history of Jerusalem. Quite impressive. Once we were done with that, we walked through the Jewish Quarter and saw some of the things that Sharon did not have time to show us the day before. Unfortunately, since it was Shabbat, all the businesses were closed, but it was still interesting. We paid another visit to the Kotel, and tried several times to take a picture of me in front of the wall. However, the local security had other plans, and the close-up never happened. We walked back toward the Jaffa Gate through the Arab Shuk, which was quite large, and even louder and more cramped than the two “Jewish” Shuks we had already visited. After dodging several of the same Arab merchants that we saw on the way in, we exited the Old City. We then walked back to the hotel and relaxed.
Just before sundown, we met Sharon in the lobby, and then walked together as a group to the base of the Montefiore windmill overlooking the Old City. Once there, we held a Havdallah service, with the youngest unmarried woman, Karen Greenspan, holding the candle. After that, we went back to the hotel to listen to the president of ARZA, Rabbi Stanley Davids, give us a presentation on the state of the Progressive Movement in Israel. We then went to dinner together on Ben Yehudah Street, eventually winding up at a sidewalk Italian café. Good food that was reasonably priced. Saturday night on Ben Yehudah is one huge party. It officially marks the beginning of the week, and everyone was in a happy buying mood. Finally left there at around 10:30, with the noise and the party still in full swing.