Jerusalem

Sunshine!! Sunrise: 6:36 Sunset: 16:41 Day length: 10:04

Merry Christmas!

Nathan & I got to Jerusalem on Monday afternoon. We are staying in an apartment off of a hip neighborhood with lots of restaurants & cafes. Nathan's sister Dvorah lives in Jerusalem and took us on a beautiful hike in hills just outside of the city. The forest we were walking in looked a lot like the Jemez, but a little drier. Winter is the wet season here and they've had quite a drought for the past few years. We walked to the top of a valley with a beautiful vista over the surrounding hills. Luckily, there were also picnic tables where we ate our delicious lunch of fresh pita, goat feta, tomato eggplant spread, and sweet oranges.

The rest of the family arrived on Thursday. We had a nice Shabbos, which we sent with one of Thea's good friends and a woman who the family had known from the Jewish community in South Africa. It is a real treat for Nathan's family to be able to eat out because most of the restaurants here are kosher.

Today we went to the Old City. It is surrounded by towering, thick stone walls and one enters it through one of the several gates. We walked through the Arab Suk (Market) which had plentiful stands with scarves, clothing, Judaica, spices, incense, hardware, and much more. A bit touristy, but it felt very middle eastern, especially the little pyramids of spices and incense. We also went to the Western Wall of the 2nd Jewish Temple, where Nathan's family prayed Mincha, the afternoon prayers. The Dome of the Rock was quite a beautiful site - it is the Mosque which is on the Temple Mount and has a golden dome and blue mosaics on the walls. The Temple Mount is where the former Jewish Temple is thought to have existed. Most Orthodox Jews, including Nathan's family, don't walk on the Temple Mount because they don't know where the Holy of Holies used to be and don't want to accidentally walk on it. The Holy of Holies was considered God's home on earth, where the 10 commandment tablets were kept in the Arc, and where the head priest was allowed to go once a year to hear one of the names of God. Thus, why a Jew wouldn't want to waltz over it.

Quite the trip, huh? We've seen the Vatican and Jerusalem. Now all we need to do is stop by Mecca (Center of Islam) and Haifa (Center of the Baha'i faith) and we'll have the Abrahamic religions covered.

Ciao, ciao!