So, after we did the underground Western Wall tunnels (absolutely amazing to think that we were on TOP of an old city but still below the ground), we went back to the hotel where the 3 girls jumped in the pool to cool off. Then, we took a walk down King David street and stopped in some beautiful galleries. Gabi and Ariana received beautiful necklace charms for their bat mitzvah gift from the parents--Gabi a hansam (hand) , which symbolizes G-d's blessings, and Ariana a Jewish star with a chai as one of the points The Dinbergs then strolled down to Mamilla mall which is lined with wonderful sculptures, and had dinner in an outdoor cafe'.
We again arose early and headed to the City of David, where we learned the history of the city (thanks to Dina, we are all now experts on King Herod, King David, King Hezekiah, the destruction of the 1st temple, its rebuilding, the destruction of the 2nd Temple and how to tell the difference of what parts of the wall and the city were post King Herod and what remains from 2000+ years ago!)
The highlight (except for yours truly, the claustrophobic one) was a walk through a tunnel chisled 2700 years ago that has water thigh deep. It was designed as an aquaduct to get water to Jerusalem with water during an impending attack by the Assyrians. It is 533 meters (convert it yourself :)) long. Took us about 30 minutes. Here are the Dinberg girls at City of David.
From there, we went over to Mt. Hertzel where saw where Hertzel, the Prime Ministers and soldiers. We heard a wonderful story about an American named Marc Levine who loved Israel so much he insisted on joining the Army, and before he went off to Lebanon, he told his parents he wanted to be buried at Mt. Hertzel. He was in fact killed in Lebanon, and his parents worried that they would not even have enough for a minyon (10 people) as they flew from Boston to Israel. As it turned out, the streets were closed and packed with thousands of people who went to the funeral to honor the soldier and his family.
Some scenes from Mt. Hertzel follow, including the graves of Yitzhak Rabin and Golda Meir.
Next, we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum. It was a solemn couple of hours, ending at the Children's Memorial.
This sculpture represents children of various ages, whose lives were cut short, never to grow any taller.
These are stakes in foundation, never to be finished to make it to a final stage. Again, symbolizing lives cut short
This sculpture honors a teacher/leader of an orphanage who chose to join his children to a death camp, knowing what was to come, although the Germans had offered him the opportunity to stay back and live.
We took a few long deep breaths after this, took time for reflection, and then changed the atmosphere to the lively Ben Yehuda market. Photos to follow--we are back to the future and about to head to a celebration bnai mitzvah dinner!
The market was a blast--so many colorful fruits, vegetables and candy! Dani bargained for Ariana in Hebrew and saved her 10 shekels :)
On the way back to the hotel, we all got a good laugh at the market sign--open all of time but in Jerusalem, that means 24/6!
The last activity of the day before having dinner was meeting with Rabbi Stacey, to get to know her, have her get to know us, and to prepare for the next morning. We immediately connected with her and felt confident that the next day would go smoothly.
That was quite a day. I think the memorial would have been hard for sure but something that should be remembered. And, a tunnel with water...eeaakkkkk. again I love the pictures. The history is unreal. Hope you continue to enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in Israel, we watched the documentary about Marc Levin. It was really good. You guys should definitely buy it and watch it.
ReplyDeleteI have been to all the places in this post. My favorite was Mt. Hertzel. It was so special visiting there with my friends who were fresh out of the IDF. Most of them had friends and family buried there. Hearing their stories and visiting their friends graves really put the war into perspective.