Services were interesting - they were held almost entirely in Hebrew (not surprising!), but they sang for almost the entire time! And I was surprised to realize that they were singing melodies that I knew and was able to sing along for a bit. The other nice part was a lot of people sang harmony, which made the songs sound really pretty.
We had Shabbat dinner at the hotel and then watched a bit of TV before going to bed. We got a much needed LATE morning since our first activity wasn't scheduled until 10a. Mostly, things have been scheduled by 8 so this was a welcome change. Our first activity of the day was to visit the Tower of David Museum. This was different from any other museum I've been to in that they incorporated the museum INTO the tower so as you went through the various rooms in the tower, there were exhibits related to the history of Israel. Pretty cool! They also had this excellent temporary exhibit of a working model train to commemorate the re-opening of the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem rail line.
Afterwards, we met up with the group who had decided to go to morning services with the rabbi. We proceeded to the Christian Quarter. I was really looking forward to this because I was interested in hearing some of the other, non-Jewish history surrounding Israel. Understandably, we haven't gotten much of that. Tragedy struck on our walk through the Arab market on the way to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Marci (one of the younger people on the trip, 20) twisted her ankle - one she had injured only 2 weeks earlier. We managed to get her out of the market and to the church. I feel bad for her - the last day is going to be tough for her since we have a lot of walking we'll be doing.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchar was very different - 3 religions officially are responsible for it: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and an Armenian religious sect. Supposedly, Christ's body is buried in the lower level. We saw a couple of the last stations of Christ, including a gold disk that was supposed to have held the cross Jesus was nailed to.
We had some free time after the Church (the first of any real note on the entire trip). Paul and I stayed in the church to watch a ceremony where 3 religious people came and anointed (shook incense at) Christ's tomb. Then we went to a Lutheran church and climbed a steep bell tower to see a really amazing view of the city. Coming down the spiraled staircase was MUCH easier than going up it! We would our way back through the Arab market and back to our hotel for a 30 minute respite before services. Paul's whole family read a portion of this week's Torah reading while Paul and I were called up to do the Aliyah. That was really nice.
The coolest part of today was meeting up with Paul's elementary school friend, Shaiel. He moved to Israel in 2002. Paul realized this back in Tel Aviv and emailed a friend to get Shaiel's number to see if he could get together. He was moving this very day to another apartment, but we managed to squeeze in for a 40 minute visit where we chatted and even helped pack a bit. I even got to talk to Shaiel a little bit about the disengagement and get a different perspective on it from Dr. Hazan's.
Now we're sitting by a windmill waiting for the group. When they arrive, we'll do Havdalah and then have dinner. The plan is to go to bed early since we have to be up at 6a to leave for Masada and the Dead Sea.
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