Today we toured the old city of Jerusalem. This part of the city is surrounded with a wall, that, according to Jewish tradition, has been walled since the days of Joshua, who brought the Jewish people into Israel. It is simply a thing of awe to recognize this. When a city possesses a wall, it means that everyone inside it is united in a real way. Interestingly, this coming Friday is a national fast day (from dawn till nightfall), commemorating the time when this very wall was surrounded by the enemies of the Jewish people, which led to the destruction of both Temples...
Please see the picture, and it should be obvious to see five or six different types of stone and rocks. This is because the wall continued to be built after it was destroyed. The final version of stone that stands as the wall today is approximately 450 years old, constructed during the Ottoman Empire. Present in the layers of visible stone here, though, is parts of this wall that is over two thousand years old!
After entering the Old City we toured its streets. We visited the gravesite of King David. Yup, that King David... The thought of this boggles the mind! We walked for a while through the very ancient streets of our eternal capital. Some of these streets are over three-thousand years old - literally! We stood outside a wall build during the times of Isaiah the prophet in order to protect the city from king Sanneherib of Assyria! This construction is mentioned in the book of Isaiah chapter 22, and elsewhere. See here for more information: www.biblewalks.com/Sites/BroadWall.html
We then made our way to the Western Wall. Some of the participating Young Adults had never had a Bar and Bat Mitzvah. I led the ceremony for these seven students, and we then went to the Wall. We tied Tefillin on all the boys, and we all had our time to pray at Judaism's holiest of sites.
Here are some pictures taken with my phone late this afternoon:
We reluctantly said farewell to Jerusalem this evening, and we headed for Tel Aviv. The participants went to party on the beach, and I had the great thrill of meeting our very own Monica Potashnik, who is currently visiting Israel. She also brought, to my delight, her mother-in-law, Raz's mothers, and Roz's sister, Nataly. It was so wonderful to have a piece of Chabad of Peachtree City right here, in Israel!
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON MAYANOT ISRAEL- BIRTHRIGHT TRIPS TO ISRAEL, GO TO: www.mayanotisrael.com