Maine Goes to Israel

Maine Goes to Israel

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Jerusalem

Today we began at the City of David, the oldest part of Jerusalem, going back 3000 years to the time of King David and beyond. We saw a 3-D movie about the site and then walked through excavated water tunnels underground. In addition to Hezekiah's Tunnel, which has 70 centimeters of water in it, there are also older Canaanite tunnels, one of which we walked through in dry conditions.

We ascended from there to Mt. Zion, just outside the Old City walls, and proceeded into the Old City's winding walkways. We spent hours understanding with our feet and our eyes, not to mention our ears and noses, what life in a walled city is like for its inhabitants of many varieties, Jewish and non-Jewish. We ate lunch along the Cardo, Jerusalem's main street...from 1800 years ago, that is.

We visited the Southern Wall excavations, prayed the afternoon service, and then proceeded to the Western Wall, where we joined with Jews from many ethnic origins in prayer for the evening service.

Tomorrow: Yad Vashem and the Machane Yehudah open-air market, followed by preparing for Shabbat.

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