We first walked from our hotel to Mount Herzl. This is a special place comparable to that of Arlington National Cemetery for those reading this blog who have not been. This is the burial grounds for not only soldiers in the Israeli Defense Forces, but also the site where some of the most important people in the history of this great Jewish state lay to rest. Theodore Herzl and Golda Meir, perhaps the two most important figures in Jewish history, lay here at this site along with all of their families. For me this was a great learning experience, but for our Israeli soldiers who have joined us for this journey over the past 5 days, this was a monument and a tribute to them as they wore their military uniforms to the site. I personally cannot describe how they were feeling but I can only imagine as there is the possibility of a friend and comrade being buried here.
From there we headed down to my favorite part of this state. That is the old city of Jerusalem. It is a place that is the only one of its kind. We started out going through one of the eight gates that enter the city, passing through the Christian Quarter of the city and into the Jewish Quarter. The Jewish Quarter contained an underground marketplace along with many stops for Judaica and your choice of bagel, pizza, falafel or shwarma. We had an hour or so of free time to explore these streets of cobblestone, grab some lunch and shop for some overpriced t-shirts of sports teams that everyone buys because let’s face it, where else can you find a Detroit Red Wings shirt in Hebrew???
The next part of our day was a venture to, in my opinion, the holiest memorial site in the world. The Kotel is a place where everyone can go to get their prayers and wishes answered by God. God chose this place for Jews, Christians, Muslims to come pray and they say the reason that notes are put into the wall here and not anywhere else is because this is the closest we can get to God and the easiest he can hear us. I had been to this site twice before, but It was not until now that I really felt this connection with god and had a meaningful prayer for him to answer. Back then I was an immature teenager whose main wish to write down was the Red Wings winning a Stanley Cup and the Lions somehow making it to the Superbowl, and I guess the power of the wall worked as the Wings won a Stanley Cup and the Lions are somehow turning it around. But now, five years older, five years wiser, and a lot of turmoil in my life over the past two years, I had lots to pray for. It was such an emotional experience and so moving that I cannot describe it more in words. So many thoughts were racing through my head and it was such a personal moment between God and I that I cried because I knew he was listening. I can only imagine the day I travel back to Israel and back to the Kotel, remembering exactly what happened on this day and exactly where I stood by the wall and had God impart his wisdom on me.
After leaving the Kotel and chatting with all sorts of different types of Jewish people, we headed to the Bill Davidson center and toured this beautiful structure that he donated to the city of Jerusalem. On this tour, we saw other parts of the old temple (the official second temple). Opposite of the Kotel, we stopped and saw a bunch of 2-ton stones fallen to the ground that were a result of the Romans destroying parts of the temple.
Our evening events after showering and dinner after a nine-hour day in a blazing hot sun consisted of something I could only experience in Israel. Our tour guide Yishai took us to a dance studio in Jerusalem. Here we met the owner of the studio who put on a private show for our birthright group. This show consisted of seven dancers performing an art of dance that was very native to the state of Israel, something I had never seen and most likely never will get a chance to see again. These dancers came from all over the world as their accents were very distinct but was so unique is that they all came to Israel to take part in this free and independent art form that is not present anywhere else in the world. The rest of the night consisted of our group of 40 students from MSU, Western, Grand Valley, and U of M become part of what I felt to be a tight knit family as it is currently 12:44am as I write this entry and we have been playing card games, piano, and having fun with each other since we got back to the hotel at 10:00pm.
Tomorrow is going to be a hard day as we say goodbye to the eight Israeli soldiers that have joined us on this journey for five days and saw some of the sites of this great state that they had not even seen before. While they may leave us for now, we all plan on keeping in touch as we have become so close. It’s amazing to think how close our group is getting just now as we move forward to day eight of the trip. It has been the time of my life and I have everyone to thank for this amazing experience.
For now, it is goodnight as tomorrow we visit the Holocaust Memorial Site and start our day at 6:30am.
-Reid Siegel
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| Everyone listening to Yishai in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem |
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| Bus 935 in front of the Kotel |
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