J-Town

Last week we had our field trip to Jerusalem. Now you would think this would be a fun experience but ultimately it was depressing as hell. We covered the entire gamut of Jerusalem’s history…From 2,000 years ago to the present, and it is filled with sorrow, sadness and fighting. It's easy to forget all this when you go into the city and are just walking around the shouk, which I do frequently…I’m not in direct contact with the remnants of these wars. But even though this entire trip was depressing its still def worth sharing.


Our first day was spent having class over looking the Old City, going over the ancient history. This was all in preparation for our tour to the Wall. Now something I didn’t realize, this is why its important before visiting any art or artifacts to have some background info on it, because I have walked past the Southern temple wall half a dozen times never really fully understanding what its significance was. I knew it was ancient but that’s about it. Everyone knows the Western Wall. It has become an iconic symbol of Israel but it turns out the Southern and Eastern Walls are just as significant. All were the original walls surrounding the temple. The reason why so much press is given to the Western Wall is because it is a few meters closer to the actual temple mount. But after visiting both I think the Southern Wall and Eastern Wall are much more significant. These were the walls in ancient times that you would take your ritual bath, purchase your sacrifice, and enter the temple from. The great ancient staircases and mikvahs are still there. You can touch the same stones that our Hebrew ancestors touched. Feel the warmth and smoothness of the marble. It’s an absolutely beautiful thing. One that I felt a real connection with. You can just feel the energy pulsing from these spots. It’s still a sad energy like all the walls give off, but there is something more, something absolutely sacred. Unfortunately during the crusades the crusaders blocked off the entrances to the temple mount but today there is a different route to get to the temple mount.


The Southern Wall


Original stairs to the entrance of the temple

Now something else that I was completely unfamiliar with before this trip but the temple mount, the original location were Isaac was going to be sacrificed before God sent an angel down to stop it….That same spot is now covered by the Dome of the Rock, the location where Mohammed was launched into heaven on a white horse. After the second destruction of the temple, on Tish'a B'Av, the temple was not rebuilt, the spot was still sacred but Jerusalem went through many different ownerships as well as the Hebrews getting kicked out of Jerusalem by the Romans. During one of these various stints the Muslims built a sacred temple to Mohammed that stands today on top of the original spot of the Hebrew's sacred temple. Non-Muslims can still visit the Temple Mount/Dome of the Rock only during specific hours allocated to them during the day. Hopefully soon I will be able to make one of these visits.



Dome of the Rock

The next day of the field trip was spent learning about the more recent Arab/Jew relationship. I’m not going to go into all the details and info here that I learned (it would just be way too much) but if anyone is interested I would be more than happy to share. I feel like I got a really unbiased and deeply informative session regarding the current problems facing the two groups.

We took a tour, which is offered by a politically neutral group, Irri'im. We traveled through East Jerusalem, the checkpoint gates, and the Jewish and Arab settlements. An Israel and Palestinian led this tour. The most significant part of this tour was driving through the town that the tractor terrorist lived. I feel like I have a full understanding of the animosity and hatred that has built up amongst the Jews and Arabs. Next was a meeting with a group called Combatants for Peace where we listened to stories from both an Israeli army man and a member of Fattah. We listened to their stories and were given a chance to fully pick their brains with questions.


The separation wall in Jerusalem



The wall...a few hundred meters from the Mount of Olives

The next day we went to Har Herzl, which is the military cemetery in Israel. It is one of the largest and is the burial place of many famous Israeli leaders, i.e. Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin. At this point in the tour I started feeling rather bad as a cold I had been trying to fight off was getting the better of me and an old bee sting was coming back to haunt me and causing my finger to swell up until it was unmovable. But I decided to put aside my physical ailments and focused on continuing the remainder of my day.

After Har Herzl and going through and listening to stories and heroic acts of dead soldiers we walked next door to Yad Vashem. This is the Holocaust museum in Israel, and like the first time I visited this place I could not contain the tears. It was a full day of sadness and death and my body gave up and I was fully sick after this.

So the next day I spent going to a natural healer, getting some clay for my finger to make a poultice to try and extract the poison built up there and slept my sickness away. I missed the remainder of my field trip and the hike in Sataf and the community gardening but I needed the rest to fully recover.