a city with events

One problem with living in such an amazing place with so many things to see is that there really just isn't time for sleep. Today was the last day of Sukkot so after staying up until 1:30 last night writing a paper for my Old Testament class, I woke up at 5:30 to go to celebrate at the Western Wall. I realized that I haven't really explained Sukkot. It's a biblical holiday meaning Feast of the Tabernacles. Basically it's a thanksgiving holiday thanking God for the fruit of the harvest the year before. It lasts seven days and during that week Jews make and often sleep in a sukkah. The sukkah is like a fort you make when you're a kid. It's supposed to represent the types of houses the Israelites stayed in during their 40 years of wandering after their exodus from slavery in egypt. On the last day of Sukkot people pray for the agriculture of the coming year. They beat their willows on the ground and recite scripture. Think Indian rain dance. So this morning at 6:00 AM thousands of people gathered at the Western Wall for the festivities. It was crazy! Totally worth the four hours of sleep I got the night before. I got to see all this and still be back at the JC for breakfast and my Old Testament class at 8:00. How sweet is my life?!











We also had our separation wall field trip today. Danny Seideman, a jerusalem expert, took us on the tour. It was really fascinating. He basically just talked about the Israel-Palestine conflict and how it actually plays out in jerusalem. We saw a portion of the separation wall that's just a few miles from the Jerusalem Center. The separation wall is a barrier put up by the state of Israel separating the West Bank from Israel. The portion of the wall that we saw today went right through a neighborhood separating families and friends from places they've always been able to go. It was really interesting, but also sad.







P.S. if you haven't heard about the Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit that was released yesterday, you should look it up. Israel was going crazy! We weren't allowed in East Jerusalem or the Old City yesterday because of it. Front page headlines are happening right outside my front door.