I can't believe I went to Al Quds, Jerusalem I was in Jerusalem!!!! This is unbelievable to me. I am still in awe. For my first half of the trip, I went to stay with the Jewish family that I knew from when I studied Jewish studies at the University of Washington through Hillel back in the day. I was really happy to have gone with my host family. They are sooo nice and kind and loving. I felt fortunate to have had the blessing and opportunity to see this beautiful country from the different perspectives. Not many people get to see things here the way I did. AlhamdulEllah. On my way there, I had a nine hour layover in Frankfurt. There was a prayer room there so that was really cool. Then I left for Israel.
The plane ride was interesting. I was the only hijab-wearing muslim on the whole flight. Everyone was looking at me. Some people were nice but most seemed a bit scared of me. It probably didn't help that I was also carrying a black tennis racket bag. It looked like a gun bag or something. When we got on the shuttle bus to go to the plane it was packed but no one sat next to me, except for a lady from Austria who had never been to Israel before. Then when I got on the plane I felt everyone looking at me again. But the person who was sitting next to me was really nice and we had a great conversation. He was from Madrid Spain, just doing business in Israel. A few people had asked me if I would be wearing hijab going to Israel and I was like yes. They told me to be prepared to be interrogated for many hours in the Israeli airport because of that. I do not believe a head cover to be obligatory but I do it to be modest and to remain in constant rememberance of God over me.
At any rate, I was prepared for ny interrogation or intimidation i might face at immigration, but little did i know I would get it at the door of the plane. Yes, there was Israeli security there waiting for me and not only that. They didn't just take me to a room, they interrogated me right then and there in front of all the passengers pouring out of the plane. It completely caught me off guard. They were very good at being patronizing and intimidating. But at the same time it turned out to be an educational conversation for both sides. AlhamdulEllah. I am glad I chose to face that, for many reasons, to better understand what others go through, to not have fear, and for many other reasons. I continued on to immigration and dealt with that a little bit there but not so much. Then I went through and the uncle of the family picked me up. I learned some more Hebrew on the way to the house. It was before dawn when I arrived. I stayed at the grandparent's house the first night. They were soooo nice. When I arrived, the grandma, who is also Mariam, had nexcafe and chocolate crossiants waiting for me. Then she showed me my room and let me sleep.
The next morning I had tea with the grandfather, Sholomo (Suleman), and he put mint leaves from his own garden in the tea. We had fun trying to communicate with the little Hebrew I know. Then his friend Moshe arrived who knows perfect Spanish. He is from Spain or North Morocco, I forget now. He has a daughter in NY and one in Puerto Rico. We talked about Islam for a while and about my country. Then Sholomo showed me his giant fish tanks and fish that he put together himself. Then I had lunch with fresh vegetables from their garden. I said the blessing as I know it from studying Judaism before. Then Mariam took me to see the kids I had known from internet. They were sooo cute. One of them, Arbel is the cutest little girl in the world. The other, Novat is an amazing piano player and he is only like 8 years old. He played a beautiful song for me. I played with the kids for a while and then I went to see Elad and his girlfriend at their house. I stayed with this family for the rest of the 3 days.
We went to Ashkelon to see the ruins of where Samson and Delila had been and we saw the marina of the Mediterranean sea. It was awesome. Then we saw the ruins of a Bizantine church built in the 4th century. It still had the prayer room and baptism pit. I had my first falafel sandwhich in the middle east here. I have to say it wasn't as good as the falafel I eat at Aladdin on the Ave near my university. That was interesting. I really loved the father of the family. His name is Moshe and the mom is Rachel. They were so good to me. I felt so comfortable with them. I miss them a lot.
Then came the day to see Jerusalem. Held sacred by many religious, Jerusalem is one of the most holy cities in the world. To the Jews it is Zion, the City of David and Solomon's temple, and the heartland of the Israelite nation. The Jews call this sacred site in Jerusalem's Old City Temple Mount after the temple built by Solomon in the 5th century BC to replace Herod's 10th century constructed temple. Herod's temple was destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon who plundered the temple for the enshrined Ark of the Covenant. Since I was taken there by the Jewish family to sight see, I was limited to just seeing the Jewish quarter for my first visit, but they also go the courage to venture into the Christian quarter too.
First we went to the Holocaust Museum. I saw the photo I drew back in high school of three Jewish girls walking along the fence in a concentration camp. Then we went to the old city. It was absolutely amazing. I can't believe I walked where some of the prophets (Pbut) walked. Amazing!!!!! This is such a privilege. We drove through the small cobble streets and passed by many Armenian art and pottery stores. So nice. I didn't expect to see so much Armenian culture in Jerusalem. The old city is like literally going back in time except for the souvenirs. We walked around the city until we arrived at the weeping wall, which the family I lived with there called "The Kotel."
From wikipedia.org: Weeping Wall: Hebrew: הכותל המערבי, translit.: HaKotel HaMa'aravi), or simply The Kotel, is a retaining wall in Jerusalem that dates from the time of the Jewish Second Temple (516 BCE - 70 CE). It is sometimes referred to as the Wailing Wall (Arabic: il-Mabka), referring to Jews mourning the destruction of the Temple. The Western Wall is part of the bigger religious site in the Old City of Jerusalem called Har ha-Bayit (the Temple Mount) to Jews and Christians, or Al-Haram al-Qudsi al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) to Muslims. The Western Wall is revered for its proximity to the sacred Holy of Holies on the Temple Mount, which is the Most Holy Place in Judaism. This means that for Jews the Western Wall is the holiest location that is currently generally accessible to the Jewish people for prayer. There is a small area below ground level, called "The Cave", in the Western Wall Tunnel, that is closest to the site of the Holy of Holies. However, as this area is not amenable to the large groups that frequent the wall, most people limit their visits to the outdoor plaza. At any hour, Jewish men and women can be found praying at the wall, which is actually a large outdoor synagogue. As is traditional in Jewish synagogues, there are a number of holy arks containing Torah scrolls, tables for reading of the law and a mechitza, or divider, separating the men's and women's sections of the wall. When I was there, I prayed at the wall with the family and read from one of the prayer books. I also put a prayer petition on a piece of paper and stuck it into the wall as is tradition there. Looking closely at the wall, one can see hundreds of tiny, folded papers stuffed inside every space that will hold them, apparantley this tradition goes back 100s of years.
History
According to the Bible, the First Temple or Solomon's Temple was built in the 10th century BCE atop a pre-existing megalithic platform. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The Second Temple was built in 516 BCE, the sixth year of the reign of Darius the Great (Ezra 6:15) and destroyed by the Roman Empire in the year 70 CE as a result of the First Jewish-Roman War.
According to Judaism's religious texts, when the legions of Titus destroyed the Temple, only a part of an outer court-yard "western wall" remained standing. Jewish texts teach that Titus left it as a bitter reminder to the Jews that Rome had vanquished Judea. The Jews, however, attributed it to a promise made by God that some part of the holy Temple would be left standing as a sign of God's unbroken bond with the Jewish people in spite of the catastrophes which had befallen them.
Hmm. Strange, I was going to add the video of my time at the Western Wall and I couldn't find it or that of the Israeli Army girl soldiers I took there. Strange. Hmmm.. I wonder where it went. All my other video is there. I saw it on my computer when I was still in Israel. Maybe something happened to them during my 3 hour stint in security at the Israeli airport when I was leaving??Here's someone else's fun experience with Israeli Airport Security:
http://desertpeace.blogspot.com/2007/08/security-at-israeli-airport-experience.html
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