Places

There is a list somewhere of all the places that you will see on a Birthright trip. Each trip adds its own pieces, each tour guide emphasizes something different, and each group is unique. But there are set places you will see barring some sort of unexpectedly bad situation.  There are also a list of places that no birthright group would ever go.  This is about a place from each list, about a third of a mile from each other.

When we got to Jerusalem, we walked around the outside briefly and then through the Jewish quarter to a spot on the roofs where we could see the whole city.  It looked very different than I expected, in part because you always have this mythical view of Jerusalem, and the realization that almost all of it was destroyed multiple times, most recently rebuilt after the 1968 war, just never hits you till you are there.

After a short talk about the city we walked to a small overview and saw the Western Wall for the first time.

Jamie gave a long talk here that I heard almost none of. I had spent most of the day before and that morning trying to write a prayer and still had nothing on the paper.  I ended up writing something while he spoke, but it was very short. Frankly everything that I could think of writing that would have been some sort of prayer seemed small and insignificant, fleeting if you will, in the face of the place.

As we walked down the magnitude of where I was hit me in a way that I find impossible to describe.  I decided as we walked down to put Tefillin on. Its only the second time I have done so, and was the first for most of our group that followed.  For those of you who aren’t Jewish… well let me give the long story.

Arguably the most important prayer in Judaism is the Shema.  In English the words are: “Hear O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is One.”  It is part of a series of prayers, one of which commands us to put the words of Torah on our hearts and on our minds.  The Mezuzah is the answer to the commandment to “inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” and Tefillin are the traditional (usually Orthodox only wear them now) answer to the commandment to “bind them as a sign on your hand, let them be a symbol before your eyes”.

The entire experience for me was incredibly powerful, and much more important to me than I would have ever predicted.  It surprised me that a place that was effectively little more than a retaining wall for a part of a Temple built by a puppet King could be so powerful, yet I can say without hesitation it was one of the most powerful places I have ever been. (I know I used powerful 20 times, deal with it)

Sadly, it wasn’t that way for everyone.  The reason is that the Wall is controlled by a group of Orthodox who refuse to treat women as equals.  Women are only given access to about a fifth of the wall, meaning that instead of time alone to pray, even in a quiet part of the day, they are greeted by this:

This is what my friend Teddi wrote about her experience and the above picture:

I waited my whole life for this and it wasn't what I expected. It wasn't personal; it was awkward. It's very difficult to have a moment with God with so many people around and all fighting for the same spot. The women's side of the wall is considerably smaller than the men's side, so I literally had to push my way to the front. I folded my piece of paper as much as I could, I literally shoved it in a crack, and I said a very quick prayer. The most comforting part of the whole episode was knowing that somewhere in the premises was a piece of paper containing a prayer that my dad had written 40 years prior. 

After we walked around a little more my friend Amanda and I went through a very cool archaeological museum of a mansion destroyed in 70 CE and then made our way through the alleys to the Church of the Holy Sepluchre.

This Church supposedly contains the place where Jesus was crucified, the rock where his body was washed and the cave where he is buried.  (I didn’t figure out what I was looking at until I got home and could look it up) Sadly, it is also not without controversy over control, and there are constant fights (sometimes actual physical fights) between groups of monks and priests from the various sects of Christianity that control it.  Further, there are significant historical reasons to think that some or all of the places found in the Church were actually somewhere else in the city.

Shrine surrounding the "Sepulchre" or cave where Jesus was buried.

Shrine surrounding "Golgotha" or the spot where Jesus was crucified.

Having said that, it was still a very powerful place to visit.  Even as a non Christian, to stand in a place that was very clearly holy and had been for hundreds and hundreds of years has to have an impact on you.  You could feel the emotion, faith and devotion of the people around you, and it is a place of significant spiritual importance.

I don’t know what it says about humanity that places can become holy simply by having lots of people over time say they are holy.  But, it is what it is, and it worked for me.  There are some moments in life you say you will remember forever and would be hard pressed to think about 5 years later, let alone describe to someone else. This was not one of those days. I will never forget the Western Wall.

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.