Aviv Day 6!

Jerusalem is exceedingly important to a wide variety of religious groups, notably Muslims, Christians and Jews, their importance is largely derived from the plethora of holy sites which can be found within its borders. During day 6 we visited a number of these places, some more significant to us than others, but each and every one remarkably beautiful and spiritual. Another rather early start saw group members seated at the breakfast table as early as 7AM, indulging in flavourless scrambled eggs as well as the occasional bowl of all bran. Following the breakfast rush we donned our most respectable clothing, many of the girls looking as though they were regulars at a Friday night Bnei service, and headed for our first stop of the morning, the tomb of the biblical King David.

The tomb is reasonably controversial and sparked a debate over religiosity and factuality, as some question the location of the tomb as well as whether or not King David even existed. At the tomb was a small synagogue-y type establishment in which we stopped for a quick daven, led by a rabbi who was apparently a bigwig in Jerusalem however who sounded as though he could dearly use a throat lozenge. As we completed our prayer, a chant of ‘David Melech Yisrael’ broke out, a song which brought back to home where in fact we were and its significance to the Jewish people. This was just the start in an unbelievably hectic day which tired all and made me rue Chuck Taylor for even inventing the unbelievably poor walking shoes known as ‘Converse.’

Next up on the agenda was the kotel, a huge deal for the Israel virgins of the group, Jason Kroser and myself. I was blindfolded on the way to the wall itself, just further increasing my anticipation for a moment which I had pictured for an exceptionally long time. As I touched the wall for the first time, the blindfold was removed allowing me to catch my first glance of the unbelievably spiritual sight known commonly as the western wall. It was a lot to handle, and I became rather emotional, I was able to hold back tears but the sheer spiritual force felt at this, the most holy of places, was relatively overwhelming. After a few prayers and the depositing of a few personal messages into the cracks of the wall we departed but not before Sarah realised she had forgotten her bag in kotel security, luckily it was yet to be deemed a bomb threat…

We proceeded onto lunch, a spot of falafel which we consumed outside the entrance to the Temple Mount, the site of our next holy site, the dome of the rock. However, as we neared the boys spotted some men in football tracksuits who we quickly realised were members of the Shakhtar Donetsk first team (for those who don’t know, they are the best team in the Ukrainian Premier League and are currently plying their trade in the Champions League), pictures and selfies ensued. After recovering from being starstruck by some members of the squad, we consumed our lunch and headed in to see the Dome of the Rock. It was breathtakingly beautiful, the gold dome surrounded by blue tiling was as stunning as any other architectural feature I have ever seen. Next we moved swiftly through the Arab shuk and headed over to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the resting place of one Jesus Christ. The church was filled with beautiful relics and stunned all with its beauty.

We soon headed out for our first free night of the program… but the details of that shall remain well and truly unpublished.

One more awesome day down, 144 days to look forward to.

Jake