Monday July 11, 2016

Today was the day we’ve been excitedly waiting for… we finally visited the holiest city in Israel, Jerusalem!  We started off our Jerusalem journey by touring around in the City of David. While admiring the beautiful culture and scenery that the city entails, we learned about the amazing history that every rock in the city holds. We had the opportunity to learn about the rich history by watching an educational 3D movie! This gave us a better understanding of where we really were.

Once we got a chance to look at the city from the top of Mount Zion, we headed to King David’s palace! It was so amazing to walk in the same place that King David himself once walked! After visiting the the remains of the palace, we walked through the aquaducts that were built 2000 years to experience the old water system that has no explanation as to how it was built.  After walking and singing through the tight, pitch black walls of the aquaducts, we all knew that the moment was coming…we were soon going to be visiting the Western Wall, the Kotel.

While we walked around in the Old City of Jerusalem, we didn’t look at the Kotel as we wanted to build up the moment in which we would all see it together.  This was a truly amazing feeling as we knew how close we were to the Kotel and yet, we were saving the first glimpse of it to be when we can walk up to the wall and touch it.

As soon as we changed into our nice clothing we were given a beautiful speech by Rabbi Zahtz. He spoke about the significance of ripping our clothing the first time we see the Kotel and the relation to the act to mourning.  His words were heartfelt and really prepared us for the revelation of the Kotel. As we walked up to the Kotel with our heads down as to save the moment, we felt a buildup of excitement. It was a feeling that I’d never felt before.  We stood, arm in arm meters away from the Kotel singing altogether until finally, we turned around and opened our eyes. The moment was extraordinary! We all wrote our letters to Hashem and walked up to the wall to pray and speak to G-d.  I was overcome with emotion as it was my first time seeing and touching the Kotel. We all felt so connected to G-d and so happy to be together.

We then headed to Ben Yehuda street for some free time and shopping.  The streets were filled with life and people! After that, we went to a park called Gan Saccher where we met with many TJJ groups to enjoy the outdoors and a picnic. Once we arrived back at Yad Binyamin, we experienced a wonderful evening program led by Micha and Yoni to prepare us for the next day at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum. Can’t wait for another amazing day!

-Ciera Hart