Woke up in Jerusalem at something like 6 am. What a crazy feeling it is to be able to say that! I am in Jerusalem. The sun rises so early here that I am wide awake even after such a long trip yesterday. I have a wonderful balcony with doors that open to the west side of Jerusalem. My roomate arrives today, so last night and this morning I am by myself. I've started creating a "Jerusalem Playlist" on my mac with songs like Jerusalem by Matisyahu and the Schindler's List Soundtrack.
Today we have a plan: get sound equipment. I'm really just a tagalong. Jonny and James' purpose in coming to Israel a day ahead of our tour was to get sound equipment for the tour, which begins this evening. Funny thing though, it's Friday here, and in Jerusalem that means Shabbat. Most westerners don't understand the Jewish Sabbath, we simply don't have a grid for it. Let me explain.
In Jerusalem, the Sabbath is strictly observed. For example, this evening we are unable to use sound equipment during our session because the turning on of appliances is interpreted as "stricking a match" which is forbidden on the Sabbath. But more of that later.
Jonny found a place to rent sound equipment, and we all crammed in a taxi to get there. The shoppin center where we rented sound equipment from felt like a 3rd world country all its own. It was filthy and deserted, many shops with blankets covering the doors, because of the pornography inside. While we were loading in the equipment, they said, "Watch this stuff Joanna so no one steals it." I'm sure I'm quite a deterent to thieves. Either way, he found a very substantial sound system and rented a van to load it and off we went back to the hotel to set up.
In the afternoon, Andrew Howes and I went with JoAnn McFatter down to the Western Wall for the first time. We piled in a taxi, and I sat in the front talking gibberish with the driver trying to figure out what he was saying. Quite a talker he was. I made out that he thought I would like buying cosmetics from the Dead Sea, and how glad he was that we weren't afraid of the rockets, and that we should tell all our friends to come to Israel.
At the Wall, we met up with Paul Keith Davis and Randy Demain who would be speaking to our tour. The first time at the wall was striking. First of all, I didn't quite know what to do, so in typical "me" fashion, I people watched. There is a men's side and a women's side to approach the Wall. After going to the women's side" I noticed that when leaving the Wall, they walk backwards for quite a few steps, not turning their back to the wall. Many women leaned against the wall praying, many sat reading the Torah provided, many rocked and cried. Some appeared more orthodox or conservative, some modern and secular, but it didn't seem to matter.
For those that don't know the significance of the Western or Wailing Wall, it is what is left of the western restraining wall of Herod's Temple, and the closest the Jews are permitted to come to the location of the Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Because of this, it's the holiest place in Jerusalem, and the world for that matter, for the Jewish people.
At about 3 in the afternoon, the rest of the group from Canada arrived: tired and jetlagged. But we were in a crunch! We had to set up the sound equipment BEFORE Shabbat commenced, which is arround 4:15 in the afternoon on Friday. The guys pulled together and got most of it set up and tested before Shabbat with the help of some friends already in Israel.
Afterward the evening service, which had no sound system, my friend Christina and I, along with Andrew, James, and Jon, or the disciples as I refer to them, went out to a coffee shop called Aroma. Actually, the signs are all in Hebrew, but that's it's translated name. This location was in the German Colony and *GASP* open for business on Shabbat. Most everything else was closed. I had a hot chocolate of sorts where they put real chunks of chocolate at the bottom of the cup and pour hot milk over it. Christina drove us around Jerusalem giving us a mini tour. At night, the Old City Walls are all illuminated and it's just magnificent.
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