It was the last day of Pesach and our itinerary gave participants a chance to spend the holiday with their families. Noam's safta took him away to one function, Adriel's uncle to another, and Tomer's grandparents grabbed him and the other two boys. Genesis may not have noticed as she seemed wrapped up in talking to her Calgary buddies, but it was just the two of us for the morning.
It started out with a portion of services at the Great Synagogue and the end of services at the Moreshet Yisrael Conservative Synagogue. We actually had quite an extensive conversation back in class a few weeks ago about being a Conservative or Reform Jew in Israel. While the progressive movements make up a majority of Jews in North America, they are a miniscule minority in Israel.
Their congregations and buildings have no state funding and their religious authority is not recognized. A Conservative/Reform rabbi cannot preside over a wedding, nor can he/she oversee conversions. The fact that Moreshet Yisrael sits kitty-corner from the Great Synagogue symbolizes all of this. It is physically dwarfed by the Temple replica and the modest number of seats inside reflects the lack of prominence. And then there's the Western Wall. We touched on these issues when we were at the Progressive Kotel platform, and, as I said, covered it extensively in class. It's one of those sites that we talked about it in class and then came to feel what it is in actuality. That was applied later during Kabbalat Shabbat.
During our synagogue visits, Cale, Danny, and Tomer were out on a tour of Jerusalem. Tomer's saba and safta took them over to Montefiore's windmill, up the YaMCA tower, and over to the train station for some ice cream. Noam went for services and to a family lunch.
After lunch, Noam, Danny, Cale, and Tomer rejoined us and we took about an hour at the park next door to play some football. After a quick rinse, we set out for our own tour of the windmill, the YMCA and King David hotels, and the train station for ice cream. So that's how Danny, Tomer, and Cale ended up having six scoops of ice cream in the day. And I'm glad that, despite Tomer's approval, the 7th, 8th, and 9th scoops never came!
Adriel reunited the group after that, and all 22 of us headed to the Kotel for a special Kabbalat Shabbat. As the sun set, the Muazzin called out for the Muslims, thousands sang in front of us at the Wall, and we sang nearby to welcome Shabbat. Some birdies were circling the Temple Mount which is always heartwarming knowing that they don't see any conflict in the songs and maybe one day we can all be like them.
And so came the last chance to touch the Wall. We had to fight a big crowd, and I do mean fight, elbows out. So the question was: why? Like, academically, they knew why. But in their hearts, the other day, it didn't resonate, to which I can relate. To be honest, when I was in grade 9, I also went to the Wall, put in a note asking for the Leafs to win the Stanley Cup, and stepped away. My friends were disappointed in me for my insignificant request. So I started to understand and went back at the end of the trip to put in something deeper, in writing and in heart.
Which is quite what these guys seemed to be going through. They said that the other day it was hot and crowded and they put in their notes and wanted to get away quickly. So we came up with the fact that we're here, after many many years of wandering the desert of Diaspora and war over the Land, on Pesach, as Bnei Yisrael got there after a long ordeal in Egypt and through many wars. What does that stir up? What are we most thankful for? What are we most hopeful for? What does it mean to be so physically close to this spiritual center of our history and culture? And we did fight the crowd, and hopefully it was everything they wanted...
After dinner was a really fun game and bed time. Now I'm getting ready for breakfast and the final day in Jerusalem. I'm hoping to get the kids onto the blog, but for now enjoy the photos and Shabbat Shalom.
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