Waking up on Shabbat morning in Jerusalem brings one a different kind of calm. Walking the streets you find that almost the entire city takes a Shabbat. Can you imagine it? If you were walking down Thousand Oaks Blvd. with every store closed and absolutely no one on the road except for taxi cabs driving tourists around? It is almost silent, peaceful. A truly unique experience. I really hope all of our travelers were able to see the Shabbat calm that comes over Jerusalem as we share this Shabbat here in Israel, a day with very little organized programming.
After sleeping in and having breakfast (not quite the same feast we are used to because there is no fresh hot food being cooked because it is forbidden on Shabbat, even the espresso machine was turned off) many of us chose to go to the renewed Israel Museum, one of the few museums open on Shabbat. I truly love this museum, probably the largest museum I have ever been to in my life. I remember last time I visited Israel I went here and never made it out of the first building! I could hardly wait to share this with my family.
We started our visit with a walk through a sculpture garden where Hayley couldn't resist recreating the pose of the statue.
We then went to one of my favorite exhibits, the Shrine of the Book, which houses the Dead Sea Scrolls. I loved watching Hayley absorb this exhibit, realizing that she was looking at the earliest example of our biblical writings. She would try to recognize some of the Hebrew letters, and even though it looked very different then the script we read today, she was able to spot many letters. Leasa also was able to read the Hebrew, and we commented at how tall the letter lamed was in the writings.
Another posing moment...
When we were doing our archeological dig, our archeologist explained about the most important find that came from a group like ours. Someone dug up a piece from a tablet, with writing on it that was identified as coming from the time of the Maccabees. He explained that we could see this tablet in the Israel museum and really appreciate the size of the find. We made it our mission to find this tablet, and I am proud to say we did! It took some work and research, but we accomplished our goal.
It is amazing to think of what might be dug up next in these caves.
The last time I visited the museum, I really wanted to see the exhibit that took synagogues from the 1700's from all over the world and transported them to the museum where they were on permanent display. I never had a chance to make it to this exhibit last time, and was determined to get there this time. On the way we walked through exhibit after exhibit of judaica from across the centuries as well as ancient archeology. We found the synagogues and were blown away.
Here is the Vittorio Veneto Sunagogue, completed in 1700 near Venice, Italy.
Next we walked into the Horb Synagogue from Germany, a temple that was turned into a barn, with only the ceiling displaying any evidence that a synagogue once was there.
Next was the Kadavumbegam Synagogue from Cochin, India.
Finally, we walked into the Tzedek ve-Shalom Synagogue found in Oaramaribo, Suriname, which is in Holland. Hayley especially loved the sand on the floor of this synagogue, placed there to remind the worshippers of the Sinai desert (I also learned that it was to prevent noise from walking on the floor).
Seeing these synagogues and explaining the women's sections upstairs brought up some interesting conversations about this and how women were separated. It was another reason I am so proud to be a part of Temple Adat Elohim where I can pray next to my wife and daughters. I simply cannot imagine a Judaism where I could not do this.
We then walked into an amazing display of artwork, including pieces from Monet,
Cezanne,
Van Gogh,
Picasso,
And Jackson Pollock.
It was amazing to watch Hayley discover art, some she really connected to and others she looked at and couldn't figure out why it was called art. Leasa was wonderful at explaining the different time periods and artistic styles and Hayley really loved absorbing all she could from these incredible artists. It was an awe-inspiring collection.
We then went into the large sculpture garden where we saw the famous Ahava sculpture and some other interesting and thought provoking pieces.
We thought the Second Temple Period Model of Jerusalem was amazing as well, giving us a clear picture of what ancient Jerusalem looked like so very long ago. We were able to identify places around the Temple Mount that we had visited including the southern steps, Robinson's Arch and the arches that supported the ramp to the entrance to the Temple Mount we stood under when we visited the Western Wall Tunnels.
Shabbat ended with a walk to the Hebrew Union College to meet with three other Reform congregations for a communal havdallah ceremony. There were more than 125 people from the four congregations as well as some HUC students, including Rachel Dubowe. It was so nice to be a part of such a strong and large community to share in this ritual. My part of the ceremony explained the notion of separation, and I tried to recognize not only separating Shabbat from the rest of the week, but separating this trip from the rest of our lives.
We also took this opportunity to wear our trip t-shirts to show our TAE pride (thanks Randy, for coordinating these shirts for us).
There is not another group of people I would rather share this trip with then those in these pictures below. It is a special group of people who are becoming a special family sharing some incredible experiences together that will bond us forever.
We are off to bed now because tomorrow we get an extra early start as we experience Masada, floating in the Dead Sea and riding camels! It will be anoth terrific day in this unbelievable place. You must travel here and feel what Israel can give to you. TAE will gladly take you there, as we will begin planning our next trip in 2017 when I return. Coming to Israel is amazing, coming with your community is priceless. Shavua tov to you all!
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