A Saturday In Jerusalem [Sam Brakken]
After a solemn stay in Bethlehem filled with charming local friends from Bethlehem Bible College, five shekel falafel, and graciously hospitable homestay families, we set course for West Jerusalem, the less archaic half of the city. Arriving to the Abraham Hostel, we dropped our bags and our large collection of hastily bought souvenirs and headed for the Kotel in the Old City, more famously known as the Western or Wailing Wall. Our twenty minute trek to this site fell on a Friday night which is Shabbat, where all shops shut down, all work is ceased, and well, restaurant options become slim. The festivities at the Western Wall however were lively as young boys and girls were chanting and dancing in rotating circles, and older men and women were saying their prayers practiced since youth. As this was clearly the event of the night, it reminded me of our American parallel of Friday night lights, except without the tackling and supplemented with Torah reading. Nonetheless, the same spirit was there.
Since arriving in Jerusalem we have started Judaism class with the brilliant Ophir Yardin, finished Arabic with Nasra, Illhamdella, visited several more sites including Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, an abandoned village from the 1948 war named Lifta, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site of Jesus’s tomb, to name a few. One of my personal favorite sites has been the Yehuda market where we find most of our food stuffs and snacks. Navigating through a sea of humanity, we must keep our eyes peeled for the lowest price on bulk dates, nuts, and other goodies.
Some of us have even bought raw food at the market, brought it back to the hostel kitchen, and whipped it up into some creative and uncanny delicacies. I was thoroughly impressed by Martha and Jordan’s pita pizza, as well as Courtney and Andrea’s nostalgic scrambled eggs for dinner. As you see, nutrition is the least of our worries.
Fortunately, today (Saturday) is the first day for a while where we have had no agenda whatsoever. Some of our more diligent students are getting a jump on things alongside others who are attempting to fill the hole they have dug themselves into. All in all, the group is taking advantage of the much needed rest that is here today, gone tomorrow! Wherever there is a Bruce Fisk, there is an adventure not far off. Stay tuned for more on the WIJit tribe and our exploits.
