Until today, I had been so busy with ulpan that I STILL hadn't made it far from campus. Though I initially scored into a high-aleph level ulpan (the second half of the first level of Hebrew instruction), the class was out of my reach, so I switched to a class of absolute beginners. Now, of course, the pace is frustratingly slow! Ulpan runs from 8:30 to 1:30. Most days of this past week, I've had orientations to attend as well. By the time I ate and got back to my dorm, it was 4:30, and the jet-lag set in. Wednesday and Thursdays nights were very rough--I went to bed at 5:00 p.m. and woke up at 2 in the morning!
On Friday night, a student activity coordinator told me where I could find a free Shabbat dinner. The dinner was put on near a yeshiva and was open to its students and others from the area. Needless to say, it was packed! The service was both in Hebrew and English, but several other groups--including Jews visiting from Brazil and from Spain--still didn't know what was going on. The food was great as well, especially the challah (although there was no wine).
Today (Saturday), I FINALLY made it down to the Old City and downtown Jerusalem! Though most of the normal bus lines and taxi services were closed for Shabbat, the Arab bus line was running. It was a convenient seven-minute bus ride from the dorms to the Damascus Gate (pictured below). The gate led me--along with a few other international students--into the packed Muslim Quarter, where we bought some delicious baklava.
Just inside the gate we intersected the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross. Below is a picture of the fourth station--Jesus meets his mother. We also saw station five--Simon takes up the Cross--but we decided that we should save the full trip for another day.
The whole Old City is packed with the most unbelievable shops, which sell everything from religious relics (from Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and more) to underwear. Below is a picture I took of a fabulous-smelling spice shop. They also had an impressive display of oils.
One of my friends, Miruna, knows the Old City quite well, and soon she had steered us toward the Wailing (or Western) Wall. As I said in a previous post, this is one of the things I was most excited to see in Israel. The Western Wall is the retaining wall to Temple Mount complex, which was the site of the First and Second Temples (and now the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque). It is the closest Jews can get to Holy of Holies, and therefore the Wall is the holiest spot in Judaism. I sported a kippa as I approached the Wall, which was lined with a strange mix of tourists and (mostly ultra-Orthodox) Jews in their traditional garb. The stones were huge, ancient, and smooth, and there were masses of letters (petitions written to God) that had been folded up and stuffed in the cracks of the Wall. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed at the Western Wall on Shabbat (Shabbat rules include prohibitions on pushing buttons, which includes cameras), but I will definitely return there again to take pictures!
From the holiest site in Judaism, we proceeded to the holiest site in Christianity--the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The huge church is shared by a number of Christian rites (Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox, among others), and is said to contain the locations of the final five stations of the Cross. Most notably, the Church houses the shrine of Christ's tomb. Several pictures appear below.
Golgatha, the crucifixion site (visitors are allowed to touch the original earth in which the Cross was erected):
The Chapel of Adam, directly beneath the crucifixion site. The rock was supposedly cracked by the earthquake which followed Christ's death. Traditionally, this spot was associated with Adam (the first man)'s burial:
The stone of unction, where it is believed that Jesus' body was anointed for burial:
And finally, the tomb of Christ (visitors are allowed to enter, but the line was long and I decided to save it for another time):
Here's a picture of me at the entrance to the tomb:
Though today was a great introduction to the Old City, I shall definitely have to return to these sites and explore them more thoroughly!
Ahhh! I am so excited to visit now!!
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