In the morning, we had a small talk with the rabbi on Jewish thought about love - it was our official "taste of Jewish learning" experience that is mandated by Taglit, but Rabbi Dov was so wonderful throughout the entire trip providing us with bits of learning and tying places to history to scripture to philosophy that it didn't seem out of the ordinary at all - it seemed we were just stalling hoping the rain would stop (which we were, to a certain extent).
The rain only relented a little bit, which put a damper on our plans to have a tour of the old city, but we wanted to get going so we went straight to the archaeological excavations at the southern side of the Temple Mount. This is an active site, with more parts of biblical Jerusalem still being uncovered and waiting to be found, which was really neat to see. A lot of it is an indoor museum as well, which is why it was suitable to go straight there. Alex was a lot of fun, helping us reenact some of the events that took place in and around the Temple Mount area with great enthusiasm.
Outside the Old City walls
The back of the Temple Mount, with the archaeological dig site and a bunch of olive trees
Descending down into the archaeological museum, the walls of which were a first-millennium palace.
After taking a brief moment to write our own personal notes to put in the Kotel, we had our chance to return to the Western Wall at a non-Shabbat, non-night time to take pictures, put our notes in the wall, and take personal time to pray or meditate or whatever we wanted or needed. The rain had let up a bit when we first went, but started pouring again while we were there. I didn't mind - any readers that know me well know that I absolutely love the rain, and it did not disappoint at the Kotel - it was beautiful.
Women's side of the Kotel
Putting my note into the Kotel.
Women's side of the Kotel, with umbrellas.
Roommates at the Kotel.
Me and the Western Wall.
Temple Mount, soldiers, rain.
We then had a little time to explore the old city and get some lunch before meeting back together. I went to a place called Holy Bagel because honestly, I couldn't resist the name, and I was missing the good old American Jewish tradition of bagels.
Myself in the rain, overlooking the Temple Mount.
Old City Jerusalem
Seasonal Chanukkah donuts at Holy Bagel.
Old City Jerusalem
After lunch, it was time to go to the big Taglit "mini-mega event." I think the "mini" was thrown in there because a couple weeks later they had an even bigger event that the prime minister himself attended, but that could just be pure speculation. The event itself was for every single Birthright participant currently in the country, to gather, hear important people speak to us about Jewish identity and the state of Israel, including some of the donors that help fund us. Then, a popular Israeli reggae band played a concert for us, which was a lot of fun - I can't remember their name, hopefully someone will help me out with that soon.
Our Brittany lighting one of the Chanukkah candles!
The band (WHAT WAS THEIR NAME???)
Rocking out to the music with some Israeli soldiers (photo stolen from Hannah).
We then returned to the hotel for dinner and our closing ceremony. We went around the circle sharing significant parts of our experience, campfire-style, and tied a few other loose ends together like updating our trip maps and having the staff talk to us about each of their particular niches (the rabbi talking about Jewish identity and the experience we all got to share, Alex sharing more history and culture, etc.).
Lighting the Chanukkah candles and singing our hearts out to Chanukkah songs before convening upstairs for the closing ceremony.
That was the last time we all got to be together - after the closing ceremony, a couple people with family in Israel left us, and everyone else went to pack. I stayed up to hang out with everyone as long as I could, and waved the bus good-bye as it left the hotel at 2:00am. Myself and a few others who were extending were permitted to stay the night at the hotel, and made tentative plans together in the morning. I stayed up late, calling home to say Merry Christmas and to Skype with Loren. The hotel was so eerie and deserted with ours and another big Birthright group gone, and I hadn't booked any places to stay yet - I definitely felt myself suspended between trying to process everything I had already seen and the exciting uncertainty of my next adventure.
So, this entry concludes my Taglit-Birthright Mayanot experience! Stay tuned for more incredible travels!
[As always, I do not put every single picture I take into this blog. To see the entire album of photos I took while on Birthright, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtashalocke /sets/72157628872433827/ When I get to my extended, post-Birthright part of the trip, there will be a new album for those photos as well.]
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