Satell Teen Fellowship Israel Trip 2007: Day 3

June 23, 2007
Tammuz 7, 5767

Israel, Day 3

Shabbat in Jerusalem

 
For us, the day began pretty early since we were lucky enough to be chosen for wake-up duty. That consisted of banging on everyone’s doors and receiving angry glares and some slammed doors in our faces. We now can sympathize with our parents and when they deal with us in the mornings. After everyone finally got themselves up, we all gathered for breakfast as a group. They happened to have the most delicious watermelon ever. We then divided up for Saturday morning Shabbat services based on our preference. Some of us opted to attend Orthodox services while others journeyed to Hebrew Union College for Reform services and others attended the neighborhood Conservative service. Diversity is definitely one of the best qualities of the Satell program.

After our different experiences at our services, we returned to the hotel for a relaxing break followed by a group lunch. The rest of the day consisted of much relaxation, of course including some well needed naps as well as some quality “chill time” at the pool, enjoying the Jerusalem scorching heat. We gathered later in the afternoon for a group activity. The first thing we did was a speaking activity. There was an inner and an outer circle of Fellows and we had to discuss a topic given to us in a certain amount of time. The topics began with simple questions such as our favorite places or events but then began to get deeper, ending with discussions of our own strengths and weaknesses. Some of us found discussing our strengths to be more difficult over our weaknesses and others just the opposite. It was very interesting to hear how different our opinions were. Another part of the activity was that we had to be put into different elements such as talking down to our peers as well as being extremely close. These different elements were interesting to experience. The second activity we did was trust falls and trust bridges. It taught us to realize how close we are as a group and how much we trust each other. This activity really was a great one to help us build as a group and we all enjoyed it after we got over our initial fear of falling and trusting that our fellow Fellow will catch us. We ended the afternoon activity with some delicious Israeli treats and fresh fruit from the Shuq, the open air market.

After dinner we went to a park for the Havdallah service which overlooked both the old city of Jerusalem and the New City of Jerusalem. As we swayed together and sang prayers that were familiar to almost everyone it felt as though we were not 23 individuals but one family. As we burned the candle out we prepared ourselves to walk around old city and go underneath the Kotel.

We hiked up to the Kotel passing the Armenian side as we came up to the Jewish quarter we came across a gate covered in bullet holes. Guy our tour guide explained to us that the bullet holes came from previous wars and that we had to work hard for Jerusalem and once we forget how hard we worked for Jerusalem then we will lose it. As we walked deeper into the city Guy stopped us that the ruins of the first temple, he explained to us that the finding of the first temple helped us to know that the stories in the torah are real and not made up.

As we came upon the Kotel we were taken to an entrance way into a tunnel. These tunnels lead underground and show the wall that King Herod had originally built to protect the temple. As we all walked underground together we all sang the theme to Indiana Jones, and I felt as though I was an explorer or an archeologist searching for lost gold or a buried treasure. I thought it was amazing that Guy took us to the closest point to the Foundation Stone or the Holiest of the Holies as we walked up there was a stone that appeared to look like Israel it was like it came from g-d that this land was ours and we were meant to be here.
 
Love,
Lindsay Levy & Rachel Kohler
 

(No pictures were taken before sundown because of Shabbat.) 

Guy the Tour Guide describes Ancient Jerusalem outside the Old City on a post-Havdalah walking tour.

The Zion Gate of Old City Jerusalem.

Satell Teen Fellows examine the wall of the Old City, riddled by bullet holes from the War of Independence and the Six Day War.

Satell Teen Fellows pose in front of Israeli flags in the Kotel Tunnels.

Lindsay and others walk through Old City Jerusalem.