Jerusalem Part 2

Our first glimpse of Israel!!  SOOOO EXCITING!!

This is the route (picture/graphic art courtesy of Daniel) we took, from A to B.

Well, Jerusalem was amazing.   We were not disappointed on any front.  Everything from palm trees to columns from places mentioned in the Bible.  We were gob-smacked at every turn.

The Western Wall/Wailing Wall is right around the corner here...I can hear the bustling about--and feel the bright sun--just looking at this photo.

Here it is!  The famed Western Wall, which is all that remains of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, built on the original site of Soloman's Temple. 

Every man was required to cover his head, out of respect.
The good thing for Daniel not having a hat was that he now has a cool souvenir, and is happy to wear it whenever requested. 😉

Notice the Jewish man in black, right up next to the wall.  MANY people were there, writing prayers and placing them in the cracks, or praying with their prayer books, or simply touching the wall and taking pictures...

The Jewish women would cover their heads at the wall.  Tori here is looking at just how very high the wall is.  You can see many of the written prayers stuffed in the cracks...

One of the most interesting cultural things we saw was this parade of people singing loudly with drums and cymbals, and walking down the street.  Turns out they are friends and family of a 13-yr-old boy celebrating his Bar Mitzvah.  The celebrated boy is walking under the shade of the canopy seen.  Quite a sight...and sound. 😉

An important part of the whole processional is the blowing of the shofar (ram's horn). (Note the high octane camera videoing the whole thing.)

The group walked to the Western Wall, where the boy read from the Torah for the first time.  Note all the different head coverings...and see the guy to the right of the boy with a black box on his forehead?  This tradition harkens back to verses in Deuteronomy that talk about binding the Scriptures to your forehead.  And, notice that there are only guys in this photo.  The men and women are separated.  The mamas/sisters/aunts are all in the foreground of the photo peering over the fence, taking pictures.

Another photo more clearly showing a black box.

This bronze statue of King David is just outside the place considered to be where David is buried.  Note that his nose has been defaced (no pun intended). It is because the Jews believe that statues are graven images and therefore forbidden, but because this statue does not have a nose, it does not represent a person, so it is ok.  There you have it.  At any rate, inside the chapel we found the most interesting sights:

These Orthodox Jewish men (the women are on the other side of the divider) were praying loudly and the one of the left was bowing methodically and repeatedly as he recited/prayed. Most interesting.  The altar covered in white is said to be the place--many meters down--where David is buried.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is another of those places that we really couldn't believe what all was within, like the place where Jesus' tomb was.  (Isn't that a great effect with the light shining down thru the hole in the roof?!?!)

Also within this church is this big rock, which is said to be the top of Calvary, the Mount on which Christ was crucified. Wow.

Also inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is quite an eclectic mix of Christian traditions. The Greek Orthodox tradition has a large presence, with lots of gold and gilded ornamentation, grand candles, and many places where pilgrims kneel, kiss, and pray. 

The Old City of Jerusalem is divided into 4 quadrants:  Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Armenian. Here we are walking along in the Armenian quarter. Incidentally, Brad bought a Baylor(!) t-shirt in the Jewish Quarter.  It has the Baylor logo, then 'Baylor University' written in Hebrew! Crazy.

And this is in the Muslim quarter.

Wait...WHAT?!?!?! This is the kind of thing that is at every turn in Jerusalem.  Literally hundreds of  sites/things.  Maybe thousands. Below is the actual wall mentioned: 

Every sign is in three languages:  Hebrew, Arabic, and English

And, speaking of streets, and as weird as this is, signs like this were all over Jerusalem.  Trump had been in Israel the week before we were, and there were signs like this all over the city! This would rank under the title, "Things We Didn't Expect to See in Israel."