Over the weekend, we’ve heard some more from our travelers! It sounds like they’ve had a fantastic weekend. Here’s what they have to say:
Hi everyone!
Day 4 of our adventure began with us saying goodbye to the northern Galilee and journeying south towards Tzfat. Tzfat, a holy city in the mountains, was the birthplace of the Kabbalistic movement. There we visited Rabbi Josef Caro’s study (the author of the Shulchan Aruch) and saw his 600-year-old Torah. We also visited the beautiful artist colony there and learned a bit about the Sephardic community that settled in this city long ago.
From there we made the climb to Jerusalem, the center of the three major monotheistic faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Jerusalem is an amazing city, one that is buzzing with both life and history. After a good night’s sleep, we visited Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial, where we learned about the incredible loss our community endured during the Shoah and commemorated their memories with words of prayer.
Jerusalem is a city of many contrasts, and we saw that come to life going from Yad Vashem to Machne Yehuda market, one of the liveliest places as the city prepared for Shabbat. We ate a delicious Kurdish lunch at Azura and tasted our way through the shuk (market). After resting and preparing for Kabbalat Shabbat, we headed to Sha’ar Zion – Zion Gate, the entrance to the Jewish quarter of the Old City. We walked down to the Kotel (Western Wall) where we welcomed Shabbat with thousands of Jews from all backgrounds – soldiers, Orthodox Jews, liberal Jews, even Birthright trip participants also visiting from the States. It was an incredibly moving way to bring in Shabbat.
We dined together overlooking the Kotel—with a seemingly endless amount of food—and celebrated one of our group member’s birthdays. We walked back to our hotel and experienced yet another one of Jerusalem’s contrasts. The city that was earlier bustling with activity and the excitement of Shabbat was now quiet and at peace. We’re looking forward to experiencing this peace together over the next 24 hours.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Weitzman, Lyndsie, and the CRS Congregational Trip
They’re also taking some amazing pictures! Check them out below—we feel like we’re really there.
