Our final days in Israel

Our last full day in Jerusalem (Dec. 26) was spent wandering around the Old City, since the weather cooperated with no rain. Our first hope was to see the Dome of the Rock, but to our dismay, we found that it was closed. We thought, first of all, it was closed just for the noon prayer time. Then we found out later, upon trying to enter at one of the 7 entrances (guarded by soldiers) that it was closed that day. Later, we found out from friends that it has been closed to all but Muslims since the intifada began again a few years ago. (That's what happens when you use a guide book from 1994...)

After trying to see the Dome of the Rock, we wandered around trying to find the Western Wall (also called the Wailing wall), the last standing remnant of Solomon's Temple, that the Jews go to pray at. It was interesting to stand and watch some Orthodox Jews praying and bouncing and putting their foreheads against the wall earnestly praying. At the same time, we watched 2 families having their sons' Bar-Mitzvahs. It was really cool to watch as the boys carried out the scrolls from inside the synagogue and read in front of their families (the men that is) in front of the Wall. A stray tourist wandered his way into one of the ceremonies, and made himself right at home. He even was in the 'family' picture, standing right next to the boy, much to the family's dismay... It was actually quite funny to watch!

We enjoyed a lunch of lox and bagels, an example of how 'American Judaism' has penetrated Israel. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering aroudn the Christian quarter and down the Via Dolorosa, the supposed path Jesus took while carrying the cross. After this, we got very lost in the Muslim quarter, and came upon a group of Arab kids and got some fun photos. (That was a good way to be friendly with them, as they didn't seem very friendly towards us at first.)

We ended our day at dinner with Wim and Corrie, our Dutch friends who we caroled with in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed hearing stories of their lives which were quite amazing.

On the 27th we packed our bags and hiked with them up the VERY steep road up the Mount of Olives. On the way up, we wandered into the 'Garden of Gethsemane', which probably looks nothing like the one Jesus prayed in, but it was nice and did have some VERY old olive trees. Further up the hill we had a nice view of the Old City and some of the more modern city of Jerusalem. It was Friday, noon prayer time for the Muslims, so we watched many, many Muslims gathering in the vicinity of the Dome of the Rock. Our self-appointed tour guide, who we met at the top of the mt. of Olives, told us that they do not allow anyone under the age of 40 into prayer since they have had incidents of young people throwing rocks over the western wall. Hmmm.

The taxi ride to the bus was informative, as our taxi driver gave us great primer on the history of Israel, with some good color commentary. His comment about Bush was quite funny: 'George W. comes from Texas, and is a cowboy, thus he wants to make war like cowboys.'

We headed back to Eilat the afternoon of the 27th and have been here since, doing our usual routine here of doing duty at the Shelter hostel for part of the day, and then hanging around town.

We leave tomorrow, the 1st, by bus back to Cairo. From there, on to Kenya on Jan. 3rd at 12:15am.

We have thouroughly enjoyed our time in Israel...it is definitely on the must return list! Gaining a deeper understanding of our Jewish roots as Christians has been a blessing and something we would like to further investigate, study and adopt.

Love you all,

We will write again next year :)

New Year's Blessing to you all!

Trevor and Ali