Fateful Decisions - 1st & 2nd Temple Periods

Today was the first full day of our program and so it was the first day I got up very early in Jerusalem. Thanks to Marty who encouraged me to pay extra for a room with a view of the old city, I got to watch the sunrise over the old city this morning. What a sight - there is none other like this in the world! No matter how many times I am here, I am always surprised about how everything touches my heart. Today was a long and hot day, but filled with wonderful sights, smells, and tastes. The educator who is leading our group is wonderful. (It turns out that he is a good friend of Sara Sless from JCCA - it really is a small country.) In one day, we looked at the history of Jerusalem from 1900 BCE until 1987...obviously not in depth, but with some general overviews and a concentration on the 1st and 2nd temple periods. We went to a park overlooking the City of David for the first overview session. We studies a series of 8 maps that show how the city developed the time David captured the city until the late 19th century using texts from Vayera Psalm 137, and a poem written by an Ethiopian Jew in 1991...some things stay the same always. As with California, water in Jerusalem has been a central issue from its earliest days. It is stunning to read about this from ancient texts and to be looking down at exactly what the problem is. We went to King David's tomb and then studies chapters 6 and 7 from 2nd Samuel as a way to look at David's personality and Leadership Style. Lunch in the old city which is always a treat and then a tour of the Kotel Tunnels and some more study based on Mishnah (Midot 2:2) and Psalms 122,126, and 150. I haven't studied much of psalms before so this is really fun. A quick shower and then the 7 of us went to dinner with Yosh Zweiback, Jacqueline Hantgan, and Neal Levy who are also in Jerusalem. We went to Beit Ticho which is a lovely garden restaurant attached to a small museum that had been a private home. For those I've studied Hebrew with, yes...it is the same Beit Ticho we read about in Hebrew. I was so impressed that I actually knew the whole story and could tell some of it in Hebrew. My Hebrew is getting better each day and I am getting a bit more confident about using it. This is so much fun !!!!!! The evening was perfect for an outside dinner and the food was FABULOUS so we were all quite pleased. We had also invited Sasha who is a Russian Israeli who will be a shclicha at our JCC starting in August. She is a delightful young woman and it is so nice that she will know some of us when she arrives. She and Jacqueline made a great connection and agreed to meet again and Jacq has agreed to help her get settled. What a nice extra treat. More when I can - but the next few days are quite hectic. Love to you all....L'hit, Randi