We drove through the lovely Israel countryside for about 40 miles to Jerusalem. The mountainsides and vistas are lovely, with green grass cover and lovely, rocky hillsides that break up the horizon. It took us about an hour to arrive at my friend Lizzi’s house, where we were lovingly hosted. We named our GPS George, and he had a few issues at times navigating various tunnels and streets, but overall, he got us there in one piece with relatively little confusion. We were able to spend a bit of time catching up before Lizzi had to leave for class, at which point we slept wonderfully until the early afternoon. Lizzi showed me some lovely prayers in Hebrew, in preparation for the Western Wall, and loaned me her book of Psalms. We showered, cleaned up and departed for the Old City.
Jerusalem is a city unlike any I’ve ever visited before. Everything seems to be made out of the same pale, rose and sand-colored stone (we found out later that it’s a building condition in the city, much like requirements in Santa Barbara regarding roofing and southwest style and design). It’s also seems to be a mountain in a valley surrounded by mountains. I can easily see how the ancient Israelites found it to be holy and sacred. The Temple Mount sits in the middle of this exquisite valley surrounded by lovely hills. So our calves and glutes had the time of their lives walking up and down the hillsides. We parked near the King David Hotel and walked our way up towards the Old City.
We stopped for lunch at a small cafe in a relatively new shopping strip just near Jaffa Gate. We ate Kosher for most of our meals, meaning no mixing of meat and dairy. So the lunch we ate was dairy, and vegetarian. The menu was also exclusively in Hebrew! Thank goodness for Lizzi being around to translate for us. My Biblical Hebrew just didn’t cover things like cheese sandwiches or omelettes. Our view of the new city was gorgeous, and the weather was superb. Afterwards, we headed through Jaffa Gate and into the Old City.
The Old City is a remarkable place. The streets are narrow and shops line both sides. It is reminiscent of the Arabian marketplace at Renaissance Faire, but the streets are much, much narrower. They offered goods for all faiths. Hookahs, menorahs, and crucifixes all lined the streets along with fabrics and various tourist goods like suitcases. We walked through David Street, perusing the mass quantities of various spiritual goodies that would have required hunting and searching religious bookstores in the states. It was a religious cornucopia for the eyes! We turned left into the Jewish Quarter and headed for the Western Wall.
The Western Wall is an experience that I find myself having a difficult time trying to describe (but of course, being a writer, I’m going to try!). This is the only remaining Wall from the Second Temple in the first century that was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD.
Because of the Islamic spiritual sites on top of the Mount, the Jews have been unable to build a third temple, although some are still hoping to do so in the future. You enter through security, because the space is contested. 
On the far side, there is an enclosed walkway to Temple Mount for the Muslims who worship at either the Dome on the Rock or Al-Aqsa Mosque.
A Close up and a long view of the site
The praying area is divided between men and women in respect for the ultra-Orthodox Jews who still separate according to gender in worship. Walking down the stairs, there are signs discussing appropriate signs of respect for the wall, many of which include head-coverings for men, appropriate reverence, etc. There is a courtyard before entering what is considered the sacred space with various faucets and basins for those who desire to wash before entering. The place is blanketed with a peaceful yet uneasy stillness.
The prayers provide the peace, but the random man screaming angrily and escorted out by the military bearing automatic weapons creates unease. The military are everywhere, all fully armed, but to a local, I guess this is just business as usual. We separated in the courtyard, with the intention to pray on our own, have our own special moment intimately with God, and return when finished.
I took out the Hebrew Psalm-book and moved slowly towards the women’s side of the wall. I had also brought a notebook and pen, in order to write my prayer to add to all those stuck in the wall. There is definitely a sense in this place that God is listening and paying attention to prayer. After composing my prayer, I folded it up, and walked slowly towards the front. There is a delicate balance almost like a choreographed dance in which people move towards the wall and back from it. A few bat-mitzvah portraits were being taken at the wall as well, which seemed almost sacrilegious to me, but I guess that it is significant to different people in different ways. As I got closer, praying Psalms 15, 16, and 24, I began to feel a tightness in my chest and a fluttering in my stomach. I could feel the presence of God, and I could recognize the reality of God to those people around me. I found myself nearing tears as I approached, and could almost feel the pain of those weeping. There is no coincidence that this place is also called the Wailing Wall. Women were rocking back and forth, davening (praying), and sometimes even pushing their faces and bodies into the wall. As I moved forward, confusing some women by being the obviously European Christian with a cross and yet praying in Hebrew, I lost all sense of externality and just became wrapped up in the moment. God was listening, he heard my prayer. When I finally touched the wall, there were no sparks, just the quiet reassurance that God loves, God lives, God is. I put my prayer in with the rest. And I prayed. I blessed God and said my prayer and moved back, like many women, not turning my back to this sacred space, but allowing the moment to continue until I was outside the thick of the spiritual reality. Leaving, I felt overwhelmed. When we met up about five minutes later in the courtyard, it felt as though eons had passed, even though it had been only twenty minutes or so. We took an “Intersem Reunion” picture to commemorate the wonderful year Lizzi and I had shared since our first inter-faith encounter with each other at Intersem in 2007.
Then we walked up through the Jewish quarter. We saw the 6 foot tall solid gold menorah that is part of the instruments being created to reassemble the temple and continued walking through the Old City back towards Jaffa Gate. A lovely afternoon was ending as we walked through Jaffa Gate and headed towards Ben Yehuda street to see the new development in the city.
Ben Yehuda is named for the man who literally brought Hebrew back to life. He became the predominant figure in establishing a modern Hebrew language, creating new words in order to accommodate the changes in the world since Biblical Times. His street is a shopping district now, similar to Third Street Promenade or Telegraph or Grafton Street. There we encountered a vegetarian movement, as well as the new messianic movement (more to be described later!). We meandered our way through the streets, enjoying the company and the life around us.
We found our way to dinner in another dairy/vegetarian restaurant, which had phenomenal food. One thing I must admit is that Israel knows how to do whole, complete, filling and enriching food. Fresh and wholesome vegetables, fruit, and grains, our meals there were always excellent. We lingered over dinner and coffee and dessert for hours before finally walking back to the car around 10 o’clock. We arrived back to Lizzi’s and fell into our beds with abandon.
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