Addendum to the Western Wall

I suppose it will make it the whole post complete if I attach these pictures along with my previous post.

Shabbot Shalom at the Western Wall

Earlier in the week, the 80 of us were informed that on the eve of the Sabbath (Friday) we would journey to the south-eastern section of the Old City to the wall known as Western. The home of the Dome of the Rock or Haram al-Sharif stands as a memorial of the ancient Temple of Herod. Acclaimed as one of the most sought after religious sights among Jewish, Muslim, and Christian religions, the Temple Mount draws devout worshippers to its holy confines.

When evening drew near, we gathered together in the plaza amid thousands of others prepared to usher in the Sabbath. Minutes later, groups of celebrating soldiers passed by, dancing and singing jubilant songs. The guys and girls parted to their respective sides and joined others in approaching the face of the Western Wall. Our group of guys donned our kippahs and then timidly stood in line, waiting our turn to offer a prayer. Gazing around, we were fascinated by the show of devotion from the surrounding Jews, paying their respects with fervent prayer and scripture reading.

Despite our differences in religion, I was surprised at the feeling of overall acceptance and brotherhood that pervaded the area. It was as if all present realized that all are one family and share that commonality with each other. After concluding my turn at the wall, I watched as different groups of worshippers joined in song to welcome the Sabbath [Shabbot Shalom]. Starkly different than most, the Jews believe that the approach of the Sabbath should involve dancing, singing, and laughter. We participated in some of the festivities and came to realize that they are simply showing their gratitude for the Lord's Day in a different way. As we hopped in the vans and rode back to the Center, all of us decided that we would do well to take a page out of their book: to do our best in starting the Sabbath with joyful thankfulness for day when the Lord rested long ago. And I close this post and pose a question--- why not?

The Jerusalem Center - Pros and Cons

As soon as the vestiges of jetlag wore off and I was able to remember things that occurred longer than five minutes ago, I got to thinking objectively concerning my experiences of the past few days and how the Jerusalem Center compares to what I could dub as either my 'normal' life or my 'past' life (I haven't yet decided which one is more correct). This wrestle that I had in the dark recesses of my brain produced some insightful results. I would like to share just a few golden flakes I found throughout this process of comparison.

Cons

Pros
1) Look out the window and what do I see? not popcorn, but Jerusalem.
2) Primetime springtime temps
3) Specialized square shower heads.
4) Open patios for each room.
5) View of the Old City from the classrooms, cafeteria, bathrooms, bomb shelter, et cetera.
6) Multiple hours each day spent soaking up history and facts related to the Holy Land geography and history, Jewish/Arab cultures, and less-known/sketchy Old Testament stories.
7) 79 insta-friends—just add water.
8) Frequent evenings spent playing rounds of adrenaline-pumping volleyball
9) Pitas
10) Laundry—free of charge.
11) 1001 must-see sites from the Old/New Testament 10 minutes away
12) Ping-pong.
13) Three full meals of delightful food per day.
14) Live atop the Mount of Olives.
15) Everyone in the old city refers to the students as 'Mormons!'
16) Full-size pipe organ
17) Open air markets
18) Dessert served at dinner-time.
19) Extra-long paper size
20) Numerous opportunities of spiritual/spiritual nourishment
21) 24 hour clock/Celsius measurement
21) Constant joy for everyone
and a myriad of others...

In conclusion, I am forced to submit that in my current position, residing within the walls of the "Mormon University", (as known by the locals), or the BYU Jerusalem Center, (as known by the inhabitants thereof), that life as I know it, does in fact provide all of the needs, wants, dreams, aspirations, experiences, culinary gems, cultural opportunities and the rest of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs that a human being might desire. It could be argued that one can subsist on a diet of Old City excursions, felafels, and Hebrew 101 classes for an indeterminate period of time without any adverse effects to one's body, spirit, physical well being, mental health, and social standing. Needless to say, the scriptural phrase, "Man liveth not by bread alone..." must have been making reference to the sizable demand for more pitas in the world.

A Day, A Night, and A Day (and A Night and A Day)

When the six of us were sitting chatting amiably with each other in the terminal waiting for our flight from SLC to Detroit, little did we know that what journey was just about to commence. In Detroit, we met our other travel group of 10 and our fates were sealed for the next two days.

With naïve smiles we boarded the plane scheduled to take us to JFK and took our seats amongst the other passengers. It all began when we heard word from the captain that our flight was delayed because of weather in JFK—until further notice. We had the choice to either disembark and eat, or stay on board. In deciding to sit tight we were privileged with a few special treats. 1) walking up with the captain to view the cockpit 2) an endless supply of peanuts 3) the playful banter with the other stranded passengers.

Finally word was reached that we were to take off. But in waiting for three passengers who had disembarked and were nowhere to be found—we lost our green light and were delayed again. We all disembarked and then because of my ‘short straw’ of being the travel group leader, I tried to make arrangements with Delta in order to find another flight to Tel Aviv, seeing as the one we should have boarded, would actually be gone when we were to get to JFK. I had a lot of time to contemplate my life as I was on hold for what seemed like hours. Ultimately I had to hang up because our delayed flight was about to board. But at least we finally got to JFK. That’s good. Right?

We were oblivious to the fact that once we arrived in JFK, we would soon employ numerous tactics in order to get the 16 of us passage out of the country and onward to Tel Aviv. In trying to stand in a ridiculously long line, having one of the more confident girls try her hand at talking to the agent, talking on phone, being put on hold—numerous times, talking to another agent, then by around 11:30pm, we were in the Delta check-in line, talking with a lady, Flo, who became dubbed as our ‘Delta Momma’ because she said we all were like her kids. For about an hour and a half, she labored at our tickets trying to get confirmation for all 16 of us on the flight the next evening (Thursday). She was a stallion. In the end, we ended up with 10 confirmed for the flight, and 6 on standby but potentially having to go through Amsterdam for an additional stay. Flo even ordered us like 40 airline blankets and pillows so that we could spend the night in by baggage claim (there was literally no room in the Inns) There we humbly laid our paper-thin blankets on the slab of granite that was the floor and proceeded to sleep (an unconscious/conscious delirium) from about 2:00am – 5:00am.

Getting acquainted with the JFK airport.

Those of us that could stand sleeping longer, did so, but the rest resorted to sitting on the chilly seats and try reading Genesis 1-20. But, despite our current state, we hadn’t yet scratched the surface concerning the word ‘haggard’ and ‘travel-worn.’ After a hearty ‘Big Breakfast’ at McDonalds in the terminal we were scheduled to leave from, we made a group decision and nine of the 16 decided to stay and sleep the majority of the day (our flight was for 7:10pm) while the other 7 of us headed off to the big NYC.

I <3 NY!

Now, I understand that some things in life you just have to do. But sitting in an airport terminal for 9 hours just didn’t make it on the list. Instead, we spent our time walking around Times Square, eating lunch at a pizza joint, window shopping, and purchasing $2.99 “I [heart] NY” shirts. When we rode back to JFK on the subway, we were tired. But a satisfied tired. Our flight was delayed another three hours, so we ended up spending some quality time with the uncomfortable airport seats as well.

The moment we were waiting for had finally arrived—we embarked the jumbo 747 jet and finally made it off the ground and in flight to Israel. We were only about an hour out of Tel Aviv and we had to turn back around because we ran out of gas. Just kidding. :) We landed, safe and sound, and full of gourmet Delta Airlines microwave dinners.

Relieved, exhausted, and smelling of 2.5 days without showers we approached the last checkpoint: the passport office. Trying to enter a foreign country is frightening enough but when you approach that little bullet-proof booth, all reason and collectiveness fly’s out the window. The simplest questions produce beads of sweat and stammering lips. Apparently my answers were not sufficient, too ambiguous, or too contradictory (or a combination of the three) and I was invited to go with a security guard and enter a questioning office set over on the side. I repeated the same answers, in a similar manner and got the same cold response. After the plot line of the movie, “The Terminal” flashed through my mind a few times, I was finally given back my passport and herded off to baggage claim where I was reunited with my fellow Americans. No better sight in the world then for the 16 of us to walk out of security and see one of the Jerusalem Center staff smiling at our once clean and shiny faces. Lessons learned: don’t fly Delta, don’t fly through JFK, and don’t look like an innocent bewildered teenager trying to get into Israel.

The Sweet 16.

Packing Some Baggage

Now we have to be honest—who packs for a long trip sooner than the night before they leave? Maybe one out of every 4632 people. But, I have to admit, I envy that one person who side-steps the ordeal associated with franticly throwing in all of your articles of clothing etc... into your overly-large luggage container. Perhaps it's also beneficial to find out that your bag will weigh 24 pounds over the weight limit before 11:00pm. But, in removing all of the excess bottles of hand sanitizer and honing down my selection of ties, I was able to squeeze a good amount of weight off of the grand total. Finally when the clock passed the witching hour and into the wee hours of the morning, I ended up with 49 pounds in one bag, and 38ish in the other with the ingenious assistance of my mom and dad. --- Well, here comes Jerusalem! 4.5 hours of sleep is enough to start a solid day of travel to Tel Aviv. Right?

The Pyramid's Will Have to Wait

Surrounding the joy of preparing for Jerusalem, there were three main things I was looking forward to doing: 


1) Riding in an airplane 1.3425 miles in the air for 18+ hours
2) Walking the paths where Jesus walked 2000 years ago
3) Doing the peace sign while standing in front of the Sphinx/Pyramids 


All of these were/are important aspects to my upcoming Jerusalem experience. But, one fateful day approached and one of three items on the list was bound for failure. At first I was excited to see an email in my inbox labeled, "Jerusalem Center Information and Flight", but that excitement dwindled as I noticed the phrase, "Because of recent events in the country, we will not be taking students to Egypt during the 2011 Spring/Summer Program." Needless to say, a little part of my heart died. So... no pyramids, no sphinx, and no peace sign. I suppose there are worse things in life. Instead we will embark into the uncharted territory that is Turkey. Whether or not they celebrate Thanksgiving year-round, I have yet to find out. But as we all know, that's why they made wikipedia.