Israel, Day 5, 26 December

Hadassah Medical Center may be the only hospital anywhere that hosts tour groups (after going through security, of course).  The synagogue within the hospital has a series of nine stained-glass windows created by Marc Chagall that tell the story of Jacob's biblical blessings to his sons.  You can watch a little video here.  We were lucky to have the sanctuary to ourselves because as we were leaving we saw 80 people waiting to enter.

Next it was back to the Western Wall where we could leave notes.  Because it was Sunday we saw army battalions every historical place we visited.  As part of their training, the soldiers visit important sites to learn the history of their country.

From there we took a fascinating and mildly scary tour of the tunnels along the unexposed portion of the Western Wall, including the narrow portion where water used to run.  This is one of those places that would be much more meaningful to experience instead of just reading about it.  It was useful to have models to help us understand what the area looked like during different eras.

We came out of the tunnels at the Arab Quarter, heard some stories of the area, and returned, through security, to the Western Wall area.  From there we headed to the Jewish Quarter where we had savory pastries for lunch and did a little shopping.  A. found a few coins, an Israeli soccer outfit, and we did some wonderful window shopping, too.  During our down time we just enjoyed the sun, listened to conversations, and counted cats, which seem to be everywhere.

tombstone of Golda Meir (see soldiers in the background)

We returned to the military cemetery where we visited the gravesites of Herzl, former national leaders, and people killed in war.  With few exceptions, the tombstones are similar for each leader and people of different ranks are buried next to each other.  Again we saw many, many soldiers and it is hard to imagine what it was like for them to visit a place that makes them face the reality of their situation.

Initially I thought these bits of down time when the kids used the ipod or watched television were wasting our precious moments of time in Israel, but after full days like today I understood that we all needed a break from everything.  The intensity of the tour was super, but it was also good to tune out for a bit.

In the evening we met with Rabbi Maya Leibovitch in order to prepare for the next day's Torah service.  The two boys and R. had already read from the Torah in their hometowns so everyone was prepared.  We discussed readings, the rabbi heard the kids chant, and we were ready for dinner, bed, and a very early wake up call.