Some Reflections...

Final posting by Ilan:

This trip to Israel was so much fun, and I’m really happy that I went on it.  I’ve had too much fun to pick a favorite part, but I can definitely pick some favorites.  One of my favorite activities was the jeep ride through the Golan Heights.  It was really interesting to see all the minefields and get a view of Israel from a military point of view.   It was also just fun to ride in a jeep…and listening to Maddy and Audrey sing High School Musical the whole ride was just an added bonus.

From Naomi:

In Jerusalem, the Mists of Time don’t swirl: they dance frantically and twirl frenetically and settle luxuriously into the cracks in the Jerusalem Stone which is the shell of office buildings and ancient lives and synagogues. The walls of the Old City tower above your eyes as you enter; they loom majestic and dignified and serenely unaware of the passage of time, and with it the bustling and brisk modern city around them. Once inside, you are dazzled by the uneasy mix of religions and time periods which create the splendor of the Old City. There are impossible rabbit warrens of religious laws and etiquette: the Temple Mount is holy for almost everyone, but very observant Jews aren’t supposed to go up there; the Dome of the Rock, being situated on the Temple Mount (and supposedly the Foundation Stone), is holy for many religions as well, but only Muslims are allowed in; the Western Wall is holy for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, but the rules for prayer there are established to fit Jewish law. Mutual disdain is perhaps the most common relation between groups in the Old City: the pilgrims and the tourists at the religious sites palpably look down on each other; the Jews who go up to the Temple Mount and the more observant Jews who don’t clearly each think the other has utterly misunderstood their shared religion. The Old City is splendorous yet uneasy, holy for so many yet divided into infinite infinitesimal slices of belief, dazzling in its history yet crumbling in its age.