Shabbat in Jerusalem Saturday, November 2

Saturday November 2, 2013 Shabbat in Jerusalem

We could not figure out the Shabbat elevator. There were two elevators in the hotel – both the size of a matchbox – and one was designated as the Shabbat elevator and the other was not. It seemed so tempting – there was the elevator door, wide open, just waiting for someone to step into it. Why wait for the regular elevator when there was one already in the lobby?

Because the Shabbat elevator sat on the first floor for the longest time. It seemed like it never moved. But it must move, because randomly we’d notice it was no longer in the lobby.

One time, we did catch the Shabbat elevator from our floor (3) to go down. But it was really awkward being stuck in that elevator with other people, waiting patiently for the BEEEEEP that indicated that the door was closing and then shuffling down to the next level.

We gave up on the Shabbat elevator.

We also noticed that the freebie hotel wifi was turned off for Shabbat; a display kiosk the lobby was off and our phones would not connect to the despite showing 5 bars of signal.

For Shabbat services, we went back to the Fuchsberg Center’s shul – it was literally across the street, why would we go anyplace else?

We got there a little after 8:30. I guess it comes in handy to have a yeshiva and seminary in the same building – all sorts of rabbinical students to lead services and read Torah. The rabbinical student who read Torah was quite impressive – she read all of the full length Torah reading (not the more common 1/3 portion of the Triennial cycle) at top speed and with her beautiful voice.

The service was over by 11:00 – the same 2 ½ hour length of Conservative services everywhere. We chatted with Jocelyn and Eddie again at the Kiddush; Jocelyn offered to take us on an off-beat tour if we decided to come back during that week after our tour ended.

The timing of the service allowed us to get our Shabbat nap in BEFORE lunch instead of after. Lunch was served from 1:00 to 3:00; there seemed to be some confusion about whether or not the touring company had paid for our lunches in advance like they were supposed to. Regardless, we had a leisurely 2 hour lunch chatting with everybody in the group.

We found out that the Israel museum is open on Shabbat and was about 1 mile away. But, it closed at 5:00 p.m. So, we had to get a move on. Which is easier said than done, when that mile was up and down steep hills. We got there about 4:00 – we made a bee-line for the Shrine of the Book exhibit. It had been closed for renovations the last time I had been in Israel in 2003.

The lower level was an exhibit on the Aleppo Codex, a medieval bound copy of the Tanakh (complete Hebrew bible). It is in amazingly good shape - crystal clear print and very easy to read.

The ground level was devoted to explaining what was found in the caves of Qumran: many of the scrolls documented the lives of the zealots who left the main Jewish population in Jerusalem to live ascetic lives in the desert: all the rules and regulations as to what they could and could not do, all in the name of preparing for the end of days. Yes, these people living in caves  believed that the end of the world was near. Nice to know apocalyptic cults have been around that long.

And of course, there were Torah scrolls as well as books of the prophets, the most famous being a nearly intact Book of Isaiah. The upper level showed a facsimile of one of the scrolls unrolled all the way and wrapped around a circular display case. Only one page of the real scroll is displayed at any given time. The pages are rotated to minimize exposure to light.

The Shrine of the Book exhibit took us 45 minutes. With only 15 minutes left till the museum closed, we spent the time in the gift shop (of course) where we were able to launch our efforts to support the Israeli economy.

The walk back took about 45 minutes – it was close to 6:00. We were due to meet the group at 7:15 at David’s Citadel just inside the Jaffa gate to see the light show. We had enough time to drop of the stuff we bought and check our email since Shabbat was over and the freebie wifi was back on.

The walk to the Jaffa gate was all downhill, so it took just under 30 minutes. On the way there we saw half of our group. We walked with them through the Mamila Mall – obviously not there in 2003, the Mamila Mall is very upscale and very much 21^st century.  There was interesting artwork displayed for sale on the street – mostly sculptures, they were all very interesting, though I couldn’t imagine having any of them in my living room.

The mall exits right into the ramp to cross into the Old City via the Jaffa gate – juxtaposition of the new and ancient.

My favorite sculpture in the Mamila Mall

Mamila Mall - The New

 

Jaffa gate (Old City) - The Old

The light show was phenomenal – it was basically an animated movie of all 6000 years of the history of Jerusalem displayed on the inside wall of the Citadel; bigger than an IMAX screen in vivid imagery.

After the light show, we walked back through Mamila and had dinner at Aroma – the equivalent of Starbucks in Israel (there are no Starbucks in Israel, and McDonald’s is the only American fast food restaurant. Which is fine.) The walk back was all uphill, but we took it slowly. Little did we know that Saturday’s walk would a drop in the bucket in comparison for all the walking we would do on Sunday.

Tomorrow: The Old City