Jaffa Gate Hostel Jerusalem

... can tanks from the War of Independence right up to the massive modern Merchava tanks produced in Israel. While we were there the place was filled with soldiers, gearing up for an evening graduation ceremony. In some indefinable way - between all the running, climbing, exploring, and watching the hundreds of young soldiers about to be formally issued their first “neshek” (weapon) - we knew the boys were absorbing something very deep and special. A sense of how ...

... we dus vrij snel al de Klaagmuur, waar de Joden in trance staan te bidden, onder toeziend oog van duizenden toeristen, en vergezeld door een hoop groepen pilgrims met lelijke petjes. Blijft bizar hoe dicht al die heilige plaatsen bij elkaar zijn; Klaagmuur is soort van de buitenmuur van de Temple Mount met de Al Aqsa dr op.

Later op de dag vonden we de Via Dolorosa, De Echte Kruisweg! Een lieve man sprak ons aan, en wilde ons wat uitzichten wijzen ...

... though everyone was quite nice. Watch for sneeky cab drivers; many are not licensed to go to Israel, so when you ask how much to Jerusalem, they tell you 5 shekels and drop you at the fence. You then have to go thru customs and get another cab on the other side which will charge you 20 shekels more. Its almost like they planned it. If you can get an Israeli cab to come to Bethlehem, [you need connections for this] he can simply drive thru the checkpoint.

... middle-aged gentleman offered to help me find it. He had no problem waiting for Sarah to come from the post office. Little by little, this gentleman, Joseph, communicated to me he was not Jewish…His living was giving short tours….and…DING! I realized he had hooked me. Joseph was officially giving us the 100 shekel tour ($25). Ah….Give him the credit. He was a master. He took us through the 4 synagogues and to the ...

... also be explained by saying that on Facebook, the only people that come up with my last name are my brothers, my first cousins, and me.

In our first of multiple stops in the Old City, we stopped at the residence of a somewhat elderly Jewish couple who had made aliyah from New York City. Their home was huge, beautiful, and elegant, nothing like I imagined existed within the walls of the Old City. The building even stood three stories high, so that when they spoke to us ...

... shade, which helped. On the wall of the cliff there was a rather large freshwater crab even.
The last waterfall was actually two falls sort of overlapping each other, one came in at an angle and turned into spray that crossed the path of the more vertical one. It was lovely, but signs warned that falling rocks made swimming here impossible.
We did encounter one foolhardy tourist in shorts only and a deep sunburn. Not sure why anyone would hike in the desert ...

... Holocaust memorial. It's a magnificent and moving place. It tells the story in a powerful way, both through its architecture and its displays. It seems important to me to remember that part of our history and to give God thanks that His chosen people are yet still here on this earth. After dinner, I rounded up a small group of colleagues to take a walk around the old city. We made our way through the Armenian quarter to the Jewish quarter and ...

... the next two nights here as well. It was surprisingly fun baking challah, although mine didn’t turn out quite as nice as the others'.

Shabbat at the Belzbergs

While the Luries were having a family dinner, Ricki Bornstein invited me over to the home of Marc and Chantelle Belzberg, whose daughter Michal was working at Moriah and is good friends with Brendan. Marc, originally from Canada, is the most humble and warm man, and you’d never know from ...

... but we can put them together, as they do in all these places. I did phone to find out if we could have a room with one big bed, he says in a couple of days. So we push the 2 beds together. The mattress on my bed is really saggy. We check out the TV, there is BBC and a movie channel. Dinner is at 7, not too many people here, lots of salad fixings but no lettuces, soup, breads, rice, chips, beef, chicken, hot veggies, a pasta station and desserts. Similar ...