Day Six: Shabbos In Jerusalem

Naturally, this day's report will be picture free, but we'll try to describe the scene and experience of our Shabbos in Jerusalem as best we can.

On Friday evening, we headed to the Kotel for Kabbalat Shabbat. It was a powerful experience. The Kotel was an absolute mob scene, with Jewish men and women of all stripes converging on this holy site to welcome Shabbos with song and prayer. The men davened with the yeshiva students who danced down from Yeshivat Hakotel, an Israeli/American yeshiva that overlooks the kotel plaza. The students sing most of the services for a beautiful, melodious service. On the women's side, the group davened along with a group of American seminary girls who were there for their post-high school year in Israel and were visiting Jerusalem for Shabbos. The ladies were swept away by the sweet, heartfelt singing. We wound our way back to the hotel, first through the Arab shuk, then through the Mamilla mall, and finally down King David Street. The long walk back provided an excellent recap of much of what we had seen over the previous few days.

We had a private room for dinner at the hotel and enjoyed a lovely Shabbat meal together. After some singing and the recitation of Kiddush we sat and dined together, and shared our favorite highlights of the past week with one another. As you might expect, there was plenty to say and plenty to reflect on with a smile.

On Shabbat morning, many of us davened at the Great Synagogue. Services are led by the resident cantor, who has a powerful, operatic voice, and he is joined on the bima by a choir that surrounds him. Above the ark and throughout the sanctuary are exquisite, vividly colored stained glass windows that provide a majestic backdrop to this incredible prayer experience.

Following services, we parted ways for a while but met back in a private room at the hotel for a beautiful Shalosh Seudos sponsored by...us! We had all bought some bread, olives, dips, pastries, and other goodies at Machane Yehuda (the Jewish marketplace) the day before to be able to share with one another at Shalosh Seudos. As we ate, Rabbi Bienenfeld led a class on, "The Land of our Forefathers," discussing the interwoven relationship between the matriarchs and patriarchs, the Land of Israel, and G-d. After the class we davened maariv at a shul around the corner, then headed back to the hotel where we met up with a group of American middle school students visiting Israel and heard havdalah.

It was a very special Shabbos, one we'll remember fondly for the rest of our lives.