Today's event is the entire reason we came to
Israel - Ben's Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall. Anne and Howard planned a few
surprises, starting with 2 musicians, a drummer and a clarinet player who escorted us
with song thru the gates of the City of David. They really added to the festive
happy feeling of the occasion. Ben walked under a chuppah held up by his
brother and cousins (Max, Anna, Joey, and Daniel). We all danced our way to the
wall!
Once we arrived at the wall, we had to split into 2 sides - the men's
side and the women's side. Women must stand on teetering plastic chairs to peek
over a divider wall in order to watch the Bar Mitzvah. We grabbed a table and
wheeled it over to the divider so the women could see the ceremony. Ben put on
Tefillin (a small box containing prayers that is strapped to your forehead,
along with a strap that wraps around your chest, or the heart, and around the
forearm and wrist) and did a wonderful job reading his Torah portion. The scene
at the wall (and it is a scene) is filled with people praying and celebrating Bar
Mitzvahs and the spiritual energy is very strong and tangible. Some of us
touched the wall and added our notes alongside hundreds of others doing the
same.
The energy of this place is pretty overwhelming. Thousands of years of
prayer have left an indelible imprint here, and you can’t help but feel the
spirit of the area. It is certainly a one-of-a-kind location for an event like
this.
Daniel and Shayna took a liking to Rabbi Weiss, who performed Howard’s Bar
Mitzvah 33 years ago. Needless to say, he’s been around a while. It made it
feel so special.
After the ceremony, we went to Itzak’s house for lunch. He lives on a kibbutz in the Gush Etzion section, a pretty important area in the struggle with the Arabs. After lunch we went on a zip line over this massive canyon. It was an amazing view while soaring through the air. Daniel was so brave, not hesitating for a moment. I think he had a little something to prove to his cousins.
Since we didn’t have to many activities planned this day (sarcasm), we decided to try to squeeze a stop at the Holy Sepulcher in before dinner. This is the site where Jesus was buried in the cave where he rose from the dead. It’s so surreal to visit sites that came right out of the bible. Unfortunately Brenda was the only one who could actually get into the cave, since we were not dressed appropriately. There was a very angry guard at the gate who yelled at us all (and others in line).
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