Shabbat in Jerusalem

It's been such a full and wonderful experience celebrating Shabbat as a community in Jerusalem - I don't even know where to begin! We all travelled Friday afternoon to the Dung Gate, the entrance to the Old City nearest to the Kotel and there a guard let us through a special entrance to go down to Robinson's Arch.

Robinson's Arch is an area at the foot of the Western Wall where archaeological excavations are taking place. It is at a part of the Wall to the side of the plaza and here - and only here - women and men can pray together at the Wall (the section of the Kotel by the plaza is strictly separated by gender). We stood at the base of those giant stones, at the wall that suurounded the Temple complex 2000 years ago, and felt ourselves surrounded by history. History, but also the present because as we began our prayers we could also hear the singing from the plaza above coming down to us. And so we prayed - separate from and yet embraced by the prayers of those around us.

It was so moving to pray as we did, especially when we came to the Barchu and I invited us to turn to face the direction of the Temple in Jerusalem - mere feet in front of our faces! And as our outdoor service continued and the light began to fade a strange thing happened: a trick of the light surely, yet it seemed that as the sky grew darker the stones of the wall before us grew lighter, as though they were shining with their own internal light.

It's hard to guess what the guard made of this mixed group of American Jews as he waited for us to finish so he could let us back out, but at the end of the service when I invited everyone to mention names of people for whom they were reciting Kaddish, he shyly raised his hand and said, "Ha-Ima sheli" ("my mother") and then proceded to recite Kaddish with us - us with our American accents and him with his strong Separdic one, yet all Jews praying together. We left Robinson's Arch singing 'Yerushalayim shel Zahav.'

Following our own service we went over to the Kotel plaza to allow those who wished to join the dancing throngs at the main section of the Wall. I took advantage of the opportunity to place the notes that I was given in the Wall.

Following dinner back at the hotel, a group of us hung out and discussed poems about Jerusalem by the great Israeli poet Yehudah Amichai. We used the lens of his poetry to reflect on our own experiences and our feelings of connection and of otherness in this deeply freighted city.

Shabbat morning we joined the Reconstructionist rabbinical students in Israel for services. They hold services once a month at Beit Shmuel - the campus of the Reform movement's seminary in Israel. It was wonderful to pray with other Reconstructionists in these beautiful surroundings and to have a sense of fully being at home in Jerusalem. During the service I presented the minyan with a cover for their Torah table with designs by students from our religious school. On this Shabbat when the Torah reading speaks of bringing gifts for the sanctuary from the heart it was incredible to present a goft of our own and know it will be a part of our movement's sanctuary in Jerusalem. Following this, we were all called up for a group aliyah - adding the experience of being called up to the Torah to the experience of being 'up' in Jerusalem.

Following lunch with the rabbinical students we visited the Israel Museum and then the bus returned us to the hotel for some much-needed Shabbat rest. This evening we were joined by Rabbi Amy Klein, the director of RRC's Israel program who spoke with us about alternative forms of religious expression arising among young, progressive Israeli Jews and their affinity with Reconstructionism. Now we have to get ourselves to bed for a big day ahead tomorrow - visits to Masada, the Ein Gedi nature preserve, and the Dead Sea.