I haven't posted for a couple of days because internet access at my hotel in Jerusalem is $20 a day.  So I have been writing each day, and have gone to an coffee house with wi-fi to send this post.  So, here is what I have been up to for the last few days!

Monday we left Warsaw for Tel Aviv.  We flew on an Israeli airline and the security to get our boarding pass was intimidating!  I was called to a security station and asked to present my passport and flight itinerary.  I was quizzed on where I had been in Poland, why I was there, why I was going to Israel, how I found out about this teacher trip, when I applied for the trip, who the group leader was, where I lived in the US and what I did, and then a string of questions about did I know anyone in the middle east, had I ever been there before.  It was quite nerve-racking, since all the time there were three Israeli soldiers with a machine gun in their hand and a pistol strapped to their thighs were watching!  Then I had to have my suitcases inspected, wiped down and scanned.  Finally I received my boarding pass.  (We were assured this was common practice for any flight entering Israel)  This was all before regular security and the customs station where I was recorded as leaving Poland!

It was a "short" four-hour flight and then a lengthy wait to go through customs in Tel Aviv.  That was easy--a look at me, my passport and a quick stamp in my passport.  After getting our luggage it was off to the bus where we drove about thirty minutes to our hotel in Jerusalem.  We had a wonderful dinner and then spent about an hour walking and looking at the shops near the hotel.

Tuesday was a very full day.  We started with a driving tour of Jerusalem.  We went to three points outside the city to look down upon it and get an idea of the lay of the land and learn the history. Then we ate lunch in a Jewish Kibbutz (community)which was fabulous.  The humus here is like none I have ever eaten before!  I think I could live on the bread and humus!

From there we went to Yad Vashem, the international Holocaust Museum.  We had about four hours to go through the museum.  I thought the USHMM in Washington was good, but WOW, it doesn't hold a candle to Yad Vashem!  The artifacts they have here are incredible!  And the design of the museum is very unique.  It is triangular shaped and literally goes through the side of a mountaintop.  When you finally exit, you are on a platform looking out into the mountains and clearly it is a symbol of freedom.  It is really a statement.  We will be returning to Yad Vashem's campus to see the other sections and for lectures for four more days.

After leaving Yad Vashem, we visited the Israel Museum.  Here we spent quite a bit of time outside looking at a scale model of the Jerusalem during the Second Temple Era.  This was not a little model either!  it was a spectacular display of the city during the time period.  We then went inside to view the exhibition on the Dead Sea Scrolls.  It was a small display, but done well.  It is amazing that these writings were preserved and discovered! 

Today, Wednesday, we spent the morning at Yad Vashem.  We started with the art museum -- art work done during the Holocaust and after.  The most amazing display to me was the display of an inmate, Bruno Schultz, who was a well known artist of the time.  Schultz was forced at gunpoint to paint fairy-tale like images on the nursery walls of a Nazi officer.  They were just recently discovered and were cut out of the house and preserved.

We then had two lectures by professors of Holocaust studies at Yad Vashem.  The first, Yehuda Bauer, is THE most RESPECTED Holocaust historian in the world.  He was amazing as he talked about the Holocaust as an unprecedented event in history.  We then listened to another professor on Nazi Ideology. They were fabulous--I could have listened to both of them all day!

After lunch, we headed to the old city of Jerusalem.  I don't know how to explain what I saw today--it was quite different than I expected.  I guess I expected an historic site.  While it is a very historic site, it is also a living city, full of life.  I also expected to be more "outdoors" but it seemed we were inside, as the streets are covered--sort of like an extended archway over the entire street.  Even though it was not as I expected, it was still sort of surreal-it is a very ancient city!

We were able to visit the Jewish Quarter, the Christian Quarter, Armenian Quarter and the Arab Quarter.  We spent quite a bit of time in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where it is said, contains the site of Jesus' crucifixion and burial.  There was also a slab of rock "said" to be where His body was washed and prepared for burial.  It was beautifully ornate, and so full of visitors it was hard to see and move!  I guess I expected it to be more reverent-like and holy, but it was full of hustle and bustle!  When I went in to view the tomb, I first entered a small room where a monk took my hand and passed it through the flame of a candle.  I thought this a bit weird…it did not hurt, but I could not understand what he was saying.  Then, just before I entered the "tomb" he took it again and passed it through again.  Now, he did not do this second "burning" to any of the other three in our group--so I don't know if he thought I really needed it or if he forgot he did it the first time!  I was later told that this was to prove there was no pain when it passed through the flame, as Jesus has saved me from the flame….

We also visited the Western, or Wailing Wall and this too, was different than I expected.  Again, I expected it to be a very reverent place.  It too was full of people and very loud.  Of course, the women had to go to a different part of the wall to pray, so I went to the women's side.  I waited my turn to reach the wall as hundreds of other women said their daily prayers in Hebrew.  Some of them were actually crying--hence the name the Wailing Wall.  When my turn came, I approached the wall, placed my hand on it, and said a prayer for all my family and friends.  I had written the prayer on a small piece of paper beforehand and tucked it in a crack of the wall.  I must admit, I felt like I had done something very special, and by placing that prayer in the wall is seems like it will be there forever.