The pedestrian mall called Ben Yehudah on a normal day- lots of people.
Ben Yehudah on Sabbat- no stores or restaurants open so no people.
Walking to the Western Wall (Kotel) through the Armenian quarter towards the Jewish quarter.
You can tell these boys walking in the Jewish quarter are from the Breslov sect of Hasidim because of the skull caps (yarmulke/kippah) they wear. They are on their way to someone’s home inside the Old City for Shabbat.
The furry hat the man is wearing is called a shtreimel and a special robe only worn on Shabbat by Hasidim
This is the arch of the Hurva Synagogue which is located in the center of the Jewish quarter. It was originally built in the 18th century and was destroyed in 1721. It lay in ruins for 140 years. Hurva means destruction and the arch was erected as a commemoration in 1977. It was a powerful symbol.
The newly built synagogue in 2010- notice the arch has been incorporated.
This is about how crowded it was this past Friday night. It’s the most crowded I’ve ever seen. Terri pointed out that one thing we miss out on in the US is having a town square. In addition to those praying there was a lot of meeting and greeting going on in the very large but packed plaza in front of the Wall.
Prayer on the women’s side. Many students from the US are in Israel this time of year as they are on vacation from their universities. Men and women pray separately at the Wall and there has been some contention about what the women are permitted to do or not. Looks like a resolution may be coming soon in another area further away from the men’s section that will allow women who want more active participation to do so.
When it was time to go for dinner we met up with our group and some other friends of Elana and Yakov’s going to the same neighborhood and we went through the Muslim quarter as it’s a “short cut” to the Northeastern neighborhoods. It was heavily guarded the whole way by Israeli soldiers and we walked very quickly. I had not been in the Muslim quarter since 1970. Most of the businesses were closed- lots of arches different from the other quarters. I believe most of the arches are structural as they can carry quite a bit of weight above them.
We exited the Damascus Gate (Sha’ar Shechem) into a Palestinian neighborhood and once again reminded how closely people live to each other and hopefully can do so peacefully for all.
Final slide here is the view of Kikar Shabbat (Shabbat Square). It’s the crossroads of Mea Shearim that I already wrote about and a very busy intersection during the week. Just pedestrians and strollers on Saturday.
The Shabbat starts at sundown Friday and lasts until sundown Saturday. In all of Israel public transportation stops and in certain neighborhoods cars are not allowed and most stores are closed (it’s like Christmas Day in the US though it happens every week). So by 4 pm Friday the busy street our hotel is on, suddenly went silent. We hustled around after we returned from the Dead Sea trip to get food for Saturday as all the stores/restaurants would be closed. Everyone else was bustling around too and one thing I’ve always loved about Shabbat in Israel is that many people have flower bouquets they are taking home for Friday night dinner. We walked to the Western Wall along with a sea of other people and then to Elana and Yakov’s home for dinner (our daughter and son-in-law) who also invited two young women, both Russian, who are studying here. It was lovely to talk with them. It’s traditional to have guests Friday night and there is a man at the Western Wall who has made it his business to help anyone who needs a home to go to for dinner find one. He has a list of people who will take any stranger and he sets people up.
All the images on this posting came from the internet as it is not permitted to photograph on the Sabbath (for Jewish people). We had a lovely restful time and we really needed it. Saturday during the day we went to the Bible Lands Museum, the Shrine of the Book, and the Israel Museum all of which were open. We prepared ourselves for many of the sites we will be visiting in coming days. One thing I’ve learned teaching art history, is how wonderful it is when works of art stay in their home country so that one can really get an understanding of the context for it all.
