Jerusalem, City of David

Yesterday was our first day trip to really explore Jewish history hands on. Wednesday night we met in smaller groups to do some text study about David and the origins of the city of Jerusalem. They divided our class into three, and the group I ended up with is great! That is always exciting. We met bright and early Thursday morning to head "into the field" to study history. First we went to a series of promenades that overlook the whole city. We had shacharit services outside under some trees overlooking Jerusalem. It was beautiful. (Need proof? In the middle of our service, a small group came past us. A short way down the path from where we were praying, they were setting up for a Bar Mitzvah service.) We then sat under trees to do some more informal study of the city, which was amazing, because rather than point to a map, the professor could point to a specific hill and tell us events that happened right there.

We walked all along a ridge with ever-changing views of the city, and then got back on the buses to head to the city of David. King David was before the first Temple and didn't actually settle the area inside what we think of as the Old City, but rather just outside of it. We looked at some buildings and caves that were probably burial places from thousands of years ago. We were standing on the site where David probably had his palace. We were overlooking buildings below us on the hill and giggling about his view of the city, where, as the story goes, people bathed on their roofs. The king was at the top of the hill. He could see it all, even if he wasn't trying. We then went on to explore the water system, which is how legend (although not history) tells that David conquered the city. This was the part of the day I was the most nervous about. To protect their water sources from potential conquerors, ancient cities used to bury their springs and divert them, sometimes via long tunnels, to somewhere within the middle of the city. We were going to walk through the tunnel built a couple of kings after David, but through his city. Hezekiah's Tunnel is narrow. In most parts, standing with my arms at my sides, both arms were lightly touching the walls to my left and right. In parts I could stand up straight without a problem, but in parts I had to duck down some. I'm not very tall. My 6 foot 5 inch friend who was right behind me had few times when he could stand up straight. We were in the tunnel for about 40 minutes. Also, because it used to be the water source, there is water running through the whole thing. At the deepest, it was about thigh-deep (on me), but for most of the way it was a few inches below my knees. There are no lights. We all held flashlights. There is a big sign at the beginning cautioning anyone claustrophobic about going through. It's also an underground tunnel and underground water source. The air is cold. So is the water. But I made it! In single file (obviously) we all waded our way through, talking and singing as we trudged through. I did not, however, take any pictures, as I was trying my hardest to focus simply on walking through without noticing how small and enclosed the tunnel was. If you google "Hezekiah's tunnel" you can find pictures if you want them, and I will stalk my friends' blogs to see if I can "borrow" any pictures to post here. Nobody walking near me was taking any though.

Once we got back from the field trip, the rest of the afternoon was free, and I did some relaxing, reading, emailing, and other equally productive time-sucking activities. It was nice:) Some friends were making dinner, so I went over there, and we ended up staying there and talking for hours, as seems to happen a lot. Topics ranged from the current situation over here to our Hebrew classes to what else we want to study to gender differences and age differences, to several other fairly heavy topics...but with plenty of fun comments and side conversations thrown in. I came home and collapsed into bed, excited that for the first time in over a week, I didn't have to set an alarm clock this morning!

On the rest of today's program: laundry, Hebrew, grocery store. I know you're jealous. But then it's Shabbat:)

Shabbat Shalom!