Greetings from Jerusalem
Sunday, October 28, 2012
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What an amazing day we had. We began our day at Yad Lakashish, Lifeline for the Old. This program was developed to help elderly immigrants find work, new sills and socialization. Their workshops produce incredible crafts from jewelry to picture frames, hand made tallit, scarves and so much more! We learned, we toured, we shopped in their Gift Shop and we were inspired by this great place.
Our Otterbein friends went to Church as did our non-Jewish staff and the rest of us made two stops. First we toured the magnificent Central Synagogue and then the Sir Isaac and Lady Edith Wolfson Museum of Jewish Art. We were fascinated by the artifacts there and moved by the stories of religious items which had been saves from destruction during the Holocaust.
Lunch at the Knesset was followed by a tour. We saw the spectacular Chagall mosaics and tapestries and learned a lot about the structure of the Israeli government. They were preparing for the Yitzchak Rabin memorial and we were fascinated by all the preparations taking place.
From there, on to the Western Wall. We carried and placed our notes and prayers from home and had the opportunity to pray and feel the power in this mist sacred of spaces.
After dinner, we had a conversation with Bill Frankel. He made Aliyah 10 years ago and shared both his experiences and an account of his work with the Birthright program. Tired as we were, everyone was engaged and we had some great dialogue.
Onward to Masada tomorrow!
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