Wow----today was amazing!!!!!!
We left HUC at about 8:30ish and drove to east talpiyot (which is still in Jerusalem, not too far away) and spent the morning reading some more text, and looking at the Mount of Olives (oldest jewish cemetary) and the dome of the rock (Mt. Zion) and all the area that lay between. We then trekked around for a bit and enjoyed the sun and the walk.
Then we drove a little ways into East Jerusalem (don't get nervous, we were quite safe) which is predominantely Muslim and went to a place to eat lunch and do some more text stuff.
Then we went down and around and saw just a few of the ruins of the city of david. It was really cool standing there and thinking about stories of King David and looking at the old ruins. Just amazing. The main part of our day, though, was focused on going through the water tunnels, which are thought to be the main tunnels that carried water from outside the city walls into the heart of the city. (In a city like Jerusalem, which was under seige a lot...they had to protect their water source). We went far into the earth and it was very cool (both psychologically and physically). When we physically went into the tunnels, there was a good 2 feet of very cold water at our feet. It didn't get much above thigh length at any point, and it wasn't moving too fast. There were also a lot of potholes in the ground so we were moving at a very slow pace. It was very narrow, and often pretty short so I felt like I was leaning down almost the whole time, and it was definately single file. But it was still so much fun. Leah was in front of me and she was lighting the way (oh yes, it was very dark!!!!) with her splunking flashlight. My friend Arik was behind me and he was hilarious the whole time!!!! He kept making references tO Indiana Jones lines (especially from the Last Crusade, when they are down in the tunnel with all the water, trying to get to the Tomb....."the tomb is the second marker") and a lot of "Goonies" references so we were having an awesome time!!!! It was totally a bonding experience. After about 40 minutes we made it out of the mile-long tunnel and climbed back up hill (yeah, not so fun) to where we ate lunch. If I could do it again, I totally would, I and would love to try it completely in the dark next time.
On another note, Leah (and I) got a HUGE surprise this morning when her rabbi, Steven Lowenstein, surprised us at HUC as we were getting ready to get on the buses. He had been on a mission trip in Russia and decided that since he was so close, he would stop over for a day in Israel!!!!!! It was so fun to get to see him. I, of course, know him because he is my friend Phyllis's senior rabbi and I have gotten to know him throughout the last year that she has worken up in Chicago. He's taking us out to dinner tonight and so we'll get to catch up with him then!!!!
Okay, I am seriously exhausted so I must go nap before I get ready for dinner..... I wish you could have all been there with us today...it was unbelievable!!!!!!
Posted by Elizabeth
at 5:04 PM