This morning was spent in the Old City starting at the Temple Mount with a visit to the Dome of the Rock and the El Aqza Mosque; this latter mosque is one of the most holy mosques for Moslems and, like the Dome of the Rock, is open only to those of the Islamic faith. All over the mount, which is akin to a big plaza, separate groups of men and women sat together talking and studying. As we were not able to enter either mosque, which was something I could do in 1979, we had another history lesson from Eli and took pictures of these two holy sites. From there we went to the Western Wall and saw some of the excavations done under and around the southern part of the wall, followed by a visit to Mount Zion to visit the room of the Last Supper and King David's Tomb.
The afternoon was a somber one with a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, the Children's Memorial, and the Hall of Remembrance. Writing about this experience on a blog is not something I can easily do as I don't feel comfortable describing the horror of the Holocaust with mere words. All I can do is try and honor the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis with my prayers...and never to forget.
Later on in the evening we explored the tunnels under the Western Wall; the wall, built by King Herod to surround the Temple has been, until now, the closest remaining “structure” to this ancient holy site. (The original Temple, built by King Solomon, was completely destroyed by the Babylonians.) The tunnels are, actually, under the Arab Quarter in Jerusalem, as the El Aqza Mosque was built on the same spot where the Temple was located. Discovery of these tunnels has been an amazing feat and people can now pray very close to where the Holy Ark, sacred to the Jews, was located so long ago.{ As an additional piece of history, the Western Wall was occupied by the Jordanians until 1967 (After 1948, Jews were forbidden to go there.) when Israel regained access during the Six Day War.}
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