We arrived in Jerusalem Friday afternoon with our first stop at Mt. Scopus, where we viewed the city and heard introductory remarks from Rabbi Kahn and Yitzhak Sokoloff (founder and chair of Keshet Tours).
We then proceeded to the very busy Machane Yehuda outdoor market, packed with locals shopping in preparation for Shabbat. Despite the crowd and the noise, I could hear my name called. It was Roger Morris and Rabbi Bonnie Sharfman who are here with their extended family.
We then checked into our hotel and had a Shabbat dinner. I would write more had I not fallen asleep.
On Saturday morning, we attended Shabbat services at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, which is next door to our hotel. We were warmly greeted by Cantor Tamar Havilio, a schoolmate of Rabbi Kahn and Cantor Shpall. Five of our CBI B'nei Mitzvah kids were called up for a Torah honor (Alexis Bell, Paige Bressler, Reann Bressler, Gabrielle Kahn and Diego Morris).
We spent several hours Saturday afternoon at the Israel Museum. It was not enough time.
We then walked to the old city. Rabbi Kahn walked us through all four quarters. I do not know if this was intentional or whether we got lost. We ended up at the Western Wall. We spent some time at the wall itself before proceeding inside. We cut our visit short when an altercation broke out between two individuals who were obviously fighting over "territory," (not the kind of territory you are thinking of) which Rabbi Kahn described as pretty typical when you get that many Jews in one place. We will return on Monday when we have a CBI service at Robinson's Arch and my daughter Reann will formally become a Bat Mitazvah.
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