Last Couple of Days in Israel

I cannot wrap my mind around the fact that I am going home tomorrow. Four weeks passed like a moment. Even the weekend with Mickie and Sherwin and “the girls,” so long awaited passed like sand through the hour glass (you will have to forgive me).

The Kepes family left on Monday morning for Afula and places north. Norma and I decided to spend the remainder of our stay in Jerusalem but moved to a boutique hotel off Ben Yehuda called The Arthur. Norma loved it and I was happy enough with the neighborhood. We both loved the wonderful walk in shower.

Having spent several Shabbats in Jerusalem I was concerned that the city would shut down for Tisha B’Av but it did not, just most restaurants and businesses were closed and the whole city took on a quiet aspect as is appropriate for public mourning for the destruction of the Temple and the potential destruction of the Jews as a people.

Monday Norma and I went to the Israel Museum to see a much lauded exhibit of Herod and Herodium, the place Herod built for his tomb. The exhibit was fantastic and the tour guide could not have been better but what we found most exciting in the museum were exhibits from their permanent holdings: 4 synagogues transported from various places in the diaspora and reconstructed in the museum; a gallery of Jewish life; and of course the reconstruction of Second Temple Jerusalem and the exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Aleppo Codex. We had the rare experience of wanting to come back again, like the next day. Oh, and the gift shop was wonderful and even though I was done shopping, I shopped.

Monday late evening we joined liberal Jews “lamenting” the fall of the Temple at Robinson Arch, an extension of the Wall. What could be better but to be at the site of the action more than 1900 years after the fact? Better than being there then.

Tuesday, quite appropriate for a national day of mourning we went to Yad v’Shem. We used the Light Rail for the first time and it took us to Mt Herzel, a ten minute walk to the museum. It was my 4^th or 5^th trip to the memorial but each time I see something new. Or maybe I just don’t remember or maybe they change things. But the curators know what they are doing. No matter how many times you see it you keep learning things. I think the most important thing I got out of is to not forget how easy it is ignore injustices. It was Norma’s first time but she will have talk about her experience which was different from mine. And probably more powerful.

This visit I was able to spend some time at the Valley of the Destroyed Communities, those communities that had been full of Jews with vibrant Jewish cultural and religious life that were wiped out by the Holocaust. The area is a bunch of large rocks organized to represent the map of Europe before World War II. I was able to find the towns that my mother’s parents came from. Next time I will look for my father’s family. I put a stone on the area where my grandfather came from because I felt like I was visiting a grave, a grave of a community.

The day was finalized with the perfect shakshuka at Tmol Sholshom. (my 4^th time there this visit).

Wednesday was our last day in Jerusalem because we will be going to see my cousin Shuli at her home in Heirut on Thursday. I was hoping to contact Steven Greenberg but never got around to it and I found out from the Kepes’s that unfortunately he is not around tomorrow.

Wednesday we just hung around and let good things come to us. We planned to go to the Yeshiva to say goodbye and we had some time to kill so we had coffee at the YMCA and had the good fortune to get a tour of the space by their artist in residence, Neil. There is a lot to tell but for more detail you will have to check it out yourself. I just can’t remember. But I did find out that the same architect that designed the Empire State Building designed this building and at the same time. His goal was to create a space that supposed coexistence among Christians, Jews and Muslims in Jerusalem. The place has always felt special and now I know why. During the tour wee climbed up to the top of the tower and got incredible views of Jerusalem. On a clear day you can see the Dead Sea….it was not a clear day but that did not diminish our experience.

As a finale, we had dinner in East Jerusalem at the American Colony. We shared several dishes and left before dark so we could go home by Light Rail. That area of East Jerusalem is pretty interesting and has been taken over by some big hotels. A kind of urban renewal.

I am writing this post from my favorite seat in Tmol Sholshom  and of course eating some dessert that defies description but here goes. Nevo and Ofri---Belgian chocolate tart with hazel nut and nougat crèmes with a side of Ben and Jerry vanilla ice cream. And an ice coffee. After all that I will either sleep like a baby or not sleep at all.

Judy