Israel In Haiku: The Kotel
Touching the Kotel Looking at a Torah scroll Feeling connection
My previous posts have essentially been summaries of our daily activities, without much in the way of personal reflection. But on Wednesday we visited the Western Wall - the Kotel. This day was different.I didn't know what to expect. Although my experience began, more or less, as I anticipated - touching the ancient stones, closing my eyes, saying a personal prayer - it's hard to put into words what was going through my mind and body.But then …A group of Sephardic Jews started reading Torah a few yards away from where we were standing - at least I assumed they were Sephardic because the scroll they were using was enclosed in a silver case. I looked into the beautiful scroll and my eyes opened wide - the words on the parchment were Birkat Kohanim - the Priestly Benedictions - relatively easy to recognize because of the special way they are written: These verses were part of what my daughter read at her Bat Mitzvah almost 8 years ago! Because men and women must stand in separate areas at the Kotel, she couldn't see it, but it couldn't have been just a coincidence that I was standing in that particular place at that particular moment. Although we were apart, standing in separate sections, not even able to see each other, I was connected to Taryn at the moment I saw those familiar words in the Torah scroll. This will be my strongest memory - the most unexpected spiritual moment - from when I first stood at one of the holiest places of our faith.Later, we were led through the Kotel Tunnels, learned about the southern wall excavations and took at virtual tour of the ancient Temple Mount at the Davidson Center. After lunch and some shopping in the Old City, our day ended with The Night Spectacular - where we saw a the history of Jerusalem projected onto the ancient stone walls The Citadel - a Medieval fortress - in a way that has to be seen to be believed.Quite a way to start several days in Jerusalem.