My First Venture
We’re going to chat about the first time I got to go out and explore the old city. I’m excited to talk about this day, because it felt like things were finally starting to happen. It felt more real that I was truly in Jerusalem, that I was seeing (for the very first time) things I’ve heard so many stories about, read about, and dreamed about.
After quarantining, I got to go out with my very first roommate ever, Hosanna, and my friend Jenna. As I mentioned before, I was already supposed to be in Israel before this. Z6 was originally supposed to gather in the summer of 2020, instead of the summer of 2021. Because I had been expected in Israel a year sooner, I had several people from Bridges reach out to me and start building a connection. Jenna was one of those people, and even though we didn’t get to meet for another year, it was so wonderful to finally get to go out together and explore some of Jerusalem.
Hosanna and Jenna at a picnic.
Adventuring
Hosanna and I started our day by heading to Succat Hallel, a house of prayer here in Jerusalem, by bus. We were meeting Jenna there, as she was leading a worship set. You can see photos in the slide below of the events of the day. Photo #3 shows the beautiful view of the HOP (house of prayer) overlooking the Old City and Mount Zion.
From the house of prayer, we went to the Old City. You can see the photos of Hosanna and I sitting and getting the photo of the sign. We were both so excited to be going inside, and Jenna was excited to show us around.
We entered the city through Jaffa Gate, and going through the market to get to the Western Wall. This was the first truly exotic experience I had, walking through the city, passing all of the shops. It was a hot day, so while the city was more quiet than normal, it was still overwhelming because of all of the smells (leather goods, spices, food, pee, you name it, I could smell it), and the attention from the shop keepers trying to lure us in to make a sale.
Standing in front of the Western Wall was an amazing moment. The love I saw there in the people praying was striking. People in tears, reciting prayers, and singing. This day was Tisha B'Av (you can find out more info about that here), so the city was pretty quiet this day, and I was so thankful for that gentle introduction to the heart of the land of Israel. One of the takeaways that gave me goosebumps at the wall was noticing that the women were walking backwards a ways before turning around to leave. Jenna explained that she was told that traditionally, you never turn your back on a King. I loved that.
Umbrella Street, on a later trip.
The other thing about this day was a heatwave. It was hot, and anybody who knows me personally knows how extremely red my face gets when I’m out in the heat. No, I’m not dying… But AC would be a good thing.
We wandered sweatily back to where we came in, and stopped in at the Christ Church Cafe. Cold coffee, air conditioning, and pretty tiles inside… This was a highlight for me, because I was just so in awe of what I had just seen that getting to sit down and process and talk about it did my heart good. And it was really nice to get to sit at the window and sort of people watch while talking about Hosanna’s art, and photography/photographers with Jenna.
From there, we slowly made our way back to our neighborhood. We walked through the mall to Zion Square, and through Umbrella St. It was interesting going from old city stone and shops to suddenly walking through a high end mall strip, and then to see a very modern city center all within a few blocks of each other. Busses, trains, cars, cafe’s, stores, more malls. It was quite the experience. And again, it was so empty. There were still lots of people out, but because of COVID and the holiday, it was a gentle introduction to the city. And that wraps up my first experience in THE Old City!
Thanks for reading, folks!
- Mads
