A Rabbi's Guide To The Land Of Israel
Jerusalem of Gold of Copper & of Light
A Rabbi's Guide To The Land Of Israel
Jerusalem of Gold of Copper & of Light
Zion's Gate. Jerusalem is a city of ancient walls and gates. A wonderful way to greet Shabbat is to walk the walls and visit the gates, ending up almost inevitably-- as if by some mystical force-- at the Western Wall as the sun begins to sink. The gate pictured here is Zion's Gate.
The Tower of David. King David is my favorite hero from the Bible. I have always been intrigued by Migdal David. On my first trip to Israel in the 1970's it housed a unique doll collection from around the world. Now it is one of the world's premeir museums highlighting the history of Jerusalem throughout the ages.
The Scroll of Fire is appropriately situated at the top of the Jewish National Fund Martyr's Forest which is the largest memorial to the Holocaust in the world. I find it particularly meaningful because it is a living memorial coposed of 6 million trees-- 4.5 million pine trees (one for every adult who perished in the Holocaust) and 1.5 million cyprus trees (one for every child who perished in the Holocaust).
Yad Vashem is beyond words-- Israel's greatest museum and a memorial to the Holocaust and the lives of those millions who were lost. I have shed an ocean of tears here, but I have found hope here as well. This alone is worth the journey. This alone is worthy of a lifetime.
The Knesset Menorah was a gift to Israel from the British Parliament. At the time the British proclaimed it an act of friendship from the world's oldest parliament to its newest, forgetting (apparently) that Switzerland's parliament is even older than theirs. Today the Knesset Menorah stands as the symbol of an established nation now half a century old.
The Temple Mount. Two Moslem mosques dominate the view of the Temple Mount: the golden-domed "Dome of the Rock" in the North and the lead-domed "El-Aqsa Mosque" in the South. Remnants of the retaining wall of Herod's Temple Mount are recognized today as the Western Wall, but a great deal of Herod's construction still lies underground.
The Western Wall. Many people believe that the Kotel, the Western Wall, is the very heart of Jerusalem. Surely, it has heard the longings of the Jewish soul for centuries as people have come to pray and sing, to celebrate and mourn, to offer praise, receive blessing, and voice their innermost thoughts.
Temple
Israel