Friday, May 11: Toward Jerusalem

Still quite hot. Started the day in Atlit, a British detention camp for immigrants. During the Second World War, those Jews who managed to escape the Holocaust and somehow make it to Palestine (i.e. Israel), which was really incredibly difficult, then had the following experience: they were transported by train in cattle cars to a fenced, heavily guarded compound, then separated by sex, led toward a building with black smoke coming out of a chimney, shaved clean, and ordered to strip and walk into a shower. I can't imagine.

Atlit detention camp

I just can't imagine.

The difference here, from what they knew in the places they came from, was that it was British soldiers who were in charge, not Nazis. And people came out alive from these showers. The smoke was from not a crematorium, but a boiler that provided steam to disinfect the clothes. It wasn't as much of a difference as it should have been—the bunks were terrible, and the situation barely tolerable for all kinds of reasons—but at least now they had hope. They were home, and they mostly survived, and in time these people left the camp and built a brand new country. It was here I cried for the first, and not the last, time on this trip.

Planting trees at Ne'ot Kedumim

After Atlit, open spaces: Ne'ot Kedumim, the Biblical landscape reserve. A reclaimed artillery range, this national park now has plant and animal species mentioned in the Bible. We listened to cattle proclaiming their undying love for each other, and we planted trees (I a terebinth!) and sat in a winepress and drank wine. Then we had a fabulous "Biblical" lunch: best meal on the whole trip.

As the afternoon wore on, and Shabbat approached, the bus climbed the Judean hills, following twisty roads with incredible traffic until we got to the top of Mount Scopus and looked down on…

Jerusalem. The Golden City. We were here. Some people celebrated by buying tschotchkes, others took pictures. Me, I just looked and drank it in.

Laurence loitering within tent

Next into the city, to the hotel, and unpacking. This was the first place we'd be staying more than two nights in a row. And we needed to get ready for Shabbat.

The rest of the gang left for Modi'in, a city nearby with a big Reform congregation, and dinner with various congregants. I don't travel on Shabbat, so I joined Naomi (who had been on the airplane with us) and her friend Brenda at the apartment of Naomi's son Daniel and daughter-in-law Batya, and Daniel and Batya's children. Evening services were at this absolutely joyous and wonderful jewel of a synagogue, Kehillat Shira Hadasha, then back to the apartment. Unfortunately, Naomi had spent the whole week since arrival sick with the flu, and she wasn't over it yet. Fortunately, everyone else seemed to be all right. Daniel and Batya were delightful people and marvelous hosts.

After dinner, Brenda stayed over and I went back to the hotel and to bed. Shabbat shalom!

Next: Saturday, May 12, Shabbat in Jerusalem