March 16 - Jerusalem

Shabbat Shalom!

Last night was beautiful - we slept with our balcony door open as the heat of the day turned into a cool evening.  The one thing I noticed was that there were no sounds from the street below.  No cars or trucks driving by, no honking of horns.  Most people had walked home from wherever they were celebrating the beginning of Shabbat. In Israel, and especially in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, all stores and restaurants are closed from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.  It is truly a Shabbat rest where there is a separation between the work week and the special day of Shabbat. "And on the seventh day, God finished His work which He made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it." Genesis 2:1-3

We passed many Hassidic Jews on their way to the Western Wall or Synagogue. They dress in traditional clothes worn for centuries by their ancestors in Europe on Shabbat.

We also rested on Shabbat, or at least we took it a little easy today.  Our day started leisurely with a 9:30am departure to the Israel Museum.  There is an outdoor model of Jerusalem from the days of Jesus. It was extremely helpful to see Jerusalem as Jesus did.

a close-up of the Temple

you can see the size of the model - the Temple Mount is on the right 

the Temple Mount

the Temple Mount

But I think the highlight of the Israel Museum was the Shrine of the Book.  Remember a few days ago we were at the Dead Sea and visited Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found? The Israel Museum has created an exhibit where the whole book of Isaiah from the Scrolls is on display. Also on display is the Aleppo Codex which is a 10th century manuscript of the Hebrew Bible.  Photography was not allowed inside the museum.

In the afternoon we were given the choice of going to the Herodium - a palace-fortress built by King Herod or relax back at the hotel.  Steve and I opted to relax but I did hear that the Herodium was amazing and Ari told us we needed to see it next time we were in Israel.

We did end up taking a walk into the old city.  The Christian Quarter was crowded with lots of people shopping.  I always love how colorful the markets are.

This evening we went to a sound and light show at the Tower of David Museum.  I'm not sure what I expected but it was a beautiful feast for our eyes and ears.  Again, we were unable to take pictures but we will be going back to the Museum on our free day.