Spirit of the Kotel

Visiting the Western Wall of the Temple Mount (Kotel in Hebrew) in Jerusalem is, for me, a most spirited and spiritual experience. It's spiritual because this place, while merely a wall of stone, is in truth the central focal point, the closest we can stand to the Holy of Holies, an connection to the past that cries out with a sacred intensity. It is spirited, because each moment there is fraught with political and social complexity...I do have to focus myself and breathe in the stones deeply in order to find the peace I desire in this place because I am so easily distracted by the (sometimes) technical aspects of the visit. Men and women are not allowed to pray together at the Kotel and this frustrates and annoys me...I must remind myself to be in my own moment, in my own circle, and find my own peace.

Many people wash their hands before approaching this holy site. This is not about cleanliness, but rather about ritual purity. I love the image of washing away the rest of the world to step into this place.
There are many old women who spend their days at the Kotel, giving blessings and collecting tzedakah, money for the poor. This woman blessed me and my children, asking about my husband, my life, and offering her prayers in exchange for my tzedakah money.

The stones of the wall are old and worn, from generations of caresses and kisses.
It is customary to place notes in the cracks of the Kotel, personal prayers that are too precious to be said aloud, too precious to let float away on the wind, but rather clutched tightly in the hand and then wedged tightly into the holy stones.

God is everywhere, but I am different wherever I go. At the Kotel, I feel a difference in me as I stand shoulder to shoulder with the past...and I find a different connection, a different spirit.

See what others find spirited this week...

Marching on...

I so clearly remember sitting in my first grade classroom, making lion and lamb masks and learning the phrase "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb."

It's here! March will be a great month here at Ima on and off the Bima. Watch for a fun Purim celebration co-hosted by Frume Sarah, and I'll be going back to Israel later in the month. Stay tuned for all the fun...

(And of course, I picked a nice new springy background color. I've got faith, people!)

For a little March inspiration, with prayers for a quick spring...here are some more pictures of my Israel trip...one from Masada and one from Ein Gedi. That sky is just so blue!!!!




Here's hoping for spring!

Making Memories...

Here are some memories of my trip to Israel...scroll back through my posts to read more about the trip.

My mom, brother & I...

Getting a text message welcoming me to Jordan...hmm...I didn't go to Jordan! We traveled along the Jordanian border and my crackberry picked up the signal. Funny!

Our leisurely hike through the Ein Gedi Nature Preserve
(where not-yet-King David hid from then-King Saul)

Watching other people take pictures. I think that was one of the highlights of my trip, watching how everyone else was trying to preserve their memories...I know how hard it was to process all the information and sites, I hope all the pictures help everyone to do it once they're back at home. I think I might do a photo collage of all the pictures of people taking pictures!

Shopping in the Mahane Yehuda open-air market on Friday afternoon. Yum!

Praying together at the Kotel, the Western Wall.

Visiting the Golan Heights and looking out at the land of Israel arrayed below. We read this poem "are you laughing or crying?" that really told the story of life below the Heights before and after Israel took over... before, there was shelling and danger. Now it is safer. Geography matters. (I have been watching all the fancy stuff with textures and decided to try this little fancy maneuver out myself...what do you think? It's the poem overlaid onto the view...)

Theme Thursday over at Stacy's place is Memory. Check it out!

Israel Pictures...Just a Few...

How to choose, how to choose! 967 pictures are still in my computer after an initial quick-delete...I'm sure there are a few more to be deleted but how do I choose!? Either way, here are a quick rundown of my favorites (with captions of course) with what I consider to be my "Best Shot" of the trip at the end...

I have been to Israel before and taken lots of pictures, but this was my first time with my own digital camera and my first time with a blog that must be filled with photos! Oh how I wish I could have accompanied all my daily updates with pictures...but alas, it was not to be. So anyway, I focused on taking as many cool pictures as I could...so here are some...

This is me and my brother. Why is this picture here? First off, I think I look good, which is frankly exciting to me! Second, I made a personal resolution to get myself into more of the pictures. Third, my brother complains that I don't blog about him enough. We got to see him in Israel! Hooray! Finally, this picture was taken by me, holding the camera out at arm's length. Not bad, eh? Oh, and the Israel connection -- we are standing in the excavation tunnels beneath the Western Wall in Jerusalem!
Four beautiful pictures of the Old City in Jerusalem, one of my favorite places in Israel.


This is my brother again...standing at the end of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum. The new museum is quite incredible, and perhaps one of the most amazing parts is the end, when you come out into this gorgeous healing view...
My mom, at the Ein Gedi Nature Preserve. Look at that blue sky!
Taken in the old part of Tsfat, an incredible city in the north. Notice that this young man is sitting with his laptop (and he was online too...wireless). An awesome reminder of the blend of modern and ancient in this land...
And this one...my favorite. It definitely falls into the category of "don't delete on the camera" because in my camera screen, I didn't get the rainbow. But when I looked in my computer screen there it was...wow. It is a rainbow over Jericho. We were leaving Jerusalem in terrible weather and as it started to clear - breathtaking! We stopped the bus and I never imagined the picture would come out!

See more Best Shots here...

Follow me, folks...to Israel!

I am so excited that I'm going to Israel today!!!!

But fear not, loyal readers, I will still be posting. Thank you, Blogger, for creating Mail2Blogger which makes it so easy to post! (Data service on the Bberry is super expensive and I'm not not not taking my laptop.)

A bit about my trip: I'm leading my congregation's first-ever Women's Mission to Israel. We will be seeing and doing lots of incredible things while we're there for 9 days...most of our time is spent in Jerusalem but we're also spending a couple of days up North (Tzfat, the Golan, Tiberias) and one day at the Dead Sea, plus twoish days in Tel Aviv. I'm so excited! There are 20 women plus me (and including my mom!) and I know it will be an amazing experience. I haven't been in Israel in 2 years (since before Sam was born) and I just can't wait.

Plus I get to see my brother (<--that is a link to his blog btw. He is very cranky that he thinks I don't blog about him enough. See the cute sidebar button for his blog now? That's because of a snarky comment he made a few posts ago...) AND meet Robin (hopefully this will work out!) and give her the prize she won in my Tu BiShevat giveaway last month!

So...if you're looking for something to read in the next 10 days, I'll be posting about my trip here and also at my other blog.

(Oh, and I think I'm going to try and post my Haiku Torah Fridays (hosted here) -- they are all written...so stay tuned. We're into a great part of Exodus! For those of you who aren't followers of Haiku Friday, each week I write haiku versions of the week's Torah (Scripture) portion...check some of them out here. Come back each Friday for my Haiku Torah!)

See what works for other people over here.