Summer in Jerusalem: Concert and a trip to the desert

On Tuesday, we took a walk from the Fuchsburg Center to the Western Wall. Although it was quite hot, it was an enjoyable walk. At the Wall, we prayed and Roz distributed some of the charity that friends gave her to bring to Israel.

At night after school Roz and I went out to a little restaurant next to the Great Synagogue for a quick supper. After that we walked back to the apartment to change and went out to the Israel Museum for a concert by the group Givatron. This group of about 14 singers ranged i age from middle age to people who were in their twenties when the State of Israel was founded. There were a few thousand Givatron fans there. I had found out earlier that my friend Yossie Pinhasi was going to be there. We asked him to save us some seats. He called ans said we would be in the front row. When we arrived, moments before the show was to start, the guards would not let us into the front. Suddenly, Yossie ran up to them saying that these are my friends from the States, you must let them in, and so they did. The show was great. Many of the songs were familiar to the Israelis in the audience. After the show, we went to a restaurant on King George for coffee. On the way, we met a friend of Yossie's who is the deputy attorney general of Israel. It seems like everyone knows eachother here.

Today, we were privileged to hear Rabbi Joel Roth of the RA Law Committee speak on halacha and the Conservative movement. I mentioned to him that I felt that when we describe Conservative Jews as between Orthodox and Reform, we are doing ourselves a disservice. He agreed.

I stayed for a part of Rabbi Goldfarb's class on tefillah. Today we were discussing the brachot of the amidah.

I left early to meet up with Roz and we were picked up by a tour guide who took us for a Jeep

trip into the Judean Desert. This was quite a trip indeed. We bounced along what passed for roads up hills and along cliffs.

On one of our first stops, we met Abdullan and his donkey. Abdullah is mainly in the sheep business but he was gracious enougn to let Roz take a ride.

We went up the mountain that is believed to be the one from which the kohein gadol tossed the sacrificial goat in the Yom Kippur ritual. From here one can see the Dead Sea and all the way into Jordon.

Here is Roz drawing water from a desert well. Our guide suggested that she was like Rivka who drew water for Eliezer and later became the wife of Isaac.

In a desert town, ther e is a spring where water pours from a mountain all year long. Local families gather here to take a dip and have a picnic. I found it to be rather untidy with lots of litter. There was also a sign forbidding swimming. It did not seem to stop anyone though.

On the way out, there was an old tank on the side of the road to play with.

Finally, here's Roz test driving the ship of the desert. Behind the princely mount is not the camel driver but our tour guide and Jeep driver, Sholem.