Generations Center

This afternoon Rabbi Goldfarb's tefillah class covered the Aleynu and Adon Olam. Two parts of the service we have done so many times but do we have any idea what they mean? In Adon Olam, the focus of the poem starts with God as universal and infinite and ends with God watching over the poet on a personal level.

In our halacha class we had a guest speaker. Rabbi Miriam Berkowitz has written a book about Mikvah and is leading the movement to encourage use of the mikvah by Conservative Jews. We discussed the Biblical laws of purity and some Talmudic discussions of nida.

During the day,, Roz visited Mt. Hertzl where Theodore Hertzl is buried.

After class, Roz, I, Sandra, and Moshe went to meet Yossie and Sylvie at a restaurant in Machaneh Yehuda called Simas. We enjoyed a number of Israeli favorites in cluding a sour soup with dumplings and pumpkin called kubbe. It was especially good to go out with the Pinhasis who can tell us what the unfamiliar dishes are.

After tea and baklavah, we went to the Kotel to walk through an exhibit called Generations. This is a multi part glass sculpture built into a 900 year old house. The glass sculpture tells the history of the Jewish people from Temple times to today. Throughout the exhibit, Jewish names are featured. It begins with our forefathers and progresses through Moses, the prophets, the Rabbis, and finally the founders of modern Israel. Not only are the glass sculptures dramatically presented but the building itself, including an ancient mikveh displayed below a glass floor, is a fascinating feature of the tour. At the end, there is a holographic presentation of the story of an Israeli freedom fighter.

After the tour, we walked slowly past the Kotel. This powerful place has a center-of-the-world quality to it that never ceases to amaze me.