Day Six Part II: The Sabbath

As the sun sets each Friday evening the Jewish sabbath observance commences. Jews of all sects take this 24 hour period to pause in prayer and worship. This transforms the Old City into a crowded labyrinth of devout Jewish activity, many adhering to detailed canonical Jewish law.


At first we thought our twilight jaunt through the Old City was merely going to reward us with spectacular dimly lit scenes like these.








What a Muslim Quarter street market looks like at the end of the day.








And then suddenly we turn a corner and find ourselves facing this incredible spectacle. It literally took my breath away. I have never seen anything like this in my life. Hundreds of Jews, many orthodox, worshipping with great vigour at the Western Wall. It was loud, very loud! How fortunate we were to experience this. We stood for a few moments just watching in silence. I only took photographs from this removed location, as photography is among many things in opposition to keeping the Jewish sabbath. And despite such an astonishing display, I didn't see one tourist snap a single photo down in the Wall plaza.










As the night grew later, it appeared many Jews were en route to worship services. It quite literally felt like some kind of synagogue rush hour. And as they moved through neighbouring quarters, the tension was palpable. It was clear to me that the different religious groups are tolerant of one another, but probably nothing more.








Scott and Glen. The following morning we awakened to join other tourists and locals at church services at our church, which in Jerusalem meets at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. If you've been following the Israel posts, you know that I was keen to study here myself as a BYU student. And even if that was never to happen I've always wanted to at least visit this place. I've heard so much about it through family and friends who have studied here, especially my sister-in-law. So I was really excited to see it for myself!


Glass doorways in the entrance hall that give you a preview of the unparalleled view the Center has of the Old City. I challenge any LDS church to beat this view, kind of amazing to take the sacrament overlooking the Temple Mount!