DollingersinIsrael: Jerusalem BAT MITZVAH DAY

This was a great day...

We woke up quite early, in order to be out of the hotel by 7:30 am so that we could be first in line at the Western Wall for the bnai mitzvah service. By 8 am, we were underneath Robinson's Arch, setting up our portable table, preparing the Torah, and beginning the morning service. Rabbi Stacy led an inspirational service, with each of the four sets of parents delivering blessings to their child on their bat/bar mitzvah day. (For Rebecca, this was more of a Torah reading and less a bat mitzvah since her official bat mitzvah was in March. For the others, though, this was it!). Each of the b'nai mitzvah read Torah, one parent (Marc in the Dollinger family) from each family read Torah, and all the parents had aliyot. In order to bring Rebecca's grandparents into the moment, Marci and I dialed them up on our two celphones, and held the phones out over the Torah as Rebecca read. That was a pretty cool contrast between the Herodian stones, the Temple Mount, the Torah scroll, and the cel phones. It all worked out well...and at 11 pm CA time, didn't keep them up too late.

We hired Shlomo the photographer to document the event for us and the other families. For $250, he delivered a completed photo album to us at dinner that evening! Bring's one-hour photo to a new digital level.

We toured the Davidson archeological park after the service, went to a museum, learned about the Second Temple Period, all the usual stuff at the Temple Mount :)

From the ruins, we made a quick change at the bus and headed outside the old city walls to the City of David and Hezekiah's Tunnel, constructed just a few thousand years ago to get water to Jerusalem in case of a siege. The tunnels are narrow, winding, full of water, and very fun. For about half an hour, we trudged through, spotted the point at which teams from opposite digging sides met to complete the tunnel, and then exited into the fresh water pool. This was Shayna's first trip in the tunnel and after screams of fear climbing in (it is a bit scary to get into a big pool of rushing water and forge into the darkness of a narrow tunnel), she turned on the flash light, started walking, and reassured us that it was "really fun." This was the first time Marci walked the tunnel since Ulpan in 1981....when.....her future husband was somewhere in that tunnel with her....if we only knew...

Israeli version of running late: Drive bus to German colony; park in bus in illegal spot; holler at 36 tourists to quickly get off the bus, line up for felafel at the same felafel stand, buy the food, eat it, and cross the street to catch the bus at its next illegal parking spot......in 30 minutes. On your marks...get set...

(And Marci even had a few minutes to spare for shopping. Who knew?)

After lunch, we headed to Beit Shmuel and HUC to hear Anat Hoffman, director of Israel's Religious Action Center, tell us about the state of Reform (and Conservative) Judaism in Israel. She was quite dire and angry, though we also heard of some important positive steps for religious pluralism in Israel. When she finished, we all participated in boxing up food for Darfur refugees who had, literally, walked to Israel from Africa.

Back at the hotel, I conducted the first of my academic interviews for the next book on Jews and the 1960s. I'm looking at American Jews who moved to Israel as a result of the counterculture, to determine how their American experiences in the 1960s led them to become Israelis. I had a fantastic talk with Mike Nitzvan of Kibbutz Lotan, who is literally weeks from completing his Ph.D. at Hebrew U. on the evolution of Reform Zionism in the period I am investigating.

The four bnai mitzvah families hosted a celebration dinner at Anna Ticho House in Jerusalem. We all met Shlomo there, rec'd our photo albums, and, coincidently, witnessed a wedding ceremony occurring on the patio of the restaurant. The rabbi officiating was one of the few native-born Israeli women rabbis ordained at HUC. (For those following rabbi sightings, we have also seen Rabbi Howard Laibson and Rabbi Mona Alfi. For those following friend sightings, we see a lot of the Dordicks and spent the afternoon with the Bukis).

We walked home through Ben Yehuda, where it was time, once again, for a Babette Waffle. (Not for Marc...but the rest enjoyed). Thanks, Lezak.

This was our last day in Jerusalem....until we return for Wexner...