Jerusalem

This morning, our group split with most of the adults heading to Yad Vashem and most of the kids to the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo.  Marci and I opted for the zoo since we've both toured Yad Vashem several times.  Rebecca, who will be returning to Israel next Spring with her 8th grade class, said she wanted to wait and see Yad Vashem with her friends for the first time.

So, we played camp counselors to 9 kids and had a great morning at the zoo.

The afternoon was a trip highlight.  We drove towards Hebron (but did stop before the West Bank border) and stopped at an archeological site that invites tourists to help dig.  We climbed down a ladder into a subterranean room, were given tools and buckets, and spent an hour digging up pieces of pottery.  It was a thrill for each of us to dig, and to find stuff.  When the 25 of us finished, we formed a bucket brigade to hoist all the dirt from the floor of the cavern to the land above.

With that task complete, the guide took a few of us extra-willing souls to go cave exploring in an undeveloped area of the mountain.  Lit only by candles, we descended and starting climbing, crawling, squeezing, dropping, and rolling through a maze of rooms.  Our favorite; the toilet bowl; which, indeed, looked like a toilet bowl.  Only this one, you had to put your feet inside and drop down through it.  For adults, it only went chest deep.  For kids....  (let's just say they had spotters).  Turn about is fair play since the kids could easily slide through narrow openings in the rocks needed to get from one room to another.  The adults...not so much.  Let's not get too graphic but let's say that it was like a breech birth; legs push through first, then but, then shoulders, and arms; no idea what's on the other side....just PUSH and TRUST.  I would just like to acknowledge Nate Zilberg who had to witness me "birthing" about half a dozen times.  Then, again, Seth Jaffe and I got..well...a little too close.  (Nate did get a picture of me in one of those first few seconds of new life!)  Happy Fathers Day!

How I wish I had brought along with camcorder.  between the dust, the darkness, and the tight quarters, we were advised against.  Maybe next time...

We headed back to Jerusalem for much needed showers and then a quick dinner. Marci and Renee hung out in Jerusalem and I took the girls back to sleep.

We prepare now for a BIG DAY tomorrow as Rebecca reads Torah at the Western Wall, the third Torah reading on three continents in the last 6 months of her Bat Mitzvah year!.

Lailah tov.