Know Where You Came From

Wednesday, June 3rd

I learned so much this morning. Went to a session at the Aish building called Headline Media where we learned about strategic communication. We watched a bunch of famous interviews and analyzed them in ways I wouldn't be able to on my own. We learned effective ways to send messages across an how to answer nightmare questions. There will be times where we can't control the questions so we have to use it as an opportunity to send the right message. 

I had be chance to be interviewed on camera and then analyzed. It did a decent job and got some constructive criticisms. Great learning experience. 

Our next stop was a quick Mincha at the Kotel followed by a strategic tour of Jerusalem. 

Just want to share some of my thoughts from this day as  as some things that Iearned.

When we got to the Kotel I looked around and got that feeling like oh yeah I'm in Israel! Sometimes these things just creep up on you. Every time I'm at the wall, I try to tellysg what it means to me and to be honest it's different every time. The way I felt today it that the Wall represents the pain that still exists. It's still just a wall, and it's not a  wall surrounding the Beit Hamikdash. I think a common misconception that people hand is that in order to rebuild the temple everyone has to work together and do the same exact thing to become better as a nation. This is not what it's about. It's really a about Unity, not uniformity. Everyone has their own lifestyle and their own way and their own way of practicing Judaism or being spiritually connected.  The beauty in our nation is that there are so many types of Jews but at the end of the day we all want to achieve a common goal and that's what matters most. This is just my opinion. Take it or leave it. 

During our tour of Jeru, we discussed the security issues on הר הבית, or the Temple Mount. It's really hard for Jews to get in. Something we have working against us is that according to Halacha, many hold that a Jew is forbidden to cost the temple mount before the time of the Messiah. Because of this, Israelis don't care much about having control over the security there. The security guards let Muslims In no problem but Jews have a hard time getting in. We can't even take water up because we might come to say a beracha. Just some food for thought. 

Something else I came to appreciate is that Jeru us most conquered and destroyed city in the world but also a peaceful city עיר שלום, עיר שלם כי יש אחדות פה. It's wild. 

So you know that windmill in Jerusalem? I can tell you a bit about it. It's located in Yemin Moshe which was first housing in Jerusalem funded by Moses montefiore who was married to a Rothschild. The town is really gorgeous but in the beginning, Jews were hesitant to move out of the Old City. After some pushing and bribes, people finally moved in and it's still running and well. Really a stunning area. 

Kinda underrated  but Until 67 there was barbed wire marking the green line on King David street. Were recaptured Jerusalem during the Six Day War and erased green line down the middle and made the black line. The rest of the world believes that it belongs to the Palestinians. 

Also something I didn't notice year in seminary is he significance of the light rail since I only took it up until Mamilla. The light rail is only a few years old and it took a lot to build it.. It symbolizes connecting the east and west sides of jerusalem and unfortunately we've paid the price for it. There were a couple of terror attacks this past summer. After the "terrorist" attack (I put that in quotes  because some say we can't definitely prove that the Arab driver purposely drove into Jewish pedestrians) they put the cement blocks for security and went on with life. That's Israel. Just gotta move on. 

Our tour guide stressed that right now is the best time to be in Jerusalem. And if you look back in our history, we have to agree. Not only do we excel in high tech but so in infrastructure. We have built and renovated to better connect israel. So many Hospitals and universities are being built in the north and south. It's really amazing how far this country has come in just 67 years. We don't eat shrimp but we make Intel chip processors and wear sandals.