Aftermath: Jerusalem & the Wall

The Western (Wailing) Wall, referred to in Hebrew as the kotel, is the most revered site for prayer in the Jewish world. It's the only remaining piece of the Second Jewish Temple in the old city of Jerusalem. Millions of people within Israel and outside alike, of all religions, gather here to pray and literally wail. I won't yet get into the completely transcendent moments I had when I first met the wall, but it remains to this moment one of my favorite places on Earth. Did I mention I think I was a Jew in a past life?

Men and women are separated at the wall. I visited the wall everyday I was in Israel, and Aleks and I went back to the wall the night of Yom Kippur, in which a remarkable thousands of Jews gathered to sing and pray with the highest rabbi of Israel, who sang from a microphone at the foot of the wall. Aleks and I had to literally run through the Old City to get to the wall to experience this night, during which we climbed walls, scaled fences and even walked into someone's apartment looking for a stellar vantage point. My reaction walking away from that evening, when we finally peeled ourselves away from the wall and the experience after 1 AM, was "Now THAT'S religion". Completely completely inspiring and very telling of the Jewish faith and culture. Coming from a long-time and forever Catholic girl, the Western Wall enables all faithful, not just Jews.

FOUND IT:

The women's side (usually I would rebel and oppose authority and hop a fence to the men's side, but there are some things you just DON'T DO at the sites of God. Ask me later about the Russian chick with serious bad karma coming to her after I watched her steal a candle from Jesus's resurrection tomb. People these days, I swear.):

Looking back out at the Old City from the Wall:

 My favorite favorite favorite. Note the Dome of the Rock (holy site for Muslims) in the background. It's interesting and basically amazing that clads of faithful Jews gather daily to pray at a wall that sits underneath one of the holiest sites for Muslims. 

The Israeli national flag, denoting the liberation of the Wall from its past captors:

My rockin Jewish host :) 

On a rooftop the night of Yom Kippur, looking down on the thousands of praying, singing Jews at the wall. My official reaction walking away from this night of scaling Jesus-era stone buildings to watch thousands of Jews, easily one of the most oppressed peoples in humanity, gather together to pray and celebrate a new year: "NOW THAT'S RELIGION." And it so so was. To this day, I still watch the videos from that night that I took just to listen to them sing: