We made it to Jerusalem!

Yesterday we had a very moving visit to the Kotel or the Western Wall.  After that we went to the Macheneh Yehuda open air market.  It was very crowded because it was almost Shabbat and people were buying food for their Shabbat dinners.  We bought some flowers to give as a gift to our Shabbat dinner hosts and then had same pita, humus, and falafel.  We bought donuts and baklava for later.  Alex has ice cream despite the cold.   Erin and I bought hats because we were cold.

We went to Kabbalat Shabbat services with Rabbi Stacey Blank at Kehilat Tzur Hadassah which is a reform congregation in Kehilat Tzur, a suburb 12 miles southwest of Jerusalem in the Judean Hills with a population of 1,500 people. 

After services, our group split up and we went to Shabbat dinner with local congregants.  Our dinner with Alena and Gail and their children Gabi and Sasha was amazing.  They made us feel so welcome and they prepared a wonderful meal for us.  Erin and Alex enjoyed talking to Gabi and Sasha about High school and middle school in Israel. And Alex and Sasha turned out to have so much in common that we joked that they were  long lost twins.  We enjoyed our evening with our new Israeli friends so much and we were sad to leave.

Yesterday was Shabbat so we are planning to sleep in and then go see the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum.