Here's the chronicles of Yom Kippur at the Old City.
Anna and I wake up early enough to insure that when transportation shuts down at noon, we won't be stranded at the Central Bus Station with smelly homeless creeps on Yom Kippur.
We caught the bus, no problem. Platform 607.
I slept on the way there.
Arrived at the bus station and some french guy (always the french) asked if he could split a cab with us because we were both heading to the Old City. According to Masa's Safety Handbook Article V, Clause 5, we are not supposed to share cabs with anyone. So we paid a little more to make sure we didn't die.
The cab was 35 sheck. Dropped us off at Jaffa gate. We were in search of the Heritage House. I wrote down Ha'Melech St. but the only one we could find was Ha'Melach. So, we walked by it and decided to get pizza from the last restaraunt open in the Old City.
After lunch, we continued to pursue our home for the evening. Nobody knew where the Heritage House was. We were asking tourists. Of course they are all tourists. We are right by the Western Wall. I asked a maintenance worker. He's cleaning the streets...he probably knows them all. He pointed us right to Ha'Melach. I felt sheepish.
We knocked on the door and the most adorable, young, british, orthodox girl let us in. Technically we weren't supposed to show up until 1:30, so we had 2 hours to kill. She let us drop our stuff off, and we wandered the streets of J-Ru, which was slowly transitioning into a holy ghost town.
We walked to the Wall. I prayed there for the first time since the March of the Living. The cold stone felt good on my cheek. It was beautiful.
We met one of Anna's friends from Yeshiva who showed us to a narrow stairway that led to a rooftop overlooking the entire Old City. It was so secret and quiet. The Dome of the Rock looked like James and the Giant Peach. Or just the Giant peach. We lapsed time and watched the city empty. Slowly, all that became visible were the ivory veins of the Jerusalem stone streets.
We found the Hostel again and were let in this time. There were bunk beds inside inhabited by 15 or so lazing girls in their 20-somethings. I saw there were beds on the porch and quickly claimed one as my own. I took a nap outside before it was time to prepare for the pre-fast meal.
I dressed in white and helped the woman running the Hostel (from CA, and Brooklyn...had a lot of babies) set up for dinner. There was some kind of chicken thing. Rice. Salad. Drinks. I ate a lot of the chicken in yellow sauce and drank until I knew I would regret it later in schul, sitting in the middle of the aisle of intently praying women.
We went with all the women to the Aish Center. It's a modern orthodox establishment that had so much extra funding that it decided to blow it all on an uber-powerful air conditioner. I was a poopsicle.
The services were very user-friendly. Rabbi announced pages. Lectures in the side room. Nice bathroom.
It was incredible to pray facing the Western Wall and actually SEE the wall from the window. Praying for Jerusalem, watching the setting sun drenching it in gold, it suddenly all became very real.
After services, we went to the hostel and I went to bed. As I saw the clouds glide over our patch of sky, I was reminded of a prayer I read earlier about sins being wiped away like mist. There are no stars in Tel Aviv. I fell asleep smiling.
I woke up at 6:50 AM and went back to the Aish Center. On the way, there were hundreds of Asian tourists taking pictures of us. We first looked for this Carlebach place but the women's side looked like a rat hole in a kitchen, so...yeah. Services were long. 3.5 hours. We left at Yiskor to take another nap. We woke up at 5ish and went to the Kotel, which from a distance looked like a gum ball machine with only white gum balls. We made our way up through the crowd to that grate where you can watch the mens side. I saw 3 sephardic services and 4 other ones. It was a dull roar of men chanting. We stayed there until we heard the shofars blow. Anna and I both agreed they should have a digital projection of how many minutes left until the end of the fast...like Times Square or something.
Chabad was dishing out free grub at the entrance of the Kotel. People were swarming. Anna risked her life to grab me a chocolate roll. It tasted like sin. Some more people were hosting free break-fasts so I grabbed a "bagel and cream cheese" which tasted nothing like the real thing. You'd think the Land of the Jews would be able to make the food of the Jews. But on an empty stomach it all tasted like ambrosia.
Stopped at Cafe Cafe and ordered a hot chocolate. Then we got the bus home. It was so crowded. people were sitting in the aisles. Got home. Showered. Bed felt nice.
Best (can I say "best"?)
Yom
Kippur
Ever.
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