Mount Herzl & the Old City

Today started off with a to the Herzl Museum in Jerusalem where everyone learned all about Theodor Herzl and his dreams of Israel becoming a state. From there, we had a very moving and passionate tour of Har Herzl (the national military cemetery in Israel) which those such as Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin and Michael Levin lay there eternally. We heard amazing stories of heroism of so many and saw how they believe that each soldier is equally respected in regard to their graveside. You may have a an officer buried next to a commander who is buried next to a soldier who hadn't completed his army service and barely out of basic training all in graves that are identical. It shows how much they value a life as this cemetery is like our Arlington National Cemetery, however, the military is part of the Israeli culture with all Israelis having to serve in the army for either 2 years (women) or 3 years (men). Our tour guides shared some incredible stories that I'm sure everyone will remember for a lifetime.

We then went into the Old City to walk along the walls for the Rampart Walk. We had some spectacular views of the city and learned all about the walls that protect this city. We walked through the Jewish Quarter as well as explored the Archaelogical area by the Davidson Center, learned about Women of the Wall and saw the proximity of the holiest site in the world for Jews (Western Wall or Kotel) and the Al Aqsa Mosque (3rd holiest site in the world for Muslims behind Mecca & Medina).

The evening concluded with an amazing Israel presentation from Neil Lazarus with updates on the Middle East, great information on the players in the conflict and so much more...everyone was so engaged by his enthusiasm and knowledge that even on 1-4 hours sleep, he managed to keep everyone awake and extremely involved.