Visit the Holy Land in Jerusalem Israel

“My first day in Israel/Palestine, I understand why the psalms speak of going up to Jerusalem—why the psalm we just heard for or call to worship is called a Psalm of Ascent. It isn’t metaphorical language. It’s geography. From Tel Aviv, where we land at sea level, to Jerusalem is a climb of about 2,500 feet—like traveling from San Francisco to Grass Valley in about forty miles. The ascent is steep. You can feel it in your ears and hear it in the downshifting of the engine. We get dropped off outside of one of the seven gates leading into the Old City of Jerusalem. [...] From Lion’s Gate, we climb still higher, pulling our roller bags over ancient cobblestones, weaving through worshipers leaving evening prayers at the mosque and shoppers heading home from the markets. That night—my first night in Jerusalem—I manage almost six hours of sleep. At 4:50 a.m., the call to prayer rises from the minaret beside the convent where I’m staying. I’m in Jerusalem, I whisper to myself.”

“We decided to head back, and found Jerusalem to be steady and calm. Restaurants and streets were bustling as they had been a few days before. A few friends and I walked through the Damascus Gate down to the Muslim Quarter to the Western Wall. It was eerily quiet there, however, except for the Israeli flag flapping in the breeze. Just a week before the Wall had been flooded with worshippers for Sukkot, but on this day, I was one of only a handful seeking God behind a Herodian mass of ancient stone.”

“In my first trip to Jerusalem, I learned exactly that: you gotta take more than one trip to Jerusalem. It's kind of surreal (for this American, anyway) to walk the streets of a city that's over 2,000 years old -- and there are streets and structures in Old Jerusalem that are just that. It's crowded, and multi-ethnic, and there are multiple languages and religions. A lot of shops -- spices and souvenirs, and not just the cheap plastic trinkets. One particularly memorable experience I had was when a Deaf person was looking for directions, and a merchant came out to help them, and was fluent in sign language.”