a hodgepodge of things

in addition to the birkat hachama last wednesday, today was the birkat kohanim. it is a massive ritual blessing at the kotel. each year thousands flock to the wall on the intermediate days of pesach to be blessed by a convocation of kohanim, judaism's hereditary class of priests. this tradition is normally conducted at people's respective worship place but the kotel as a location has been around since temple eras. the kohanims' chant, "may the lord bless you and keep you; may the lord shine his countenance toward you and be gracious to you; may the lord lift up his countenance toward you and give you peace." this is chanted over the tallit-shrouded believers, raising their hands in praise.

picture courtesy of jerusalem.com

furthermore, spring should be around the corner but the weather today was pure summer. maybe it was the weather in conjunction with the thousands of people milling around jerusalem today. it was a nice sight to see after all the quietness in the beginning of pesach. there were tourists from other places, some making a pilgrimage to the churches around jerusalem for easter sunday service. and then there were the israelis escaping their homes for the vacation. the central bus station was crammed with tents, coolers, sleeping bags, IDF, etc.

i was out and about the entire day, getting a good dose of sun. i went to mt. zion as it is one of the places on my list. here is the tomb of david, the last supper room, the church of dormition, oskar schindler's grave, and the church of st. peter in gallicantu. i visited the first three. mt. zion is not too far from zion gate and i was surprised by the close proximity. the tomb of david appeared to be one of the many prayer sites in jerusalem. there is a partition to create room for women space and men space. there wasn't much to see as there were many people reading their prayer books. so i went in search of the last supper room. the lonely planet guide can be misleading sometimes and the people milling about can be misleading too. i don't think i saw the 'actual' room but it is a nice place. what else can i say about it? nothing more than davinci's last supper is rather a figment of his imagination... because the room doesn't look anything like that. anyways. my last stop in mt. zion was the church of dormition. this is the traditional site where the virgin mary died, or 'fell into an 'eternal' sleep'. the latin name for the church is dormitio sanctae mariae. i have to say that this is one of my favorite churches in comparison to all the others i've seen so far, and i've seen a lot. this might even top church of all nations. the crypt was very peaceful and beautifully constructed. there is a stone effigy of mary in the center with jesus calling his mother to heaven. i don't know if you are aware of this but while jesus ascended to heaven, the virgin mary's is called assumption meaning she needed to be helped physically to reach heaven. take it however you want it.

on an excited note, i'm leaving on a road trip around israel tomorrow morning. i will be going down south to the negev to hike in the mitzpe crater and up north to hike in the woods/rivers and ascend mt. hermon to see into syria and maybe lebanon. and hopefully make it to akko, caesarea, and meggido. but anything that happens will be fun. i am very excited for this. afterwards, i will also hopefully partake in the greek orthodox easter celebration at the holy sepulchre and then be on my way to egypt for a week. AHHH!