It's been a whirlwind trip for the "Cleveland 12" in Israel this week.
Today we climbed down Hezkiyyah's tunnel underneath the Old City of
Jerusalem, and actually touched the live waters of the "Gichon Spring," the
very waters whose source is in the Garden of Eden. It's an ancient city
but also a modern city; the key to our past and also the bridge to our
future. Sound like a paradox? Yet there's something harmonious about
that. One story that captures that harmony for me in a real way: There's
an old Jewish custom of expressing our connection to ancient Jerusalem and
our longing for the "Temple" in Jerusalem in an outward way. That is the
act of "tearing kriyah," tearing our shirts (the way a mourner does at a
funeral upon the loss of a loved one) when we see the Temple Mount bereft
of the ancient Temple. So our first night here in Jerusalem we took an
exhilarating walk through a posh outdoor mall on our way to the Kotel, the
site of the Temple Mount. i realized that i needed some technical help in
tearing my shirt. So I walked into this really trendy shop and asked the
proprietor if i could borrow his scissors to tear kriyah. Talk about the
ancient and modern colliding. I was expecting this guy who is out the
pages of GQ to laugh me out of his shop. Not only did he lend me his
scissors, but he looked me in the eye and wished me an short, emotion-laden
blessing that I should "know no more sorrow." I realized that he must have
assumed that I was actually tearing kriyah for a loved one, G-d forbid, and
therefore blessed accordingly. That realization hit home and helped me
realize the significance of what I had actually just done. It also helped
me realize the key to Jewish continuity: staying connected to our past as
we move into our future. With best wishes and prayers from Jerusalem...
Sruly
