When my feet stood within thy gates Jerusalem

For the past 39 years, the city of Jerusalem has been a city united. Two days ago, the city celebrated its reunification with Yom Yerushalayim. I have already blogged about the preparation for Yom Yerushalayim. Let me take you through my Yom Yerushalayim.


After spending a few minutes at the SPNI offices finishing my assignment, I went to work at one of the community gardens. Once I got there, I learned that we weren't going to work today. Instead, we were going to Kiryat Menachem to help with a Yom Yerushalayim celebration.

I arrived a couple hours early and decided to hike to some springs in the area (My first hike in Israel). The place that we hiked is located right near the green line on the western edge of Jerusalem, so it was interesting to spend part of the day that we commemorate the reuniting of Jerusalem near the area where a fence is going to be built separating Israel from the territories.


It was quite a scorcher on Thursday afternoon, and a visit to the springs was a perfect remedy for the heat.

Once we returned to the trailhead, we helped the community with their Yom Yerushalayim celebration. The festivities included planting gardens (the event was run by the community gardeners), making pita, and playing music.


After a few hours of buidling vegetable gardens, I found myself at the helm of the pita maker. Now I can segue into one of Ian's long-term dreams: opening a "pitaria" in Ann Arbor (or southeast Michigan). Living a few minutes from the Shuk, I have learned some of the finer sides of life, like pita fresh from the oven (I have actually become a pita-snob). In my experiences, there are few things better than fresh pita and no place in Michigan that makes pita with such deliciousness and simplicity at low prices.


I came to another realization surrounding the production of pita. While many American's purchase hooka on their trips to Israel, I hope to (if I can find one) buy the iron thing you put on top of a fire to make pita. (For those that think Ian is overcoming his fear of fire, you are very wrong. I can be around it but handling it with a match or lighter? Absolutely not.)

I planned on continuing my celebration of Yom Yerushalayim with something that my friend told me about "the Midnight March." Apparently, it includes a giant mass of people walking from a Yeshiva near the Central Bus Station down Yafo Rd. into the Old City, Then, they proceed to waik around the city for hours and, eventually, reach the Kotel. It turns out that the March was the night before, but that is fine because I had a pretty interesting experience. Since I was not going to walk with thousands of my closest friends, I will walk to Kotel by myself (it is already 1:30 a.m.). Many people would ask me why I didn't participate in a march that occured earllier in the afternoon from Gan Sacher (famous for its ruthless basketball rules) to Ben Yehuda St. to the Kotel. I place a personal boycott on this event because of the heavily political overtones.

(Wait a second, Ian. Isn't celebrating Yom Yerushalayim a political event already?)

Good question, Ian. Yes it is. The march plannners earlier in the day pushed things a step further than they needed to be. In addition to celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem, the planners also rallied for the release of Jonathan Pollard. While I may or may not support Pollard's release, I do not believe that his release has anything to do with the reunification of Jerusalem. The Pollard issue is big enough that the planners could've arranged a separate event dedicated solely to Pollard's release and drawn a good-sized crowd. They didn't have to connect it with Yom Yerushalayim.


I digressed.

So I walked through the Old City to the Kotel to celebrate Yom Yerushalayim. Here is a photo of my feet standing at thy gates Jerusalem, much like the famous photo of Yithak Rabin, Moshe Dayan, and Uzi Narkiss that donned the walls of my dorm room (and will be on the wall in my apartment in the fall).


I went to the Wall, just like the paratroopers in that famous photo that would be on the wall in my room if I didn't have the other one.


There were still people dancing and singing, and I joined in.


After I went to the wall, it was about 3:00 a.m., which can only mean one thing: PIstons-Heat Game 2. I went back to Jason, Ilana, and Adam's to watch the game. Huge win! I would have liked to see them continue the effort through four quarters, especially because some of us were slightly tired. I just crashed on their couch at 6:00 a.m. (the sun had fully arisen by the time the game was over). Now you see why I delayed blogging and spent just 40 minutes at home over a 24 hour span, even though I was in Jerusalem for the entire day.