Last night, we went and visited the Western Wall for the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath day. Since it is also Rosh HaShanah right now, it was a gigantic party. Rosh HaShanah is the Jewish new year. When you get to the wall, it is separated into two parts with a barrier in between. The left (and larger) side is for the men, and the right side is for the women. On the men's side, it was packed with men of all ages in white shirts and kippas or big black hats(the men are required to have their heads covered). They were loudly singing and dancing to songs in Hebrew. Some of the guys from our group joined in and we could see them across the way jumping and dancing and singing along.
On the women's side, for the most part it was more reserved. Everyone would take turns walking up to the wall to touch it and pray. All of the cracks in the stone are filled with tiny pieces of paper on which people have written prayers. After awhile though, a group of young women started a dancing and singing circle. Several of us from the Center stood with them and clapped along. It was really fun to watch them because even though we couldn't understand the words that they were saying, to me, they seemed exactly like all of my friends back at home. I guess girls act like girls no matter where you go.
It seems like the entire city has been celebrating the entire time I've been here. In addition to the Israelis celebrating Rosh HaShanah, the Muslim people are having a holiday as well. We arrived towards the end of Ramadan, and now that it is over, there are three days of feasting and celebrating (Id al-Fitr).
Today after church, we walked as a group to visit the Garden Tomb. It was really cool going to it, because to get there, you walk through a really loud, busy, and smelly section of town. Then you turn down a little side street and enter a large beautiful garden with lots of greenery and nice benches and shade. We were given a tour of the area, culminating with a visit to the tomb (possibly the tomb...the exact location is not know for sure). We all looked in the tomb, and then sang some hymns as a group. We then had some personal study/journal writing time there. The garden is managed by a Christian church (from England I think), and they have asked that we not bring any restoration scriptures or material, so our studying is supposed to be from the Bible only while we're there. I'm really glad that the garden is so close, because I'll be able to go there several times while I'm here.
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