In Lod we attended a Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebration of children who are recent immigrants from Ethiopia, Iraq, Iran, and Russia. This area known for its public housing is a common place for people of limited means to live. The 46 Bar and Bat Mitzvah graduates rush out to greet us when we arrived. There is plenty of music and dancing. I notice an armed guard is at the door to the hall. The first table in the hall is staffed by IDF men whose weapons are on the floor under the table - just in case. I think back what I had heard earlier, normal life for normal people. Seeing all of these weapons is normal? There are several speeches and then the boys do their Bar Mitzvah presentations. The girls also have a presentation to do. More dancing and of course food. The Sephardic Chief Rabbi HaRav Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron is there and the children dance around him. The program ends with the singing of Hatikva and we return to Jerusalem. That evening I break away from the group and have dinner with our former Gabbi and his wife Daniel and Aliza Reishtein.

The next day I join a group touring the old city led Daniel Luria. Daniel works for an organization called "Ateret Cohanim". What do we tour? The Arab quarter of course. Ateret Cohanim operates a Jerusalem Reclamation Project as well as a Yeshiva. They work hard to renew and bolster the Jewish presence in the heart of Jerusalem, which was eradicated by Arab riots in the 1920's and 30's. One of the ways they do this is to purchase previously owned Jewish property from Arab squatters, who are generally arab protected tennants. and place Jewish families in them. The idea is to "restore" the demographics by reestablishing a Jewish presence in the Arab section of Jerusalem. Today there are 60 families living in this area. We visit one of the homes and later a shul called "The Young Israel of the Old City" and its Rav, Rabbi Nachman Kahane. Rabbi Kahane would later deliver a talk to our group on Shabbos. We visit a police control center. We see how the police monitor the street action from cameras located around the "old city". We walk around on rooftops in the old city and climb many stairs, getting a breathtaking view of the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock. Later on lunch is served in large two story room that had been an old cistern.

We toured the tunnels that follow the Western Wall. The tunnel is actually a Roman street that used to be here some 2000 years ago. Daniel gave us the history of the Wall and its various gates and bridges. At one point in the tunnel tour we are told, "Here this spot is the closest one can get to the Kodesh HaKoshem without being on the Temple Mount". We all stop to daven. We are told, the Western Wall tunnels project has been an important avenue for exposing information relating to numerous periods in the history of the city of Jerusalem, information which otherwise would be near-impossible to attain. The length of the tunnel is about 488 meters. The last segment of the tour involves going into an ancient aqueduct predating king Herod. This section of the tunnel was used to bring water from the north to fill one of the many water cisterns located on Temple Mount. The portion connected to the Western Wall tunnel is the southern segment of a much longer aqueduct, which emerged from north of the city near the Damascus Gate. We enter the tunnel through a door near the Kotel and exit in the Moslem quarter, on the Via Dolorosa, a public street.

The next day is Eruv Shabbos - time to go shopping. I walked along Ben Yehuda street, Meah Shearim and briefly, the old City. I have to make sure that I return with gifts to give to my wife and children. Besides so many of the stores of the stores have had little or no customers. The Israelis could use our business.

I davened Kabalat Sabbat at the Kotel and walked back to the Sheraton for Dinner. I had made friends with Rabbi and Mrs Greenberg from Canarsie. They had a place for me at the table they were at. Food, speeches and singing. The main speaker was HaRav Yisrael Meir Lau, Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi of Israel. We had a menu with choices, I had the duck. First time I ever had duck on a Shabbos seemed fitting since this was my first Shabbos in Israel!

In the morning we walked to the OU center for davening. It was followed by a Kiddush with bread. Rabbi Kahane spoke and we returned to the hotel for our real lunch - Seudah Shelishit. The hotel I am staying at has Shabbos elevators. I was on the 15^th floor. Most of the time I walked the steps. But after eating, and eating it seemed impossible to do the walk. I joined the others using the elevator. The hotel has 2 Shabbos elevators. Both go to the top floor and work their way down. One elevator stopping on the even numbered floors, the other elevator stopping on the odd numbered floors.

After Shabbos, I packed and made a quick visit again to Ben Yehuda street. The next morning I left Israel to return home, forever changed.

The Jews living in Israel need our help. How can we help them? What can we do to show solidarity?

1) Pray, say tehillim, participate in community gatherings - Let Israel know that we care!

2) Call, write, fax or email the President everyday, expressing your strong support for Israel and the President's war on terrorism

3) Participating in "Israel Emergency Campaign(s)" by givng much needed money. Funds are needed for:

    Security needs (armored buses, bullet proof ambulances, security barriers and fences)

    Relief for families and victims of violence

    Trauma counseling

    Money is needed to assist with the Jewish Reclamation Project run by Ateret Cohanim

4) Travel as a tourist. Our physical presence is very much needed!

5) Volunteer to work two weeks to three months in Israel. There are programs just for this purpose.

5) Make aliah and move to Israel.

R' Shraga Simmons (AishHa Torah) recently said "I frequently encourage people to visit Israel, by telling them that it is likely to be the most profound experience of their lifetime. They invariably ask me: "But what will the experience be like?" There is no adequate way to answer that question because, since the experience is one of "self-discovery," by very definition it differs for each individual. Which is precisely what makes it so profound. In Biblical times, there were purposefully no road signs leading to Jerusalem -- forcing every person to ask, "Where is Jerusalem?" Nachmanides (13th century Spain) explains this metaphorically: Through the framework of Torah and mitzvot, each of us is ennobled to seek and explore the CONCEPT of Jerusalem ... to discover our oneness with God . .. within the formulated guidelines of Torah ... in our own unique way."

Do the Mitzvah, Go yourself with the next mission, see for yourself how the settlers in Israel are the true pioneers of today. This mission came to give chizuk to our brothers and sisters and left having strengthened ourselves.

I am ready to go back!

Next time in the hotel, please give me a room closer to ground level!

Chaim Shalom Saunders

17th Shavat 5762
January 30, 2002