Day 2 - Romy Milch
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." This quote was said by King Solomon, a King of Israel who built the First Temple in Jerusalem. King Solomon was the son of David who founded the Judaean dynasty and united all the tribes of Israel. To me, this quote beautifully describes and summarises what I learnt today.
This morning, we started with an engaging prayer circle where we discussed what prayer means to us. We explored how success is not measured by how popular we are, or the amount of materialistic possessions we own, but rather is measured by who we are, our morals and values, and how we contribute to society.
After this, we made our way to the City of David. If I’m being honest, before arriving, I was expecting to listen to some information that I could find in any old history book. However, these expectations were greatly challenged. With the help of our amazing tour guide, it came to my realisation that this history is not boring or old, but is something that is alive. This history lives within us, it is what brings us Jews together, it is our history and we carry the responsibility to continue it.
We were then guided into Chizkiyahu’s tunnel. This experience was exhilarating as we were in the pitch black, knee-deep in water, unable to see anything. However, yet again, this experience surprised me. It wasn’t just some scary walk in the dark, it made me feel connected to my ancestors. In the pitch black, surrounded by silence and the presence of my peers around me, I reflected on how strong we are as a nation and the great lengths Jewish people have gone to protect Jerusalem and the whole of Israel.
Following the tunnels, our tour guide provided us with some more wise words about Jerusalem and King David’s palace. He emphasises to us that the palace was chosen to be placed on low land, so much so that there are many higher mountains surrounding it, such as Har ha-Zeitim. This made me wonder why they built the city and the palace in this way… Wouldn’t you want a palace to be on a high mountain, that’s harder to access and destroy? Our tour guide told us that the palace was purposely positioned low, as David wished to express humility. King David believed that it doesn’t matter about impressiveness, greatness, wealth or popularity. What matters more is the spirit, morales and values that are alive within the area. With enough determination and spirit they could overcome anything and we can learn the same lesson and apply it to our lives today.
We finished off the day with a tour of the Kotel tunnels and a tour of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, guided by the amazing Miriam Tek who provided us with a wealth of historical knowledge in an engaging and inspiring manner. During these activities we learnt that the Temple was destructed because of social injustice and, simply, baseless hatred. The takeaway from these activities is that hatred is such a damaging and destructive emotion - it has the power to tear the whole world apart. The world would be such a better and more peaceful place if we all were just kind to each other and filled our hearts with gratitude and love. Because, as King Solomon said, we have to protect our heart as it’s what we share with other people and the world around us.
Whist I am absolutely exhausted, I can’t wait to continue this amazing journey, make the most amazing connections, fill my brain with powerful knowledge and fill my heart with love.
