Sept 22 Sat

Hey today is the end of Yom Kippur here in Jerusalem. It is the day of Atonement for the Jews where they spend lots of time studying the Torah and praying trying to get in good with God so they can get their name written into the book of life. The Jewish parts of town and all government and public services have been shut down since Friday afternoon for this. Tonight they all gathered down at the wall to celebrate the ending of Yom Kippur with some dancing and singing. Unfortunately they do not allow cameras down by the wall during special days so I have no pictures to share. But if you can imagine hundreds and hundreds of men dressed in white from head to two (to represent their spiritual cleanness) dancing and chanting and singing facing the wall, some reading sections from the Torah or the Tanauch. Many others, not so religious Jews, come and sit on the hill before the wall talking and watching, some pray but most just sit and watch.

It has been very quite around Jerusalem for the past 24 or so hours. It is sort of illegal to drive a car during Yom Kippur. We were told that if you are caught driving that people will literally stone your car as you drive. Emergency vehicles are allowed, but some of the more fanatically religious Jews still throw stones at them as the race to the emergency. This seems odd to me, but we were told that last year a man having a heart attack died as people discussed with the Rabbi if it was ok to call an ambulance for him on Yom Kippur. Some of the beliefs and practices here are outside of what I can comprehend and seem very odd, but that is just how things are.

One of the things that really continues to bother me is what feels to me like disrespect for their own holy places. For both Jews and Muslims the entire city and especially the Temple Mount is a holy place. Yet throughout the entire city and even down at the wall and on the temple mount it is not unusual to see people dumping trash. I don't mean your normal every day littering that we see in America, I mean bags of trash. There is no real regular garbage pick up around here, like we are used to in the states, so there are piles of trash littering the entire city.

For a little extra flavor to the city, in the area of the meat market in the old city there are innards and other odds and ends from the butchering just thrown out into the streets. To really understand this you have to realize that in the market the street, or should I say sidewalks, are only just wide enough for three people to walk shoulder to shoulder, and most places there are shops on both sides. So byproducts just thrown into the walking area get all over everything, and are only a few feet removed from the products for sale. You can also imagine the smell and attraction for flies and other pests that this would be. Needless to say the Old City is not the cleanest of places, and has some unusual smells that permeate the streets in the heat.

Ok enough about that. On a lighter note I also read an article on a friends site that I thought was interesting and I wanted to share it with you all. Click on the link and read it if you have a few moments. It is about a guy who decided to try and live an entire year following every rule and restriction that is in the Bible. He has, what I would call, a unique perspective. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20910659/site/newsweek/?gt1=10357 I wouldn't pull any theology from it but it was interesting. I pray you are all having a great weekend.