Shavuot Jerusalem
Shavuot - Jerusalem
Shavuot commemorates Moses returning from Mount
Sinai with the stone tablets bearing the Ten Commandments. Shavuot
Jerusalem is an
all-night celebration of chanting and Torah reading. This photo captures Shavuot at
Jerusalem's Western Wall Plaza. The group in the foreground is
celebrating Shavuot by walking in a circle chanting, "Thank you for
the Law" in Hebrew. Behind them is the section for the women, and
draped in the Israeli flag is the ramp to the Temple Mount area of Old Jerusalem.
Travel Tip
As a non-Jew on his own, I was on guard as I walked through the orthodox Jewish crowd to get to the Western Wall for the first time. I didn't know if I'd be shunned, yelled at or pushed out by the crowd. When I reached the wall, a Jewish man approached me, introduced himself as a rabbi, welcomed me, shook my hand and blessed me profusely. Grateful and relieved at the unexpected welcome, I broke into a smile and thanked him for his kind words. Still holding my hand, he advised that he is so poor that he cannot get married and asked me to help him by making a donation. When I started to fish in my pocket for change with my free hand, he further advised, "I prefer paper money." He got change, which is more than he deserved, as he looked neither poor nor like a rabbi. Shavuot or no Shavuot, be careful whose hand you shake at the Western Wall.
Travel Tip
As a non-Jew on his own, I was on guard as I walked through the orthodox Jewish crowd to get to the Western Wall for the first time. I didn't know if I'd be shunned, yelled at or pushed out by the crowd. When I reached the wall, a Jewish man approached me, introduced himself as a rabbi, welcomed me, shook my hand and blessed me profusely. Grateful and relieved at the unexpected welcome, I broke into a smile and thanked him for his kind words. Still holding my hand, he advised that he is so poor that he cannot get married and asked me to help him by making a donation. When I started to fish in my pocket for change with my free hand, he further advised, "I prefer paper money." He got change, which is more than he deserved, as he looked neither poor nor like a rabbi. Shavuot or no Shavuot, be careful whose hand you shake at the Western Wall.