A good night's sleep is invaluable. It inspires optimism and goodwill. I went to bed last night at 10:00 pm ( way early for me) after sitting in a Bedouin tent with a group of the other pilgrims talking about the day's experience. There is a rooster wailing in the background and it makes sense why the first awakening prayer in Jewish tradition is "Blessed is the Source of all who gives the bird of dawn discernment to tell day from night."--except some needs to tell this rooster, he's a bit off. I woke up at 5 am by roommate's wake up call; the Muslims in the group start there first prayer before sunrise.

My "dance card partner" was Darell Elligan, a minister in North West Atlanta and currently the president of "Concerned Black Clergy." He is a great guy. He preferred to lag behind the group and so we were often bringing up the rear. We joked and laughed alot, which got us scolded at the Church of the Holy Selpuchre.

Yesterday, we walked all through the Old City with its twists and turns, a sacred labyrinth punctuated by long stretches of hawkers selling their wares in between holy sites. We saw the typical T-shirts even in the Arab quarter of Nike Ads that said "Just Jew it!" and the Superman logo with paos that read "Super Jew". We started in the Jewish Quarter as we traveled under the city in the excavated caverns. I joked with my fellow Atlantans that this was just like "Ruby Falls". We learned about the First and Second Temples , the Israelites, King Herod, the Romans and the Mamelukes, (Egyptian Muslim Slaves who were brought to Jerusalem and they overthrew their masters and took over the city redesigning it). To think of the technology back then used to carve through mountains is unfathomable to me.

We then went to Al Aksa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, above the Western Wall. Non-Muslims are not allowed in these sites at the moment, a political decision, not a religious one (but can you really distinguish the two? not so easily here in Jerusalem.) A Muslim woman spoke about prayer and they went into the sites as we explored the massive courtyards and the exquisite mosaic and calligraphy on the Dome of the Rock. By this time, the sun was already beating down hard.

We then made our way back to the Wall, here I distributed the rest of the prayers that I had not put into the Wall underneath the City. Same Western Wall, just one part is submerged. So, many pilgrims were honored to share in helping facilitate Bet Haverim's prayer and place them in the Wall.

After lunch, we went back to see the Christian sites. St. Anne's Cathedral was filled with tremendous arched ceilings that allowed for an 11 second echo. We sang as a group together with the falls bouncing the sound all over and then we listened to one of our pilgrim's sing His Eye is on the Sparrow. Then we went to pools of Bethesda, which were dried up because I could of gone for a dip, the sun had made me weary. Here was the pools that people used for healing and in the New Testament, Jesus performed miracles here. Bethesda-- is English for Bet Hesed, House of Compassion. We traveled the Via Delorosa, the stations of the cross and arrived in the Church of the Holy sepulcher: it is here that is believed Jesus is buried. I went into the tomb which was highly claustrophobic, and then one of the priests made his way in and saw that there was a strange liquid right by the burial site. He started yelling at us very distressed. It turned out that one of the other priests had just added oil to the lamps inside and had spilled some of the oil.

Then we split up as a group, some going home and others of us staying. Mishele and I decided to go off on our own. We walked through the Muslim market place really saddened by the desperation in people's stories of the dearth of tourists. Mishele bought a blouse in one place and I a Jewish star in another. People asked us if we felt safe, and we did. The hospitality that many of the Muslims offered us, hot tea as well as great pressure for the sale! was genuine. Shortly afterwards we hopped into a cab that took us to the main center of the city. We shopped some more where Mishele bought a beautiful star and chamsa. I found my friend's coffee shop and he happened to be in and Mishele and I split a carafe of fresh lemonade with mint and a salad as we listened to David Ehrlich tell us about the year he lived in Atlanta and was part of CBH. We updated him and I hope to see him later in the week.

Well, breakfast calls. Our trip to Hebron may be off, so that is a disappointment but we will see what the day holds....

Grateful for sleep,

RJ